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  • 2016-09-13T09:00:00Z on SBS
  • 1h
  • 6h 40m (8 episodes)
  • Australia
  • English
  • Documentary
Well-known Australians play detective as they go in search of their family history, revealing secrets from the past. Taking us to all corners of Australia and the globe are six stories of individuals seeking to find the definitive answer to where they came from. Along the way secrets are uncovered and histories are revealed—from adultery and madness to children born out of wedlock and even the whiff of a right royal scandal—with each individual discovering that their ancestors form an integral part of not only their own identity, but that of the nation. Combining emotional and personal journeys with big-picture history, these inspiring and sometimes challenging stories remind us how Australians have come to be the people that we are today. Considering Australia’s multicultural background, this is a global story, with each celebrity tracing their ancestors around the world. They travel to the places where their forebears would have lived, loved and died, and learn about the hardships and hurdles their ancestors overcame. This is a fascinating chronicle of the social, ethnic and cultural evolution of Australia’s national identity.

8 episodes

Season Premiere

2016-09-13T09:00:00Z

8x01 Julia Morris

Season Premiere

8x01 Julia Morris

  • 2016-09-13T09:00:00Z50m

Award-winning stand-up comedian and host of 'I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!' Julia Morris finds her great grandfather in controversial Labor Premier J.T. Lang's intimate inner circle, and she investigates whether her grandfather was involved in the Irish Republican Army.

2016-09-20T09:00:00Z

8x02 Peter Garrett

8x02 Peter Garrett

  • 2016-09-20T09:00:00Z50m

In one of Sydney's great convict buildings, Peter Garrett discovers an ancestor at the forefront of social welfare in the colony. He'll also unearth the secret life of his grandmother who worked in a forgotten area of first Contact - the Lock Hospitals in Western Australia. More than a century later, Peter follows his grandmother to remote Bernier Island, where Indigenous Australians suspected of having venereal disease were taken by force.

2016-09-27T09:00:00Z

8x03 Delta Goodrem

8x03 Delta Goodrem

  • 2016-09-27T09:00:00Z50m

Singer-songwriter Delta Goodrem has searched for the creative connection in her ancestry - some link that would explain her own abilities. Her infectious curiosity is rewarded by the intricate adventures of her great grandmother, an enigmatic woman whose life took some unexpected twists and turns. As family secrets are revealed, Delta unveils her spirited great grandmother's passions in marvellous Melbourne.

2016-10-04T08:30:00Z

8x04 Mal Meninga

8x04 Mal Meninga

  • 2016-10-04T08:30:00Z50m

Mal Meninga goes on a deeply personal quest to discover if he's descended from an indentured labourer in a culture replete with racism, kidnapping and slavery.

2016-10-11T08:30:00Z

8x05 Rachel Griffiths

8x05 Rachel Griffiths

  • 2016-10-11T08:30:00Z50m

Actor Rachel Griffiths's journey into the past takes her back to the re-emergence of Judaism in 17th century England. She discovered that her eight-time grandfather was one of the best known Jewish capitalists in London - associated with the Royal Exchange, the Bank of England, and the British East India Company. But his business interests extended further afield, and Rachel learns he was engaged in the international slave trade.

2016-10-18T08:30:00Z

8x06 Shane Jacobson

8x06 Shane Jacobson

  • 2016-10-18T08:30:00Z50m

Shane Jacobson's father, Ron, was born into a family of carnival workers and lived in a tent until he was 21. They know nothing of their ancestry, but Shane's convinced they come from Viking stock. His crusade will take him to Finland where Shane's great grandfather took drastic steps that echo down the Jacobson line. His journey will take Shane to a medieval church where his ancestor was forced to sit on a shaming stool to atone for her sexual crimes. His search for the truth behind his Viking roots is answered, and in a farmhouse Shane finds his extended Finnish family.

2016-10-25T08:30:00Z

8x07 Jane Turner

8x07 Jane Turner

  • 2016-10-25T08:30:00Z50m

Best known for her alter ego Kath Day-Knight from the hugely popular Kath and Kim series, Jane Turner is an icon of Australian comedy. Her paternal line takes Jane back to her three-times-great grandfather, who was one of Western Australia's pioneering British settlers. Jane will uncover the desire that drove her wealthy ancestor to endure incessant misfortune. Then, uncovering her father's actions as a fighter pilot in the Korean War takes Jane inside the Demilitarised Zone on the border of North Korea.

Season Finale

2016-11-01T08:30:00Z

8x08 John Newcombe

Season Finale

8x08 John Newcombe

  • 2016-11-01T08:30:00Z50m

John Newcombe's search will propel him back to a pivotal time in NSW when the penal colony was transforming into a democracy. John's paternal ancestor played an important role in the fight for freedom of the press. But behind the facade of middle-class respectability, John will discover his two-times-great grandmother was hiding her convict past. Then, exploring his maternal line, John follows his three-times great grandfather's footsteps to the Loyalty Islands, now part of New Caledonia. John's forebear was hoping to trade sandalwood, but the expedition was a disaster. At the site of a bloody ambush John learns of the cannibalistic tribe his ancestor encountered.

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