While Mrs Johnston knew her mother had remarried and had a second family making up a total of seven siblings, she had never met any of her half brothers and sisters.

“I guess I wasn’t really interested, it didn’t worry me, but I think you get to a certain age where you want to say ‘hello, here we are,’” Mrs Johnston said.

After some time spent tracking them down, she managed to arrange a reunion in Tea Gardens, not only with her long lost sisters and brother, but with the four children from her mother’s second marriage.

Although she was fostered out with her brother, Mrs Johnston lost contact with him. When she heard he was sick, she decided the family had to get together.

“It was lovely how it all happened. We met at the country club for dinner on the Friday night and everyone stayed for a barbecue Saturday at my house. It was nice they all made the effort to stay two nights and it was just so nice they wanted to do it as well,” Mrs Johnston said.

Travelling as far as Broadbeach in Queensland, Nambucca, the Central Coast and Sydney, some of the family members brought along their own families, making up 44 people at the reunion, including Mrs Johnston’s four children and 11 grandchildren.

“It was incredible. It’s nice to know you have other family. There were no bad feelings, it’s lovely to think we are all still here and get on well together,” Mrs Johnston said.

“They all called and thanked me afterwards and we have decided we will do it every year.”

Mrs Johnston and her daughter began researching their family history about 12 months ago and discovered a case of history repeating itself.

“My grandmother had eight children listed on her death certificate, while my grandfather only had four, she had had two families as well,” Mrs Johnston said.

The family have all stayed in contact since, with some returning to Tea Gardens to visit and one sister contemplating a move to Tea Gardens.