The milkman heard a little noise coming from the phone box. (BABY'S CRYING ECHOES) It was a nationwide campaign trying to find out who I was. This is one of my toughest investigations, a mystery no one's been able to solve. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2020 I've battled with rejection most of my adult life. (EXHALES) It's a lot to take in. (PLANE ENGINES ROAR IN DISTANCE) (PENSIVE MUSIC) I'm David Lomas. I've come to Palmerston North to meet 57-year-old truck driver and trainee pastor Keith Mitchell. Married, with four children, Keith was truly abandoned as a baby. So, yours is an interesting story. Tell me about it. Yes, it is. Um, 57 years ago, I was found in a phone box over here by a milkman. (HAUNTING MUSIC) And how can I help you? I wanna know who my parents are. I'd like to know where I came from, whose I am. With the advances in how research is done now, maybe you can find who I was. A red phone box that once stood on this street corner was where Keith Mitchell's known life story started, in 1962. Yeah, would've been pretty cold. The milkman heard a little noise coming from the phone box, so he thought it was a kitten and went to investigate and... discovered me. Why do you want to find a woman who left you in a phone box? Well, I believe whoever it was who left me there actually really cared. Maybe for` Back then, there was no DPB or anything like that. There's no way of, um, a single mum raising a child without having a family behind them to support them, so I think they might've thought they were doing the best thing they could. Whether it was criminal baby-dumping or a mother's sacrificial act, Keith's abandonment in a phone box turned out to be a blessing for Waikanae couple May and Pat Mitchell, who, unable to have children of their own, had been on the adoption waiting list for three years. They adopted Keith and raised him in a loving family with a younger brother who was also adopted. But from the age of 15, after Keith was told the story of his origins, his world slowly began to fall apart. I've battled with rejection for... most of my adult life, and... ended up turning to alcohol and marijuana for a number of years to try and medicate the pain, try and deal with it that way. The real low,... it was actually when my eldest daughter was 3 months old, and... my first marriage fell apart, and... I wanted to commit suicide. I even had a rope up in a tree, and... ready to end my life, and I just... had the` The old hymn Amazing Grace just came in... came into my head, and I just started` And it was like,... 'Nah, there's gotta be more. There's gotta be more to this. 'And I can't abandon my daughter,' because how much I loved her. Keith did not want to do to his daughter Emmeline what had been done to him ` leaving a chid not knowing a parent. Keith cleaned up his act. He remarried, and he and his wife, Lorana, joined a church and found strength in their faith. Almost 30 years on, they are proud parents of four and also grandparents. You've talked a lot about your birth mother, but there was a man involved too. Yeah. And, I mean, I don't even know if he knew the` knew anything about me, if he knew that she was pregnant. So... could've been anything. Could've been a one-night stand, or she could've even been the victim of rape or something like that. I-I don't know. It's one of those things. If you got to meet your mother or your father, what would you... what would you say to them? 'I've already forgiven you. 'I've forgiven you for leaving me there. 'I've found peace in my heart about that, 'and I don't ho` 'Who am I to judge?' 