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Who Do You Think You Are Project Page

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Surnames/tags: Australia Notables
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Genealogy in the Media Project

Source Citation:

The goal of this project is to add the information presented on the SBS show "Who do you think you are?" to WikiTree, and join the featured people to the main tree.

Contents

Members

Please note an empty page will be returned when clicking on any of the links above where the individuals are still living and not verified as meeting the current (202307) criteria for a Living Notable.

Here are some of the tasks that I think need to be done. I'll be working on them. Help!

  • Check if all of the people who have been the subject of an episode have already been profiled on WikiTree and link it to the table
  • Rewatch favorite episodes (you know you want to!) and add profiles for the people featured in the show
  • Copy and paste this category into the profile of the celebrity,
  • Add to the tree until they join to the main tree
  • Can anyone make this page look better?

List of Episodes (Wikipedia page)

(Edit 28 Jul 2021) I have added lines between the names below, in preparation for episode summaries to be added at some later date.

Season 1 (2008)

Kate Ceberano (living)
   │      ┌Thomas Joyce
   │  ┌Charles Douglas Joyce (1910-)
   │  │  │  ┌James Stuart
   │  │  └Edith Lopez
   │  │      │  ┌Henry Munday (No profile found but would be Notable)
   │  │      └Lavinia Munday
   │  │          │  ┌Major Thomas Lord (No profile found but would be Notable)
   │  │          └Lavinia Lord
   │  │              └Susan Greenslade
   └Cherie Joyce (Living)
       │      ┌Thomas Charles Good (1835-abt.1909)
       │  ┌Alfred Edmund Good (1878-1956)
       │  │  └Margaret Ann (Robinson) Good (bef.1855-1933)
       └Kathleen Hammond (Good) Joyce (1913-1999)
           │  ┌August Anderson (abt.1852-1942)
           └Elizabeth Mary (Anderson) Good (1883-1965)
               └Maria (Prideaux) Anderson (1858-1937)

In this episode, Geoffrey traces his paternal side to Scotland and a social experiment that bought starving Scots to Sydney. The Robertson's journey didn't end there however. They ventured west, to the Snowy Mountains. The family would eventually make their way back to Sydney where Geoffrey was born.

Looking at photos of family on his maternal side, Geoffrey notes that his mother's ancestors were far better off then that of his father's. He learns that his great-grandparents had emigrated from Germany and are stewards to some of Australia's first elected officials. During a meeting with a cousin there is mention of a family myth, that Geoffrey's great-great-grandmother is a princess. Geoffrey travels to Berlin to find out if there is any truth to the rumour.

Unfortunately at the time of the episode, the question of whether royal blood is running through Geoffrey's veins was left unanswered. Since the episode aired, it has been confirmed that Agnes Kroll is indeed a secret princess.

               ┌Alexander Robertson
           ┌William (Red Bill) Robertson
           │  └Christina McLeod
       ┌Harold Robertson
   ┌Frank Robertson
   │  └Florence Watson
Geoffrey Ronald Robertson (living)
   │  ┌Henry Herbert Beattie
   └Joy Beattie (Living)
       │  ┌Harry Bullock
       └Bernice Angus Bullock
           │  ┌Karl Friedrich Ludwig Louis Dettmann
           └Jane Dettmann
               │  ┌Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig Hohenzollern)
               └Caroline Sophia Agnes Kroll
                  └Eliza Fryderyka Luiza Marta Radziwiłł

Cathy wants to know from where does her sportmanship and tenacity stem. She finds the answer in the town of Cherbourg, Queensland where her paternal grandfather and great-grandfather were born. Her great-grandfather, Frank, enlisted in the AIF in 1917, he would go on to fight for Australia in Egypt during WWI. His son, Frank "Bigshot" Fisher, was a local legend on the rugby field.

Cathy now looks to her mother's grandfather, George, who's father was born in Dorset, England, working in dairies from a young age and making the move to Australia at 18 years old. The prospect of free passage and land ownership may have been what drew him to Queensland. He met Maggie, George's mother, and they had at least one child together. Some time later he married and started another family.

George's wife, Annie, was the daughter of a Chinese father and Aboriginal mother. The researchers found the records of two men that may have been Annie's father. Despite genealogical work done by early historians there was not enough evidence to say for sure which of the men was Cathy's ancestor.

