Friends reunited

A 40-year search for a long lost friend has ended thanks to an article published in the North West Telegraph.

Friends Dick Davidson and Pablo Dann worked together on a boat off the East Coast of Australia and parted ways in mid-1968.

Mr Davidson, now residing in Tasmania, had been searching for Mr Dann since that day.

When the Dann family featured in the article “Foster carer rewards too great to pass up” in May, Mr Dann appeared on Mr Davidson’s computer and a call to the Telegraph confirmed it was really him.

“I’d frequently go back up there to work on rig boats and tug boats between Port Hedland and Broome and I’d always ask around to see if anyone had heard of Pablo,” Mr Davidson said.

“No one ever had, it seemed as though he had disappeared off the face of the Earth, I thought maybe he was long gone.

“When I got the internet at home I typed his name into my ‘favourites’ in the hope he would pop up one day.

“I saw the article and I knew it had to be him in the photo.”

Mr Davidson recalled the fascination he had with the diving skills of his long-lost mate who once had some of the best skills in the country.

Both men had not been in contact with anyone else since working on the project in 1968 so a sense of closure was felt by both.

Mr Dann, born and raised in Port Hedland and the son of local identity Matt Dann, said the two were good mates when they were younger and had a long chat on the phone.