Emotions overflowed this week as the Koroit resident hugged his birth mother for the first time since they were separated after his birth in 1970.

She was aged just 15 at the time and had to give him up for adoption. Six years later when she enquired about him she was told he had died.

So when Senior Constable Tobias and Margaret Carter met each other on Tuesday in Bendigo, the tears flowed.

“The first thing she said was “I’m sorry” and I said “you’ve got nothing to be sorry about,” he told The Standard yesterday.

“It was a very emotional time as we sat together for four hours.

“In a few weeks I’ll go up north again to meet more of the family.”

Mrs Carter described the meeting as “unbelievable”.

“I started crying straight away. I was dumbstruck — he looks so much like my father.

“All my life I had been carrying this feeling of guilt in having to give him up at birth.”

Margaret had been sent from her home town of Cohuna to give birth in Kew after falling pregnant through a brief relationship with a schoolboy.

After Craig was born he went to Kyabram where he grew up under adoptive parents who have recently gone into aged care.

“I’m now 43 and although I always knew I was adopted I didn’t start looking for my birth mum until six months ago,” he said.

“I had enjoyed a great upbringing and never lacked.”

His quest to know more about his birth parents led him to adoption agency files along with his birth certificate.

“I found out that my birth mother’s maiden name was Smith, which we thought was going to be a bit hard to track down,” he said.

Knowing she came from northern Victoria he went to Moama for a week’s holiday in August with his partner Jo Quarrell and they started checking with the local library, historical society, school and other outlets.

They came across information which led them to Pyramid Hill, where a shopkeeper happened to know of the family and enabled them to find the name of one of Margaret’s three other children, Melinda O’Brian.

“Jo decided to ring her and when Melinda answered she instantly sensed it was about me,” Craig recalled.

“We met her four hours later — it was a very emotional time.

“Melinda was given a photo of me and when she asked mum who it looked like, mum said it reminded her of granddad, who was a policeman.”

Yesterday, Margaret described that moment of seeing the photo and realising her baby had not died as a huge emotional relief.

Margaret is now 59, living and working at Barham on the Murray River.

Amazingly, not knowing about Craig, she has a copy of a Police Gazette story which featured her family for its many members who had served in the police force.

Her father was a police officer, as were at least three of his brothers and some of their sons.

Other intriguing coincidences are that Margaret's husband has a November birth date the same as Craig, Margaret's father and Craig's adopted father were both born at Manangatang, one year apart and Craig also has an adopted sister who has found out about her past.

Craig is yet to find his birth father, who has the surname Spittle.