'I hold no blame. There's no resentment from me.' I'd just like to know where I came from and... solve the greatest mystery of my life ` my origins. Where I'm from. Who I'm from. Keith's adoptive parents, who have both passed away, supported his search for his birth parents. He appealed for information in newspapers and, in 2008, featured in a 20/20 story, but no leads ever surfaced. (BABY CRIES) I just get frustrated with... the fact that that's it ` I am the beginning of my whole family. And... it leaves me kind of feeling empty. Cracking a 57-year-old mystery is quite a challenge, but I believe by combining science and some old-fashioned research, I'll get Keith an answer. I've got a sample of Keith's DNA, and it's been sent away for testing. In the meantime, I check back in history. What was life like for a young pregnant woman in 1962? The sexual revolution had started, but in New Zealand, there was virtually no sex education for young people. The pill was difficult to get, and abortion was illegal. The number of adoptions was sky-rocketing. About 35 babies a week born to unmarried mothers were being put up for formal adoption. The number peaked at more than 50 a weak in 1970. (PENSIVE MUSIC) I head to the National Library in Wellington to see what I can find out about the mother and the baby. A baby left in a phone box was a big national story. Had the mother been found, she could have faced up to seven years in prison. The baby, nicknamed Bobby, was left dressed in good-quality clothes. He was warmly wrapped, and spare nappies were left with him. Doctors thought he was about 10 days old. The big police investigation went nowhere, but the story touched people's hearts, and donations of toys and money were sent from around the country. I need to find out why a mother would just leave her baby. (PENSIVE MUSIC) Why didn't she put the child up for adoption? And, most importantly, all these years later, if I find her, will she, after what she did, be brave enough to meet Keith? Wash your hands. Wash often. Use soap for 20 seconds. Then dry. Washing kills the virus by bursting its protective bubble. Palmerston North truck driver Keith Mitchell was left abandoned in a phone box as a baby. Now I'm using old-fashioned research and science to see if I can find out why he was left and who his parents were. The science part is DNA. Around the world, about 30 million people have now tested. In New Zealand, it's about a quarter of a million, or 5% of the population, and that number's growing each day. Morning. Morning. Gail Wilson-Waring is an expert in the field of genealogy. Gail tells me that with one in 20 people having tested, it's now possible to make links to about 50% of the population here. So, what I've done is, um, I've grouped all of the family matches that match each other and also match Keith, and it's` what we've got are really strong matches from two families ` the Brewer family and the Fleming family. Well, that's promising. Yes. Yeah. So what I've done is I've taken that another step further and put together a tree, and my key couple are Frederick and Margaret Brewer. I've then looked at who these people married,... Uh-huh? ...and they all married ` except for the youngest, Brian Brewer ` but when we look at the oldest son, Henry, he marries a Francis Fleming, and so what we have is our intersect. So these two groups here? Yep. Yeah. So this is really good news. So, unfortunately, I can't get any closer to Keith, because, as you know, from 1919 to 1960, there aren't any birth indexes which include the mother's name. So frustrating, isn't it, to be so close but... If I went out to Archives New Zealand and tried getting the will of either Henry Brewer or Francis Brewer, or Fleming ` if there is one ` I mean, that might give us the names of the children? Yup. Yup. And my bet is that one of their children will be either Keith's mother or his dad. (CHUCKLES SOFTLY) Crikey, it'd be so great to crack this mystery, wouldn't it? It would be brilliant. (DISTANT CHATTER) Old wills are kept by the National Archive. Good morning. Uh, David Lomas. I ordered a will for the Brewer family. Uh, my card. Oh, yeah. I've got it ready for you already. Great. Oh. Thank you. Wills, because they give the names of relatives, are a treasure trove for researchers, and with Francis Brewer's will, I am in luck ` it gives the names and ages of all her children. One of them is either the mother or the father of Keith. I'm making real progress. Science and research are working in tandem. But now I have to find those children and get them to agree to do a DNA test. (SEAGULLS CALL) Back at the office, I start searching for Francis Brewer's five children. The will showed one son was dead, and I rule out Joyce, as