George, his wife and their five children had lived around Mount Molloy, west of Port Douglas, Queensland. However, the family were sent to the penal colony on Palm Island. This was seemingly due to George exercising his right to choose his employment conditions, like any other free man. Their son, also named George, would marry Alice on the island and they would bring Cathy's mother into the world.

          ┌Frank Fisher Sr.
       ┌Frank "Bigshot" Fisher
   ┌Norman Freeman 1993
   │  └Geraldine Roy
Catherine Freeman (living)
   │          ┌George Charles Sibley
   │      ┌George Patrick Sibley
   │      │  └Maggie Daintree
   │  ┌George Salvaggi Sibley
   │  │  │  ┌Tommy Ah Sam
   │  │  └Annie Ah Sam
   │  │      └Maggie Croydon
   └Cecelia Sibley (living)
        └Alice Mero

Season 2 (2009)

Season 3 (2010-11)

Season 4 (2012)

Season 5 (2013)

Season 6 (2014)

  • Episode 1: Andrew Denton - no Wikitree profile as at 22 Apr 2018
  • Episode 3: Jacki Weaver - no Wikitree profile as at 22 Apr 2018
  • Episode 4: Richard Roxburgh - no Wikitree profile as at 22 Apr 2018
  • Episode 5: Amanda Keller but year of birth is wrong should be 1962
  • Episode 7: Lisa McCune - no Wikitree profile as at 22 Apr 2018
  • Episode 8: Paul McDermott

Season 7 (2015)

  • Episode 3: Luke Nguyen
  • Episode 4: David Wenham. Info added, not yet linked to the main tree. Note: David Wenham is very likely a family member of David's foster father, Edward Richard Wenham.
  • Episode 6: Peter Rowsthorn - no Wikitree profile as at 22 Apr 2018

Season 8 (2016)

  • Episode 2: Peter Garrett - Information added. Could only start from great-grandparents as no information other than names were given for his parents and paternal grandparents in the episode. Peter's entry contains all individuals and their relationship at the end of the biography. Assistance welcomed.
  • Episode 4: Mal Meninga
  • Episode 6: Shane Jacobsen
  • Episode 7: Jane Turner - no Wikitree profile as at 22 Apr 2018


Season 9 (2018)

  • Episode 2: Charlie Teo
  • Episode 4: John Jarratt Info added, not yet connected to the main tree
  • Episode 6: Todd McKenney


Season 10 (2019)

  • Episode 1: Scott Cam
  • Episode 2: Jennifer Byrne
  • Episode 3: Marta Dusseldorp
  • Episode 4: Karl Kruszelnicki
  • Episode 5: Casey Donovan
  • Episode 6: Kurt Fearnley
  • Episode 7: Kerri-Anne Kennerley
  • Episode 8: Rodger Corser

Season 11 (2020)

  • Episode 1: Lisa Wilkinson screen date 19 May 2020
  • Episode 3: Cameron Daddo screen date 2 Jun 2020
  • Episode 4: Lisa Curry screen date 9 Jun 2020
  • Episode 5: Denise Scott screen date 16 Jun 2020
  • Episode 6: Kat Stewart screen date 23 Jun 2020

Maternal great grandparents Myles Devine and Eliza Redman arrived in Geelong, Australia on 4 May 1854 from County Wicklow, Ireland and they settled in Collingwood, Victoria.

  • Episode 8: Troy Cassar-Daley screen date 7 Jul 2020

Season 12 (2021)

  • Episode 1: Celia Pacquola screen date 6 Jun 2021

On her mother's side, Celia looked into the life of John Rae (b 1813-1900) who became the Town Clerk of the City of Sydney in 1843. John Rae married Elizabeth Thompson in 1845. Their son John Charles Rae drowned in Rushcutters Bay (then as Rushcutters' Bay), part of Sydney Harbour. Celia also looked into William Sherwin, who is related to her through her ancestor Amy Rae. William Sherwin was a member of the NSW Corps.

  • Episode 3: Denise Drysdale screen date 22 Jun 2021

Denise looked into the history of her 3x great grandparents John Fanning and Mary Macnamara, who as a family travelled to Australia on the ill-fated ship Ticonderoga, a 'fever' ship in which many of the people on board were affected by typhus. On her paternal name, she looked into her Drysdale ancestors, where it was revealed that Drysdale was an adopted surname from a valley near Dumfries by a group of people who were running away from the law. Denise's great grandparents were James Drysdale (b Alloa, Clackmannanshire) and Betsy Cregan, who married in Melbourne, Victoria in 1872.

