Search for a long lost twin: Does anyone remember Emily's sister?

Emily Holden is hoping her twin sister is remembered in Awanui. Picture / Supplied

Emily Holden, born on September 25, 1974, is desperately seeking the twin sister who she only discovered existed relatively recently.

Holden is hoping someone from Northland, where she believes her sister was raised, will be able to help her.

To Holden's knowledge, she was born in the Wellington region, then sent to the Christian Orphanage, a private organisation that she was now investigating, after her mother died while she was an infant.

She currently knew very little of the orphanage, but was in contact with former workers of "the commune" at the time she and her sister were babies.

She was subsequently adopted by a family in the Wairarapa, where she remained until she was 8 before she returned to the Wellington region.

Holden's now lives in Blenheim.

"I have since been finding bits and pieces of my past over the last 12 years or so, and discovered I had a twin, who was brought up by a Dutch family in the Kaitaia/Awanui area," she said, adding that she was hoping that someone there would remember her.

She had befriended a man who told her that he had been in the care of the same Dutch family. She met with him in the Wellington region, and he had recognised her from his childhood, but he died in a drink driving accident before they could really talk.

Meanwhile, the only photograph she knew of herself as a small child had been published on the front page by the Wairarapa Times Age around 1975-76, but the newspaper had been unable to locate it.

"I remember that day," Holden said.

"The South African weightlifter Precious McKenzie was holding me. From memory, I was wearing a brown coat and dressed like a little Eskimo baby."

She was trying to establish contact with Mr McKenzie through the television programme The Project, but as of earlier this week had not had a response.

"This is the story I intend to take to Lost and Found, but I need to find more info for them to be able to help me," she added.

■Anyone who has any information is invited to contact Emily at dragonvines@outlook.com, or the Northland Age.