she seems too young when Keith was born. (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC) On Terranet, the property register, I find addresses for the other three, as they all own homes. However, I see Colleen's home has recently been transferred to a Harry Brewer. With addresses, I'm able to find phone numbers. I'm trying to solve a mystery from about 1962. Fortunately, they all agree to do a DNA test ` including Harry Brewer, who goes by the name Beau. He tells me his mother, Colleen, recently died. Now it's a waiting game. (RUMINATIVE MUSIC) Five weeks later, the first DNA result is back. It's Beau's. I hope he'll be a cousin or perhaps even a half-brother of Keith. But what I see amazes me ` Beau is a full brother of Keith. Incredibly, after 57 years, I've solved the baby-in-the-phone-box mystery. (BROODING MUSIC) Now that I know Keith's mother was Colleen Brewer, Beau should also be able to tell me who his and Keith's father was. Solving the mystery does, however, come with a dilemma ` how do you tell someone that their mother abandoned their brother in a phone box? I fly to Taupo and drive south to Tokaanu. Tonight, I've arranged a meeting in a motel with Beau. He's a forestry worker and father of three, and he's nervous. (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC) With Beau's agreement, we film with the option to not show his face in case he decides he does not want to be identified on television. It will all depend on how he feels when I tell him that his life and the life of his mother has all been shrouded by a dark and possibly criminal secret. Thanks for doing this, because, as I mentioned to you, we're trying to solve a 57-year-old mystery, and the mystery relates to your family. Yeah. As the mystery is older than he is, Beau agrees to let us film him. Um, your mother ` tell me about her. What was she like? (INHALES DEEPLY) She was a hard lady. Still beautiful in nature. I love my mum till this day, even though she has passed away. Mum had a lot of different jobs. Most of her young childhood, from what I can gather, was milking on a dairy farm ` but small dairy farm. When she... moved down here, they were fencing contractors. Beau's mother, Colleen, would have been 17 when she had Keith. She had Beau eight years later. And your father? I mean, who was he? I don't know. The old man that brought me up, his name is Brian. And where's he now? He's passed. He passed about 20-odd years ago. Brian Brewer was Colleen's father's brother. He helped raised Beau, but Beau only ever called him Uncle Brian. No father is named on Beau's birth certificate. This is as confusing for me as it is for Beau. Was Uncle Brian the father of Beau and Keith, or was there another man in Colleen's life? And any brothers and sisters? None. So you're an only child. Yes. Well, the mystery we've been trying to solve relates to a baby who was left in a phone box in Palmerston North. OK. So eight years before you were born,... Yup? ...this little baby was left in a phone box, and, um, this is the story of this little baby, here. (PENSIVE MUSIC) SOFTLY: Wow. And that little boy... (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC) Yeah? ...is actually your brother. Are you` Are you bein' honest with me? Well, that's what the DNA results show ` he's your brother. And not only is he your brother, but he's your full brother, which means he has the same father and the same mother. Mm. Well, that's a shock to the system. Mm. That's a big shock. 'Specially being same father, same mother. Mm. (INHALES SHAKILY) (EXHALES) (POIGNANT MUSIC) I don't know what to say. So how does it feel knowing that your mum had this boy, abandoned him in a phone box, and that he's your brother? Kinda freaky, at the` actually. Be honest, it's quite freaky. Does it seem to you that it could've been your mum? Not the way I was` how she brought me up. Nah. No, that's not. It's sad. Knowing... that my mum could've done that. It's... (INHALES DEEPLY, EXHALES) It's hard. But... life goes on. And it means I've got a brother. I'd love to meet him. Ah. Would you like to see what your brother looks like? Have a look at this guy. (CHUCKLES) Yep. He's got Uncle