It was almost home from home when Kristina Goss visited her birthplace.

For the 48-year-old, who emigrated to Australia when she was 17, lives in an Adelaide suburb called Manningham - which was founded in the 19th century by other Bradford emigrants.

Kristina, mother to 17-year-old Tristan and 15-year-old Gemma, discovered the link when walking in a park near her home.

She had always suspected a direct connection with her birthplace because of street names such as Birkenshaw Avenue.

And a plaque in the park in memory of Florence Birkenshaw, who was born in Manningham, Bradford, in 1868, confirmed her suspicions.

She said: "The park is just at the end of our road, when the children were little we used to take them there. It's a place my children have grown up with."

During a flying visit to Bradford - her first in ten years - she revisited Lister Park in Manningham.

Kristina, a former pupil at Hanson School, Swain House, said: "We used to go to the lido there, I have many fond memories of that park."

She was spending her week in Bradford with friends and family and revisiting her favourite haunts in Yorkshire.

She said Bradford had changed markedly since her last visit.

She said: "City Hall and the new part of Centenary Square are just amazing.

"And everybody tells me that the mound of earth in the city centre is going to look wonderful," she said, referring to the site of the soon-to-be-built Broadway shopping centre.

Kristina, who emigrated with her parents and younger brother, said there were a lot of people in Australia keen to see and hear all about her trip.

She keeps in touch with the news from home through the Telegraph & Argus website www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk.

And she used the T&A community on-line notice board on the website to get in touch with a childhood friend who had emigrated from Bolton Woods to New Zealand when she was eight.

"She was trying to contact a family member of hers and I just happened to see it," said Kristina.

"I'm going to take some photos of Bolton Woods for her."

Kristina, who grew up in Bolton Woods and Swain House, worked for a year as a shorthand typist at the Central Library before emigrating.

But she said despite her fond memories of Bradford, and her warm welcome during visits to the UK, her home would remain in Manningham, Australia.

"Its a different way of life out there," she said.

e-mail: rebecca.wright@bradford.newsquest.co.uk