  • Episode 4: Jeff Fatt screen date 29 Jun 2021

Jeff's episode featured his maternal grandmother, Suk Fong (Rose) Ho, who married David Wong Lee on 2 Mar 1901 at the (Chinese Christian) Manse, Mary Street, Surry Hills. He also looked into an English ancestor Elizabeth Wright (1830-1892) who married John A. Young (an anglicised version of Lee Yung or Young) on 1 Jan 1856. John (known as Lee) worked for the colonial court system in the Victorian goldfield districts of Ballarat, Ararat and Stawell.

  • Episode 6: Grant Denyer screen date 13 Jul 2021

Grant's family tree showed that his 2x great grandparents were Charles Denyer and Cathleener Ward, and his relative wanted him to look further into Cathleener Ward. Unfortunately the story was extremely sordid, and Catheleneer's father, Charles Kennard Ward, was shown to be a very disreputable individual. The black episode in Grant's family history commenced with the death of Charles' wife, Sally in 1867, whereby Mary Ann, the eldest daughter was required to assume the role occupied by Sally, in more ways than simply looking after and caring for the other children. Grant's direct ancestor Alfred William Denyer was the husband of Isabella Ross, the last in a long line of Rosses who hailed from the Ross and Cromarty 'county' of Scotland, and where Highland Cattle were farmed by Isabella's forebears. The Ross family were one of thousands subjected to the particularly awful episode in British history known as the Highland Clearances, which saw hundreds of thousands of Scots emigrate to places like Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Isabella's grandparents William Ross and Anne Ross arrived in Geelong in 1855.

  • Episode 7: Chris Bath screen date 20 Jul 2021

Chris looked further into the life of her 2x great grandfather Joseph Springall who arrived on the Star of England in the port of Moreton Bay (Brisbane) on 17 Sep 1863. Over the course of his life, Joseph married 3 women but none of them fared all that well. His first wife, Clara Morris (b Brentwood, Essex) died in 1875, having given birth to 6 children. Second wife Alice Morgan whom Joseph married in 1878 died not long after from tuberculosis. Joseph then married Annie Elizabeth Bennett (b Geelong), but who curiously often went by the name Annetta, which the consultant told us was an Italian version of Annie, and could possibly be the person behind a "Spanish governess" family myth. On her paternal line, Chris looked into the story behind the Hagenow (aka Hogno) family of Walcha. Her 2x great grandfather, Alfred Bath married Sophia Hagenow, the daughter of Johann Hagenow and Caroline Werner.

After viewing an extended family tree, Natalie wanted to look further into Philip Hogan, an Irish Catholic convict transported to Australia, along with his wife-to-be, Mary McMahon, who was also an Irish Catholic convict, but who had committed a much less serious offence. After marrying Philip, she then wrote to NSW Governor Lachlan Macquarie, seeking a pardon for Philip. Mary remained active in petitioning seeking fairer outcomes for her family, particularly one of her children, who was charged with killing his wife by drowning. Natalie's desire to know where her desire to perform emanates, led her to an ancestor called Wilhelmina Bassmann who was active in the performing arts scene in Sydney, Corowa and Orange. Her husband, Henry Eastwick, also came from a strong tradition of performing artists.

Season 13 (2022)

Season 14 (2023)

Example of sourcing if you are going to use the show as a secondary source:

  • Warner Bros. International Television Productions, 2018, Who Do You Think You Are, Season 9, Episode 1 (57), Leonie Elva (Noni) Hazlehurst AM, screen date 17 April 2018, SBS One, Australian domestic broadcast

Will you join me? Please post a comment here on this page, in G2G using the project tag, or send me a private message. Thanks!





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Haese-11 Kylie Haese
Hi, I seen your post on FB and love the show. I will help out. It is a great excuse to re-watch the episodes :)
posted by Kylie Haese
Private (Hayes) Living
i am interested but really not sure where or (how) to begin ??
posted by Private (Hayes) Living

Categories: Sources by Name | Who Do You Think You Are (AUS)