Les' and he's got Uncle Fred's features. Those are my mum's brothers. But he also looks a bit like you. He probably has a bit of my features too. Yeah. So you'd be happy to meet Keith? Oh, open arms. To be honest, it's cool. I've actually got a brother. Wow. (POIGNANT MUSIC CONTINUES) Beau tells me his mother, Colleen, and her uncle Brian, who was 21 years older than her, shared a house and worked together his whole life. What I need to find out now is ` just who was the father of Beau and Keith? To do that, I need to find out just what sort of relationship Colleen and Brian were in. Was it an unlawful relationship, one that many would consider incestuous? (BROODING MUSIC) (RUMINATIVE MUSIC) Keith Mitchell wants to find out why he was left in a Palmerston North phone box 57 years ago, when he was about 10 days old. DNA testing has led me to Keith's full brother, Beau Brewer, and their late mother, Colleen, but Beau is not sure who his and Keith's dad was. And your father? I mean, who was he? I don't know. The only man who was in Beau's mother's life was, it seems, her uncle, Brian Brewer. I'm getting Beau's DNA reviewed to see if Uncle Brian could've been the father of the boys. In the meantime, I'm heading to Cambridge to meet Colleen's younger sister, Joyce. Hopefully she'll be able to shed some light on Colleen and Colleen's relationship with Uncle Brian. What was your sister like? Very much a tomboy. When you don't have anyone but menfolk in your life, you do sort of become... boyish, or, um, more adventurous, or... Colleen and Joyce lost their mother in 1956, when they were aged 11 and 7. Their father, Henry, who was also raising three sons, never remarried. Henry ran the family's Taranaki farm along with 32-year-old brother Brian and another older brother. Uncle Brian? What was he like? Adorable. Loved by everyone. Um, he was everyone's idea of a.. special person you could go to and... know that he was gonna listen. How long did they live together? From the time she was 15 years old until Uncle Brian passed away in 1955. Um, to all intents and purposes, a couple. But outwardly, they lived separate lives. They had separate rooms. They didn't have their clothes in one another's rooms. Nothing like that. What do you think Colleen saw in Brian? She just adored him. She had like a` like a teenage crush on him for the whole of her life. She was like... She was made whole when he was there. On Colleen's funeral order of service is a lovely photo of her and Brian. What does that say to you? Everything. And it shows me it wasn't just one-sided. They just worshipped one another. (POIGNANT MUSIC) (SNIFFLES) Because he was with Colleen, Colleen was with him, he was like a security blanket. There seems no doubt Colleen and Brian were very close, but was it an intimate relationship? Joyce has her own theory on that and reveals to me a secret that she's been keeping since 1960. As a 10-year-old, I... was witness to... something... Hmm, how would you word it? Something abnormal going on on a particular day. Colleen and Brian soon afterwards were kicked off the farm by her father, and they moved in with a neighbour. Months later, when Joyce visited Colleen, the neighbour handed her a baby. She said to me after a couple minutes, 'Here you are. You can hold your latest nephew.' So I put my arms out and I held this little tiny baby. So whose baby was it? Colleen's. Colleen's? And who was the dad, do you think? You know who I think the dad might've been. (CHUCKLES) My uncle. My uncle Brian. Joyce's news is stunning ` not just because it strongly suggests Colleen and Brian were having a sexual relationship but also because, as I quickly realise, this baby is not the phone-box baby. The little boy, born when Colleen was just 15 years old ` and therefore not of the age of legal consent ` was, Joyce believes, privately adopted to a man Brian served with in World War II. So it now seems Colleen had three sons and only kept one of them ` Beau. For Joyce, it's been a shock to hear Colleen left a baby in a phone box. I'm not` I'm not angry at my sister for this. I'm just... I'm saddened. Saddened that she couldn't have... done it more... better. (CELL