It's difficult for Roger McCampbell to say if he has found closure for what happened to his family.
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"In your mind you build a barrier, I call it a mental wall, so I can know about and think about what happened, but I keep it separate from my everyday thoughts," he said.
"But then there will be some days that something will break the wall down."
This Saturday will be one of those days. It marks the 60th anniversary of the violent death of his stepfather, Constable Kenneth Coussens, his mother, Elizabeth and his infant brother, Bruce.
"I remember she had blue eyes, and I've inherited her blue eyes."
- Roger McCampbell
The event is infamous in Bega's recent history. In the early hours of July 29, 1957, a homemade bomb planted by Myron Kelly obliterated the Coussens family home and shocked surrounding residents out of their beds and on to the streets.
The attack was the fatal conclusion to a bitter dispute between Kelly and the constable, who regularly targeted the local farmer with traffic infringements.
Mr McCampbell was the lone survivor of the attack. He was only nine years old at the time, but remembers the night clearly.
"The house was gone, just gone," he said.
After the blast, Mr McCampbell saw a neighbour and a friend of his parents beyond the rubble.
"He lived just a few doors down, when I saw him I ran to him straight away," he said.
"There were other kids who lived on my street I used to play with, they had woken up in the night and we stayed together at one of their houses until my uncle arrived."
His uncle then took him to be with the rest of his family at his great aunt's house.
"why can't I sleep at night? Why am I so scared in certain situations? Why do I always think that someone is out to get me?"
- Roger McCampbell
But some of the details following the death of his family aren't as clear for Mr McCampbell.
As a boy, he was called to testify at the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney.
"All I remember is waiting outside the court and sitting up in the stand," he said.
"I don't remember anything except a lawyer telling me I can't lie in court, but I don't remember what they asked or what I said."
Back in Bega, Mr McCampbell returned to school shortly after the attack, but this time is also hazy in his memory.
"I do remember going back to school, but I don't remember much about it."
Mr McCampbell doesn't know what the kids at school thought what happened to him. It wasn't something that he talked about with the other pupils of Bega Primary School.
"Maybe other kids did talk about it, but not with me, I never heard them speak about it," he said.
He only has one memory of another student talking about his stepfather.
"I was out of class and walking down the school corridor," he said.
"A group of boys were coming from the opposite direction. One of them called out to me and said his dad was glad that my dad was dead."
"It brings back a lot of things to be in Bega."
- Roger McCampbell
Both sides of Mr McCampbell's family agreed that it would be beneficial for him to move to America, where his biological father was born.
Mr McCampbell lived on his mother's sister's farm for a year after his family's death, but said the move to America allowed him to escape the painful atmosphere that surrounded the event.
He moved in with his father's cousin, who had three sons of his own. Mr McCampbell said his American home in Knoxville, Tennessee was the close and comforting environment he needed during his teenage years.
It wasn't until 1965 that Mr McCampbell returned to Australia to spend his summer holidays with his unwell grandmother in Bega. This journey made him reconsider his future.
"It was after that trip, when I got back to America, that I knew I wanted to live in Australia again," he said.
Two years later, when he finished high school, he moved back to his aunt's farm in Bega.
"I feel robbed really, there's no other way to say it."
- Roger McCampbell
Almost 50 years later, Mr McCampbell now lives in Sydney. He occasionally returns to Bega, but only visits some places.
"I will always go to the cemetery to visit their grave, and I've visited the memorial plaque at the police station," he said.
"But I don't visit the house, I don't like to do that.
"It brings back a lot of things to be in Bega."
Mr McCampbell said he only had fragmented memories of his baby brother, but remembers his mother dearly.
"To me she was the perfect mother, she never did anything to upset me, she was always so loving and so kind," he said.
"I feel robbed really, there's no other way to say it."
But he is glad there is a part of his mother that he has been able to keep.
"I remember she had blue eyes, and I've inherited her blue eyes."
Those familiar with Mr McCampbell’s story know that the Bega Bombing was not his first brush with death.
His biological father died in a car crash in America. Mr McCampbell and his mother were in the back seat but escaped relatively unharmed.
While some may consider him lucky, Mr McCampbell doesn't always see it that way.
"The house was gone, just gone"
- Roger McCampbell
"While I had full support of my extended family on both sides, I never had any professional help to talk about what happened in my childhood," he said.
"There were always questions running through my head, 'why can't I sleep at night? Why am I so scared in certain situations? Why do I always think that someone is out to get me?'"
Because he had to work through his trauma on his own, he said processing and controlling his emotions has been a continuous challenge.
As well as emotional assistance, Mr McCampbell had to recover without any financial assistance from the police department or the government for his loss.
"Now days you hear of people being compensated for everything that goes wrong,' he said.
"I guess it was before anything like that was thought of."
Mr McCampbell will not attend the wreath laying by Bega police on Saturday, but appreciates the continuing thoughts of the community that keep the memories of his parents and his brother alive.
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