The power of social media has reunited precious family photos and videos lost in the United Kingdom almost a decade ago.
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South west Victorian resident Dennis Farley said it was incredible the SD memory card containing photos of his late wife Rosalie and her two sisters had been returned.
Captured were special moments from Mrs Farley and her sisters Gabrielle Lewis and Anne Moloney's trip from Warrnambool to Ireland to attend their nephew's wedding in 2009 and other family events.
It was lost on a later trip to the UK in 2012 when Mr and Mrs Farley realised they'd left a bag with the card inside behind while taking photos in Cornwall.
"Rosalie was disappointed about losing the SD card, time moved on and we forgot about it," Mr Farley said.
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Fortunately, a determined English couple found it and between them and their daughter's repeated social media posts following the couple's deaths in 2015 and 2019, it finally paid off.
The Facebook post was shared 900 times. "That is the power of social media," Mr Farley said. "That something lost years ago and pretty much forgotten has re-emerged."
Two of Mrs Lewis' friends in Portland spotted the online appeal to reunite the card with its owner.
Mrs Lewis said the card also included a video of her late father Michael Mugavin and it was great to see him again.
"The lady was really lovely. She said she would have wanted someone to do the same for her if they'd found it, so for almost 10 years they've been looking for our family," she said.
"It's a beautiful story. There's good people in the world, kind people everywhere. She just wasn't giving up. It was a lovely story and made us all feel so nice to see the photos."
"Someone else could have found it and turfed it in the bin. You're none the wiser because you've lost it.
"It was disbelief for a while that people could be so nice and look for so long. I just couldn't believe it."