PHONE RINGS) The next day, back at the office, it all starts coming together. Hello? WOMAN: Hi, David. It's Gail Wilson-Waring, who is helping me with the DNA. Um, I've tracked the results, and you just don't usually expect the father and the mother to be from the same family, but when you know that that's a possibility, it does become obvious. So Uncle Brian is both of their fathers. Wow. OK. Thank you very much. I wonder ` was Colleen and Brian being close relatives the reason Keith was abandoned? (BROODING MUSIC) I check what the law says about an uncle and niece being in a sexual relationship. The answer's in an old statue that is still in force. It details what relationships are deemed incest, and 'uncle and niece' is not listed. Such a relationship is therefore not illegal. But while intimacy was OK, in a strange quirk of law, I find that Brian and Colleen could not get married. 'Uncle and niece' is a forbidden marriage. In the age of the internet, it was simple for me to find this information, but back in 1960, Colleen and Brian would most likely have believed their relationship was illegal and that any baby they had could've resulted in them at the worst being charged and at the best being scorned by society. It was clearly a secret life the couple led, but what was going through their minds they day they left a baby in a phone box? (DRAMATIC MUSIC) I've tracked down the one person who I believe might know the answer. Will she talk to me? Oh, hello. Is that Cathy? Cathy Robert was Colleen's best friend. She's stunned that I've found out who the parents of the phone-box baby were, but she's conflicted as to whether to talk to me. Well, it would mean a lot to Keith to find out what actually happened. CATHY ON PHONE: Cathy decides it's time for the full and true story to be told, so she tells me everything ` but she requests that she be the one to tell Keith what Colleen told her. (BROODING MUSIC) The next morning, I fly to Palmerston North. Now that I have all the parts of this mystery, it's time to start telling Keith the story of his life. It's a Sunday. Keith and his family are at church. Keith is a probationary pastor here. He doesn't know I have answers for him today, but meeting him at his church seems an appropriate place to deliver the news that may shock and shatter him. (GENTLE ROCK MUSIC PLAYS, CONGREGATION SINGS) I meet Keith and Lorana with three of their four children, Emmeline, Maia and Jamieson, along with Kent, Maia's husband, and Aurora, Emmeline's daughter. You have your family here. What does it mean to you? Family's everything. It's like` It's who... It's who we are. But, um... Yeah, I have a... even wider whanau that, um, I'd like to know as well. Lorana. I mean, you and Keith have been together for a long time. How important is it for Keith to find answers? It's really important, I think mainly because of the children, you know? And... KEITH: Yeah. ...he wants that for our tamariki, our kids,... Yeah. ...and our mokopuna going forward. That's` Yeah, lovely. Yeah, and it's been a... really important... Yeah. Mm. Keith, you've told me that you've had troubles in your past, and... so perhaps you can understand why sometimes people make questionable decisions. It's one of those things. Life isn't... Life is not smooth-sailing. I've always thought I must've been part of... my birth mother's life throughout it,... LORANA: Mm. ...because you don't forget your children. You can't. It's a significant part of your life. Mm. Yeah. Well, I have the answer as to who your mother was. (EXHALES, CHUCKLES BREATHLESSLY) LORANA: Really? Really? (SWALLOWS) His mother? (INHALES DEEPLY) Oh, wow. (SIGHS) (POIGNANT MUSIC) She was, it would seem, a woman who made some very big decisions when she was very young. Yeah. (SNIFFLES) It would seem when she was 15, she had a baby. (EXHALES) LORANA, SOFTLY: Who was she? That baby wasn't you. She gave that child away to a family in Auckland. Yup. LORANA: Oh, wow. Then, when she was 17, she was pregnant again. And that was you. LORANA, SOFTLY: Oh... Wow. Whoa. JAMIESON: Wow. (EMMELINE SNIFFLES) Oh... Is she still alive? Now, this is... the very sad thing. She died just 10 months