Child sex abuse survivor Chris Harwood meets his long-lost brother after 67 years

For more than six decades, each lived his life believing he was an only child. But brothers Chris and Stephen Harwood met for the first time in emotional scenes at Adelaide Airport on Wednesday.

After a life of unimaginable hardship, Chris Harwood has been reunited with long-lost brother Stephen Harwood. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

As Chris Harwood nervously sits in the arrivals lounge of Adelaide Airport, he turns to his fiancee Rita Romeo and asks, “What do I say?”.

After a life filled with unimaginable heartbreak, pain and injustice, Chris is about to embrace his brother Stephen for the first time in 67 years.

Until this time last year, the siblings had no idea the other existed.

But this weekend, 68-year-old Chris, who has terminal cancer, will marry his “angel” Rita with his brother by his side.

The last time the siblings were together was in 1955, in their home town of Launceston, Tasmania.

Chris was two and Stephen not yet one when the pair was separated and taken into state care after their mother left the family.

For the next six decades, their lives could not have followed more distant paths.

Stephen was adopted by George and Mavis Simpson and taken to Moe, Victoria, where he grew up on their farm alongside their two other children, Peter and Kevin Simpson.

But Chris became a ward of the state, living in various houses and institutions until he was placed with a foster family aged seven.

Throughout these years, he suffered horrific, ongoing abuse.

Chris Harwood waiting for brother Stephen to arrive at Adelaide airport. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

Chris Harwood (R) with brother Stephen Harwood (L) at Adelaide airport. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

“I was abused, I was beaten, I was raped,” Chris said. “I didn’t tell anyone about it for 22 years.”

In 1963, he was sent to live with his aunty and uncle in East Ringwood, Victoria – where a passion for footy ignited and he played junior footy for St Kilda Football Club. But when his aunty died of cancer he moved in to a Salvation Army youth hostel, where he again suffered abuse at the hands of those who were supposed to care for him.

Over the next three decades, he met his ex-wife and lived in the regional Victorian towns of Yarrawonga and Shepparton, where he worked as a radio announcer. But wherever he travelled, his “demons” would follow.

“My wife at the time said, ‘You’ve got to stop making us walk on eggshells around you … and you’ve got to stop thinking the world owes you for what happened’,” Chris said.

In the early 2000s, Chris moved to WA to be closer to his daughter, who had just given birth to her first child. After a period living in Kalgoorlie, following his separation from his wife, he moved to Perth – where his love story truly began.

Lonely and looking for a new start, Chris decided to give online dating a go in early 2018. That was when he met Rita.

Chris and Rita watching his beloved St Kilda side play at Adelaide Oval.

Chris says Rita “saved his life”. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

“Just after we met, I wrote a letter for Rita on a serviette and it said, ‘I’m going to marry you one day’ … she still has it,” Chris said.

That same year, Chris gave his testimony for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex abuse and travelled to Parliament House in Canberra to speak about his experiences.

“I knew I couldn’t live in the past any more … people said I was brave. But it’s not brave to tell the truth – and that’s what I did,” Chris said.

It was there he met fellow Tasmanian and Australian of the Year Grace Tame, who he said was “a shining light” in the darkness.

After two years of long distance between Perth and Adelaide, Chris relocated to South Australia in February 2020, to pursue the love of his life.

“I never had anyone to love me like Rita does,” Chris said. “She’s an absolute angel from God.”

Just months later, he was given devastating news. In June 2020, he was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer, which had spread to his other organs.

But amid that battle, in October last year, he received a phone call that would change his life once more.

Chris at Parliament House in 2018, where he spoke about his experiences as a survivor of child sex abuse.

Chris Harwood with brother Stephen Harwood and Chris wife to be, Rita Romeo at Adelaide airport. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

After Chris gave his testimony to the Royal Commission, the unimaginable happened. The government told him he had a brother, Stephen.

“They rang me and said, ‘Chris, we think we’ve found your brother after all this time, are we able to give him your phone number?’,” he said.

“I couldn’t believe it. I never thought I would have a family of my own.”

On Wednesday afternoon, after speaking over the phone for the past 12 months, the brothers shared a teary embrace they never knew would come when Stephen, who lives in Tennant Creek, arrived on a plane from Alice Springs

“Before you could even take your seatbelts off (on the plane), I was right up the front,” Stephen said.

Stephen has three children, Lisa, Leigh and Benny, who will be at Chris’s alongside the couple’s friends and family, including many of those who supported Chris along his journey.

But on Wednesday night, the brothers simply shared a pizza at home – although Chris wished Stephen would “drink something cheaper than bloody Woodstock” – and caught up on lost time.

“I just can’t wait to have a joke with my brother,” Chris said.

Despite unfathomable hardship and battles that are far from over, Chris says his life now, with his brother and soon-to-be wife by his side, is one filled only with love.

“I was so scared for so long, but I’m not scared anymore.”

Originally published as Child sex abuse survivor Chris Harwood meets his long-lost brother after 67 years