An Australian television news host has cried on air during a highly emotional interview with a man reunited with his sister after 80 years apart.
Joe O’Brien, host of ABC News 24’s morning news program, wiped away tears after Bill Stewart, now 91, recounted the happy resolution to his lifelong struggle to find his sister Beryl.
The pair were finally reunited in 2020 after Beryl Johnson replied to an ad in an Adelaide newspaper. The pair had spent years seeking each other out.
Australian television news host, Joe O’Brien, has cried on air during a highly emotional interview with a man reunited with his sister after 80 years apart
Ever since their reunion the devoted siblings talk on the phone at 8am every morning
‘Never give up hope and always keep trying to find your brother or your sister or your family member, just like I did,’ Mr Stewart said, after himself breaking down several times during the ABC interview.
Ever since their reunion the devoted siblings talk on the phone at 8am every morning.
‘I’m not crying, you’re crying,’ O’Brien joked, as he wiped away tears.
Beryl and Bill were sent to an orphanage as children when their father was at sea, as their mother had died years earlier.
But when their father, Frank Stewart, died aboard the freighter SS Iron Crown after being torpedoed by the Japanese in June 1942, the siblings were sent to different homes to grow up.
Authorities blocked them from having any contact, as back then it was thought preferable for orphans to have a fresh start and no contact with former relatives.
Bill Stewart was 11 at the time and remembered being frozen in ‘shock’.
When the siblings’ father, Frank Stewart, died aboard the freighter SS Iron Crown after being torpedoed by the Japanese in June 1942, the siblings were sent to different homes to grow up
Beryl said reuniting with her long-lost brother was ‘a miracle’ that ended years of ‘longing and wanting’
When they grew into adults the siblings each tried many times to track each other down, but incredibly authorities refused all their requests to help them.
When the wreck of SS Iron Crown was found about 100km off the Victorian coastline just south of the New South Wales border in 2019, a chain events was set off that led to the siblings reuniting.
Mr Stewart heard about a memorial honouring the lives of 38 people who died on board, including his father, and was given an invitation to attend.
He was interviewed on radio about what it meant that his father’s ship was found and a woman who heard his name phoned in to say she believed she had a DNA match to him.
Australian National Maritime Chief Scientist Emily Jateff and media worked in the background to connect them.
The woman, Kylie Watson, was a distant relative. Hearing more of his story she threw herself into trying to help Bill to find his long-lost sister.
She tracked Beryl down to Adelaide, but still couldn’t find her details.
Australian National Maritime Chief Scientist Emily Jateff was one of the people who helped work to reunite Bill Stewart with his missing sister Beryl
Ms Watson placed an ad in a column in the Sunday Mail edition of The Advertiser, which Beryl read.
She contacted Ms Watson and the siblings were quickly reconnected, first by phone, then in person.
They met in 2020 but the pandemic kept them apart for 18 months before they finally spent three weeks together this year.
Beryl said reuniting with her long-lost brother was ‘a miracle’ that ended years of ‘longing and wanting’.
Bill told the ABC he now rings his sister each day, at 8am in the morning.
She says: ‘Hello my darling Bill.’
He says: ‘Hello, my darling sister.’
O’Brien said his words were ‘just beautiful’.
‘When you have your daily chat to Beryl when she says, “g’day, darling”, and you say “g’day, my beautiful sister”, send a hello from the ABC as well.’