ago. (SOFT EXCLAIMING) (EXHALES) Wow. I have a picture of her here, if you'd like to see her. Oh! (SNIFFLES) Wow. Oh, whoa. Dad, you so look like her. (CHUCKLES TEARFULLY) Oh. The eyes, eh? Yeah. (CHUCKLES) CHUCKLES: Yeah, the eyes. Her name is Colleen. Oh! Colleen! Colleen. Wow. Mm. Wow. (SNIFFLES) (EXHALES) So I'd like, if you're happy to, to take you on a journey to meet... Yeah. ...some people. Yeah. (INCREDULOUS CHUCKLING) (CHUCKLES) Wow. And that would involve travelling north, probably Tokaanu, to meet your full brother. (GASPING, EXCLAIMING, LAUGHTER) Eh?! There's another Dad out there! Far out! (LAUGHTER CONTINUES) A full brother?! (CHUCKLES SOFTLY) Two Dads! (CHUCKLES) (LAUGHTER) Oh my goodness! Oh, wow. Oh! Never expected that. Nah, Dad. Wow. Yeah. I'd love that. That's incredible. Wow. This brother is younger than you. His name's Beau. Wow. Oh, wow. Wow. I never expected this. No. No. Nah. No way. This is... (EXHALES) This was` You took this on` ...overwhelming. 'Why did you take this on, Dad?' You're like, 'Oh, not likely, but... 'we'll see.' Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was really` It was. It was... Cos I'd tried once. Thought` Well, tried quite a bit, really, eh? Yeah. In different ways. And... Yeah. ...thought, 'Oh, do we really wanna go through this again?' Again. Yeah. Because... it is so huge. I think we all just came to an acceptance a long time ago that... ALL: Yeah. ...that that was it. ...there's a part of Dad's life we would just never know. Never know. Yeah. Mm. Yeah, that's right. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Wow. Family that I never knew I had. Yeah. (ANTICIPATIVE MUSIC) After a lifetime of never knowing anything about his origins, Keith Mitchell is about to discover the truth about his birth parents. He and his family travelled to Tokaanu late last night, and I meet him on the shores of Lake Taupo. Good morning! Good morning, David. Nice to see you again. And you. CHUCKLES: Hey. Hey. Beautiful spot here, isn't it? Oh, and a beautiful morning. You're probably wondering why I got you here. Well, there's a good reason, because this is essentially where your mother spent most of her life. Um, she worked on... Oh, wow. ...farms over there on the hills. She was fencing ` contracting. No! CHUCKLES: Fencing! No way. She was working at` (CHUCKLES) She was working in logging camps over there. (GASPS) Logging?! Wow. (CHUCKLES) (LAUGHS) That's amazing! Oh, that's crazy. Yeah. That's what` That's what I've spent most of my life doing, that sort of thing, too. (LAUGHS INCREDULOUSLY) Now, I haven't told you much about your father, have I? No. Nothing at all. Well, your parents, who were a close and happy couple... Yeah? Wow. ...who lived together for 36 years... CHUCKLES: Oh! Oh, wow. But they also lived under the shadow of what they thought was a dark, in some eyes sinful and illegal relationship. (GASPS) Oh. Your mother, as I told you, was just 15 when she first got pregnant. Yup. You can do the sums on that one. Yeah. Yup. She was... banished from the family farm in Taranaki and forced to leave. The father of that baby,... Yep? ...he was her uncle. Ohhhh. Ohhhh. OK. Right. He was her father's brother. His name was Brian. Right. OK. Wow. And... he was your dad. (EXHALES) That is... unexpected. That is. Totally unexpected. So therefore he was my older brother's... father as well? Yes. (GASPS SOFTLY) Oh, gee. So there's three of us? Three of you ` same mother, same father. (EXHALES) Whoa. (SOMBRE MUSIC) Now, I have here a photograph of your mother and father. (GASPS SOFTLY) This is them. Oh. (CHUCKLES INCREDULOUSLY) Oh! (CHUCKLES) Oh my goodness me. Oh, wow. From 15 onwards until he died ` 36 years ` they were together. Oh, wow. They were together the whole time? Oh... Wow. Yeah. What a story. Oh my goodness. Oh, what a story. They look like they're having fun together. Quite remarkable. Oh, wow. Now, as I said earlier, your mum and your dad were... in love. Yeah. But the whole time they were together, they sort of lived in fear, because... Yeah. ...they thought they were doing something illegal. Yeah. Hence the secrecy. And even your brother, who you're going to