Six Spread Far And Wide

Now nearly 47, the famous Rosenkowitz sextuplets have made lives for themselves all over the world

- Jana Van Der Merwe

They weren’t all expected to live – sextuplets were rare back in the 1970s and the six babies were really tiny, weighing from just over 2kg to barely a kilogram.

But the Rosenkowitz sextuplets were soon making history. They became the first sextuplets to survive infancy and now as they turn 47, they’re the longest surviving sextuplets in the world.

They’re preparing for another birthday, yet another milestone in a story that thrilled people around the globe and put South Africa firmly on the map.

The sextuplets – David, Grant, Jason, Emma, Nicolette and Elizabeth – featured in the media regularly over the years. There are snaps of them dressed in matching outfits for their birthday parties; posing with their dad on an extra-long bicycle; on their way to school with their identical suitcases; and later on their 21st birthday, when each young adult proclaimed his or her independence.

“We’re individuals, each with our path,” Emma said at the time. They were only famous for having survived, they said, and they wanted to make their own way in the world.

“Some people are born famous and others work for it,” David said. “I’d rather be famous through hard work and dedication.”

Yet like it or not, their fame lives on. Australian current affairs show Insight interviewed the sextuplets’ dad, Colin (now 86), who shared how he’d been forced to work in the clothing industry until the age of 83 because of the financial demands of caring for such a large family.

He and the sextuplets’ mom, Susan, from whom he split in 1988, also have two older kids, Samantha and Anthony.

The sextuplets live in different countries now, Colin revealed.