Toowoomba Chronicle article was key to reuniting long-lost siblings

Barbara Ratcliffe’s was told her biological parents gave her up for adoption so that she would have a better life, free from the struggle of post-war Britian’s working-class suburbs but she always wanted to know where she came from.

Long-lost sibling Barbara Ratcliffe and Bill Meadowcroft were united in Toowoomba after Barbara was put up for adoption in 1952 in England.

When Barbara Ratcliffe was in her early 40s she was told she needed major surgery, and one of the first questions her doctor asked was about her family’s medical history.

It is a common question, but it stumped the Englishwoman because she had never met her biological family.

Like many working-class families in post-World War II Britain, her biological parents Maude and Ernest Meadowcroft struggled to feed their four eldest children, so when faced with the unexpected birth of Barbara in 1952, they put her up for adoption.

Her curiosity sparked, Ms Ratcliffe crossed an ocean to meet her biological brother who now lived in Mt Lofty.

But the first step was to find out if any of her biological family was alive.

She started by calling the local government officials in her home town of Stockport in northern England, and from there she was directed to the national adoption records kept in Somerset House on the banks of Thames.

“I had to go through six weeks of counselling, and then they sent my birth certificate to my counsellor,” Ms Ratcliffe said.

Barbara Ratcliffe spent decades tracking down her biological siblings after her mother and father, Maude and Ernest Meadowcroft put her up for adoption.

At the time, she was living in California, having left England as a young woman.

The birth certificate contained her parents’ names.

“It also had their address, but of course they had all left for Australia,” Ms Ratcliffe said.

A quick search online found an image of Mrs Meadowcroft's tombstone in Canberra which listed her surviving children; Anne, Irene, Richard and Bill.

Irene and Anne had married and taken their husband’s name while Richard had passed away.

Luckily, Bill and his wife Fay were featured in a Toowoomba Chronicle article for their 50th wedding anniversary in 2014, and a second piece of the puzzle fell into place

After phoning The Chronicle, Ms Ratcliffe was put in contact with Bill and within days she boarded a plane to Australia and the pair had an emotional reunion at the Brisbane Airport last week.

Reunited in Toowoomba are (From left) Fay and Bill Meadowcroft with Barbara Ratcliffe and Bruce Ramskov.

Bill Meadowcroft said his mum initially told the family that Barbara had died in birth, but towards the end of her life she revealed the truth, saying she watched from a window as a lovely couple took her daughter away to a better life.

“When Manchester was under the blitz a flying bomb came over and wrote our house off,” he said.

“We evacuated to Belfast for three years, and when the war was over my parents never really got their feet on the ground.

“What surprised me was that they did have knowledge of me,” Ms Ratcliffe said.

“I have no resentment, and my (adopted) mother had given the right impression, that (my biological) family was really poor and that I wouldn’t have any of the benefits I had growing up.

“As I matured, I realised that this was a gift, but it is also a gift to know where you’ve come from.”