meet,... Yep? ...all his life, he called his dad, your dad,... Yeah. Uncle. ...Uncle. (GASPS) Ohhh. Yeah. I c` I can see why it would be like that. Who am I to judge? Who am I to say... whether it was right or wrong? It just was. That was their lives. (EXHALES) It's just huge. It's a lot to take in. (POIGNANT MUSIC) SOFTLY: I love you, baby. SOFTLY: I know, bub. Now, your mother and your father kept this secret all their lives. Yeah. There's just one person that your mother ever told her secret to in her whole life. Her name is Cathy, and she was... Aww, ...your mother's best friend. And while we've been standing here talking, she's been sitting over here in a car the whole time. Whoa. Oh... (ANTICIPATIVE MUSIC) Hello, Cathy. Hello. How are you? CHUCKLES: Yeah. Guess who this is. (CHUCKLES) Mm. It's, um` And this wife, Lorana. Hello. Hello, Cathy. It's lovely to meet you. Yeah, you too. Ohh. (SNIFFLES) Wow. What a day. Mm. (CHUCKLES) I know. Tell me ab` (SNIFFLES) What a day. I'm sorry, but... You're all right. It's OK. Now, Cathy knows what happened the day you were taken to Palmerston North. Oh, wow. Yes. Really? EXHALES: Oh. They took you down there. Yeah? They wrapped you up. They gave you a bottle... Yeah. ...beside you. They went around the corner and sat in the car until someone come to pick you up. Oh! VOICE BREAKS: That's what I always thought. And they were crying their eyes out, cos they didn't really wanna leave you, but... they had no other option in those days... Aww. ...and thought you would've had a better life... Yeah. ...than what they could've given you. Yeah. That's what I` I'd always pictured them having been watching... Oh, they` Yes. ...from close. Yeah. They just sat around the corner and waited. (EXHALES) Yeah, no, so... Yeah. Yeah. (SNIFFLES) (CHUCKLES GENTLY) Aww. Thank you. You're welcome. Yeah. It's all right. Yeah. They would've loved you. Don't you worry about that. Yeah. Mm. They would've loved you. You know? It's just` Yeah. Mm-hm. It would've been really heartbreaking. Mm. Yeah. You know? So... She carried a photo of you in her wallet for quite a few years,... (BOTH GASP SOFTLY) ...I think until it got worn out. Ohhh. Cos she showed it to me. Yeah? When she was telling me about it,... (SNIFFLES) ...she took the photo out and says, 'There's my baby,' and... Aww. Yeah. Aww. You know? Yeah, so` Yeah. But I was the only privileged one that knew about you. Yeah. Yeah. There's one other thing about your mum and dad ` which we can't prove 100% ` but... Yeah. ...after you were abandoned in the phone box, there was a bit of a public appeal, and donations came in,... Yeah. ...and one came in from a remote logging camp near Tokaanu ` (EXHALES SOFTLY) I guess where your mum and dad were working. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mm. (EXHALES SOFTLY) Aww. Yeah. Mm. So you got a lot to go and tell your family. Yeah. (LAUGHS) We do. We do. (ANTICIPATIVE MUSIC) Keith Mitchell has just been told the story behind why his birth parents left him in a phone box in Palmerston North 57 years ago. They took you down there. Yeah? They wrapped you up. They gave you a bottle... Yeah. ...beside you. They went around the corner and sat in the car until someone come to pick you up. (CHATTER) Now Keith and his family are trying to take in the new revelations. My father, Brian, was Colleen's father's brother. Wow. But I'm aware Keith and his family are not the only ones struggling to deal with the startling discoveries my investigation has uncovered. His brother Beau Brewer has also been stunned hearing the secrets of his parents' life. Last time I was here, I was talking to you, and you were talking about your uncle Brian, but... it turns out he really is your dad, because the DNA tests have confirmed that. Yeah. It's... quite hard to believe. He was the man actually bringing me up, but I didn't realise he was my actual, real father. Um,... it's all... it's all sorta now. Yeah. But does it make you feel good? It` Yeah, it does, actually. Yeah. It sorta... makes me realise that I did have a dad. A real dad. Well, today's the day, and... Yeah. Yeah. (CHUCKLES) Yeah. I'm excited a-and very nervous. (CHUCKLES) Yeah. (BIRDS