Derrinallum bomb man’s ‘lost’ daughter emerges

The man who blew up his property and has put the town of Derrinallum in lockdown had two young grandchildren.

The heartbreaking thing was that he didn’t know.

“It’s all a bit sad,” daughter Hollie said. “This is really strange for me. It’s come after all these years.

“Fate had it that we just weren’t meant to meet.”

The 22-year-old, who did not want her last name revealed, never met her father. And she never got to tell him about her son, Saul 2, and baby daughter Skye, who was born just two weeks ago.

Her mother, Louise, was a teenager when she met Sanders during a weekend trip from Melbourne. 

She was staying in Warrnambool with relatives and the pair was introduced at a car show in Derrinallum.

A romance soon blossomed and after a few years they were engaged. But Sanders’ dangerous behaviour worried Louise and she called the wedding off just a week before they were due to walk down the aisle.

She had also discovered she was pregnant. Sanders had a fascination for explosives and drank heavily.  “Mum said he would drink and try to show off by driving dangerously when she was in the car,” Hollie said.

“He would spin the tyres on the road until he’d blow them like doing a burn-out and when they went camping, he’d throw petrol on the fire.”

Hollie said her father sourced the explosives from a relative who worked in the mines and he would often head to nearby Mount Elephant where he would blow up rocks and concrete blocks.

“He used to stow shotguns and firearms in the back bedroom of the house and would make cartridges with his own pellets.”

When Louise cancelled the wedding, Sanders’ father Keith threatened he would never let his son see her again.

She was 19 when Hollie was born.

“Glenn found out and he later tried to get in contact with me and mum but his father was so controlling. The local townspeople knew nothing of me or my mum.”

Keith Sanders died in 1998 but by that stage Louise and Hollie had shifted homes around four states.

Although Glenn Sanders is not listed on her birth certificate, he had a blood test to confirm he was her father and willingly paid child support until she was 18.

Hollie now lives in Western Australia where she is studying to be a nurse and is engaged to her children’s father.

Yesterday, Louise sent flowers on behalf of the family to the Ballarat hospital where Sanders’ mother Margaret is terminally ill.

“Mum said she was always willing to be part of our lives. I guess it’s nice that she now knows about her great-grandchildren. They are both happy and healthy kids,” Hollie said.