Introduction
In seeking to learn about my family history, I realise I am taking part in an activity of enduring fascination to human beings!
From ancient times, humans have had a deep and abiding interest in ancestors. Bones might be kept close or sites where remains are placed, visited. Stories of ancestral exploits are drawn upon in the creation of the mythological fabric by which a person or society explains itself. Narratives of identity have long implicated a sense of ancestral antecedence - 'Where we come from', and how this informs understanding of 'who I am'.
While we might not keep the bones or dust of ancestors under the bed, today, we can draw on a range of means of keeping our ancestors close, such as via genealogical pursuits.
Having scant information about my forebears has energised my quest to learn more about my genetic and social inheritance. This knowledge adds to the complexity by which I can contemplate my own questions of belonging and identity.
From childhood I have longed to know more about those with whom I'm related. As a child growing up in Black Rock, Victoria, my small nuclear family had limited contact with interstate relatives. I knew little beyond that my father was from the Darling Downs area of Queensland where his parents were share farmers, and my mother had grown up in 'The Stockade', Yatala Labour Prison, South Australia, where her father was a senior guard.
Following retirement from academia, I've engaged with genetic genealogy (using traditional document based and genetic evidence) to learn more about my family history. I share here what I have learned, in the hope that this will be of interest to others.