CHIRP) (GENTLE GUITAR MUSIC) In a park in Tokaanu, two sides of a whanau are coming together. It's a reunion that never would have happened had it not been for DNA. Walking with Beau is Cathy and her husband, Graham, Aunt Joyce, and two of Beau's children, Puti-Lee and Peririka. Keith and Lorana are joined by Jamie and his wife, Abby, and their children; Maia and Kent; and Lorana's sister, Roberta, and her husband, John. Yes, huge day. Wow. (CHUCKLES) GRAHAM: Haere mai, haere mai. This is cool. It is cool. Yeah. (CHUCKLES) (INDISTINCT CHATTER) Oh, I'm nervous. Yeah, bub. Say something. Hi. (CHUCKLES) Well, bugger me. (CHUCKLES) (LORANA LAUGHS) WHISPERS: Hello. Chur. EXHALES: Ohh. Wow. You ever expect this day? No, I didn't. Me neither. Yeah? (BOTH LAUGH) Yeah. This is quite freaky, isn't it? It is, eh? Eh. It's like, 'Oh.' Yeah. You don't have one. No, I` No. (LAUGHS) Nah. It's actually bristly at the moment. (LAUGHS) (LAUGHTER CONTINUES) Yeah. Oh, bro. So, you work in the bush? Yeah, I work in the bush. Oh my goodness. Yeah. I spent most o' my life workin' in the bush too. Well, I used to be a farmer, back in my days, but... (LAUGHS) Yeah, I've been bushing and farming. Now I'm back to bush again. Oh, wow. Yeah. This is my auntie Joyce. Hello. Mum's sister. Ohh. Nice to meet you. And lovely to meet you. Never thought this day was ever gonna come. No. Yeah. (CHUCKLES) It's like, 'Wow.' It's been a while in the making. Oh, 57 years. Yes. (LAUGHTER) So it's worth it. Well worth it. Mm. Well worth the wait. Yeah. Wanna bring up my lovely wife. This is Lorana. Kia ora. Aww. (LAUGHS) Hey, Beau! Hi, buddy. Mmm. Wow. Those eyes, I tell ya... (LAUGHTER) I recognised those eyes. Look at your eyes. Really? Look at those eyes! Oh my goodness! (LAUGHS) Both sides of the family feel an instant connection. (KEITH LAUGHS) Awesome to meet you, Nephew. Yeah? (CHATTER, LAUGHTER) Yeah, I'm good. Oh, awesome. (CHUCKLES) Mm. Kia ora, bro. Mwah. Nice. Aww. (INDISTINCT CHATTER, LAUGHTER) After a shared meal, the extended family talked long into the night. (HOPEFUL MUSIC) The next morning, Beau takes his brother to the remote bush camp where their parents used to live. (BIRDS CHIRP) This is where I grew up till I was about 5. Oh, wow. Used to be an old logging camp,... Yeah? ...millsite,... Yeah. ...back over there in the distance. 'I see a huge connection with Beau. 'It's like... Similarities in how we look...' My kids were just amazed with... It's like, 'Oh my goodness.' Like seeing me. (DOG BARKS) It's quite hard-case,... Yeah. ...cos I spent a lot o' time myself similar-type places. Oh, well, it runs in the family, doesn't it? Oh, it does. Beau introduces Keith to his old neighbour. This is my brother. It's Keith. Keith? Nice to meet you. LAUGHS: Yeah. And you, Trevor. Yeah. Yeah. With me, it's a new start. New start. I got a new` Got a brother. Yeah, I'm buzzing. Yeah. I'm actually buzzing. It's cool. (BIRDS TWITTER) (EXHALES SOFTLY) Wow. (GENTLE, PENSIVE MUSIC) In this remote and now semi-derelict bush camp, Keith ponders the hard and secretive life that his parents would have led. It's like there's a door closed. A door closed on a mystery that` Well, not closed, actually; it's been ripped off its hinges. There is... There is no mystery there now. I know it's gonna be an ongoing journey for me to process this and... wrap my head around everything that this means ` for both myself and for my family. Keith's journey started in a phone box. Without DNA testing, it never would've ended up here. Keith and Beau are now in regular contact. I have no way of tracking down their older brother, but perhaps, one day, if he does a DNA test, he too might discover the remarkable story of his parents. D'you have any memories or anything? (EXHALES HEAVILY) Adopted from a Bulgarian orphanage,... Chernobyl, it happened the year before I was born. ...now Kiwi mother-to-be Elitsa fears for her child. WOMAN: I want to tell you many, many things. Why did her birth parents give her away? Anything is possible. (WHIMPERS, WAILS) (MEN CLAMOUR) (GASPS) Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2020 Supporting local content so you can see more of NZ On Air.