John Jarratt

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Biography

John Jarratt is an Australian film and television actor, producer and director.

John was born in 1952. He is the son of Bruce Robert Jarratt and Helen Jarratt (nee Cole).^[1] He grew up in the small Illawarra township of Wongawilli. Jarratt has been married three times (to Rosa Miano, Noni Hazlehurst and Cody Jarrett).^[1] These marriage have produced a total of 6 children^[1].

In an episode of the Australian version of Who Do You Think You Are, John dug deeper into the family history relating to two of his maternal ancestors. John thought that he had part Chinese ancestry on his mother's side of the family tree.^[1]

The first person he investigated was his great-grandfather George Hamilton. George's father is officially recorded as "John Hamilton" on his birth certificate, but newspaper articles of the day in The Monaro Mercury and The Age, indicated that his 2xgreat grandmother was involved with someone other than her husband. The papers named this man as 'Chew Qaong' and 'Che Chong' respectively, but as was explained to John, Chinese names were often just written down phonetically and no-one can be sure of the exact spelling of the name.^[1] Later on, his 2xgreat grandmother Martha married this Chinese man but not before he was falsely accused of murdering her. The name on the marriage certficate was registered as 'Ah Yot' but as Richard Mellick explained to the viewers, the sound 'Ah' represents a Chinese character whose meaning is sort of like the way that we might use the words "brother/sister" or "cousin" to mean another related person, not necessarily the genealogical definition of these terms.^[1] Elsewhere in the marriage document the name 'Kong Yott' appears and according to Dr. Sophie Jensen, from the National Museum of Australia, this is most likely the more formal version of his 2xgreat grandfather's name.^[1]. Jarratt also undertook a DNA test the result of which showed approx. 3% of his ancestry to be 'Asian'. Further, the DNA test report which showed a picture of the Asian region had the area where China is located depicted in a different colour.

Jarratt then received a call from his cousin, who told him to go and have a look at a person by the name of Lynn Shepherd. The surname Shepherd was completely new to Jarratt. We learnt that Lynn Shepherd (b 1795) married Elizabeth Mariner (b 1792) in Arnold, Nottinghamshire, England in 1817 and shortly afterwards enlisted in the British Army, serving in the 69th Regiment against Napoleon's forces at the Battle of Quatre Bras, which predated the Battle of Waterloo.^[1] Lynn and his wife travel to the colony of New South Wales under the NSW Veterans Scheme on the Orpheus in 1826 where shortly after arriving in Port Jackson, he is given a grant of 80 acres of land at Bong Bong.^[1] At this particular time in Australia's history the weather conditions were not favourable for farming and many veterans who came to the antipodes on the promise of land find that they are not able to grow anything. Jarratt finds Lynn in the records for Parramatta Gaol, on a (it later turns out to be wrongful imprisonment) charge of highway robbery, where after having partaken in an alcoholic beverage or two he ends up committing a crime against William Conovan.^[1]

Persons charged with highway robbery usually received the death penalty but Shepherd was lucky in that the judge decided to exercise some leniency and the sentence was commuted to transportation (to Norfolk Island) for life. Shepherd had plead not guilty during his trial and his wife and family falling upon severe economic hardship petition the Colonial Secretary for further leniency but to no avail. It is not until Shepherd, whilst working in a prison gang, is overhead talking to another convict called William Lee during which Lee confesses to having committed that particular crime. Realising that Shepherd has been wrongfully accused, the administrator on Norfolk Island writes to the Colonial Secretary seeking have the charges quoshed.^[1] Shepherd is released in 1841. He makes his way back to the mainland where he dies shortly after in 1845 at Murray Flats. His wife Elizabeth dies in 1872.

In this episode, Jarratt is assisted by a number of academics as well as local historians in the Braidwood and Bong Bong areas and on Norfolk Island.

Family Tree (names in italics were not revealed during the show)

Grandparent (of Helen Cole): Emma Anastasia Hush and William A Cole.
Note: Emma Anastasia and her siblings were born to George Hamilton before he was married to Catherine Shepherd. Catherine was originally married to Charles Hush. Charles died in 1915

Great grandparents: George Hamilton and Catherine Hamilton (nee Shepherd)

2x great grandparents (through George Hamilton): Kong Yott and Martha Yott (formerly Hamilton, nee Rockwell)

2 x great grandparent of Catherine Shepherd): John Shepherd

3 x great grandparents (through John Shepherd): Lynn Shepherd and Elizabeth Shepherd (nee Mariner)

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10} Warner Bros. International Television Productions, 2018, Who Do You Think You Are, Season 9, Episode 4 (61), John Jarratt, screen date 8 May 2018, SBS One, Australian domestic broadcast

• Wikipedia: John Jarratt
• Wikidata: Item Q592869, en:Wikipedia