The children, two boys and a girl, were 5 1/2, 3 1/4, and 2 1/3 at the date of the alleged wrongful removal. They had lived in New Zealand all of their lives. The parents were not married.
On 21 March 1997 the mother took the children to Australia. On 7 April 1997 the District Court at Henderson granted the father’s application for an order preventing the removal of the children from New Zealand.
On 25 February 1998 the Australian Central Authority instituted proceedings for the return of the children under the Convention.