Original subtitles

The world splits into colourful segments which form part of the SBS logo.

I had this ambition to call the Melbourne Cup when I was five years old.

And I practised.

I had two whips under my bed. One was a smaller one that was for the horses and

one was a longer one that was for the trots.

It just felt natural.

It felt right for me.

All right, Corey Mayen, what a nuisance! What a nuisance wins the fastest

Melbourne Cup!

Bruce McIverney realised his childhood ambition by the age of 32, soon becoming

the voice of Australian sport.

For almost five decades...

Bruce has delivered his award -winning passion and expertise across multiple

sporting codes.

They've done it. What a team.

That's what it's all about.

Culminating in the summit of athletic excellence.

Away Freeman Outwell, a mighty roar surrounds the stadium.

When I'm asked my favourite career memory, it's pretty obvious.

The Sydney Olympics, it was the Cathy Freeman race.

This is a famous victory.

I make magnificent performance.

I've had a lot of opportunities and done things I didn't expect to do. But in

the 70s, you would think you would probably be satisfied. But I've found as

got older that I'm just as ambitious.

Bruce is gazing out at an empty racecourse.

I've been determined now for nearly 50 years to try and be the best I possibly

can. And I certainly got that from my mother and father.

Bruce's parents are Roy Donald McEvaney, born in 1925, and Betty Marjorie Allen,

born in 1927.

Both my parents were sportsmen.

It was the stories they told me, you know, whether it be a win at the races,

aura of a Bradman, and, you know, I was forever asking questions.

I got a lot of joy out of...

Having the opportunity that I was given while they were alive to see that I was

living a dream, and they had a lot to do with that dream.

With an enduring love for his parents, Bruce is now seeking to enrich his

knowledge of family history.

I love my family, but I don't know a whole lot about the generations before

Mum passed away in 2004 and Dad died in 2009.

I hope by understanding their families and

beyond, I'm going to feel a bit closer to them. And that's going to be lovely

for me.

I think as you get older, and I've certainly done that, you do wonder why

you ambitious in certain areas and useless at others.

You've got to blame somebody.

It can't be all your fault.

discovering his ancestors.

What a wonderful thing to be able to actually see them.

Bruce McIverney stopped in his tracks.

I'm speechless.

Doesn't happen often.

Unearths a family fracture.

Something monumental must have happened.

And tragic loss.

They're quite distressing.

I see my mum staying over.

A series of celebrities standing in a variety of outdoor locations.

Essie Evans posing in front of yachts. Guy Sebastian dancing near a pale brown

temple. Aaron Peterson with tufts of outback bushes.

Chrissy Swann in front of a stone church.

Curtis Stone folding his arms near a train, Matt Day in front of a bare tree,

Rosie Batty smiling on a sunlit field, and Bruce McEvaney standing in the main

street of an old Australian town.

The title grows in the form of a family tree.

Who do you think you are?

Two dogs are playing on a beach.

It's fresh, isn't it? Yep. Come on, round you go.

Round you go. That's a girl.

Bruce McEvaney, the lifelong South Australian.

He and his wife Annie Johnson raised their two children, Sam and Alexandra,

Adelaide, known by its first people as Tandania.

So my feeling and my relationship with this city is it's one of the longing.

Isn't it beautiful?

It's the greatest city there was for me.

Yes, we're very happy.

Birds take flight.

It's a cliche, but I am a proud South Australian.

Near and dear.

The second of three children, Bruce was born in 1953 and raised in the north

-western Adelaide suburb of Ferriton Park.

We were working -class people.

We had a tiny house, and it was a house that was built around...

playing cricket in summer and footy in winter and going to the races.

So it was a lot of fun growing up. My mother, Betty, was one of the most

positive people I've ever met in my life.

She was a very, very strong woman, but not in an aggressive

way.

My mother was very protective.

I'm smiling about Dad.

Roy Donald, Alf we used to call him. I had a great relationship with him. I

him. I loved him dearly.

He left school when he was 13.

He had no formal education, but he studied and became an investigations

in the taxation department.

Look, he was a very determined man.

He could inspire me.

My grandfather, that's Dad's dad, Roy Clifford. I found him entertaining.

We'd go to the football occasionally.

I never knew in that world to be truthful.

But his daughters, I don't think they approved of him in some ways.

I think he might have been a bit of a philanderer.

So that side of the family, I'm thinking were mainly Irish.

And I don't know much after that.

What I'd love to know is what were their ambitions?

Were they driven?

I'm not going to be judging them.

but I'm certainly a little nervous about what I might find out.

Curious about his forebears, Bruce is beginning his investigation at home,

his wife Annie has done some research on his paternal line.

I find it a little disconcerting that you might know more about my family than

do. You're a really close family. You spend every weekend with family members,

didn't you?

We did, but there's big gaps in what I know and what I don't know. This might

make it a bit clearer with your family tree.

You know the McIverneys go to Irish heritage.

So you, Bruce William, Dad, Roy Donald, his father, so your grandfather,

Roy Clifford McIverney, your great -grandfather, Edward Patrick, married

Eliza Christenden.

There's this other name.

Crittenden, and they go so far back.

I know that your three -times great -grandfather, Samuel Crittenden, was

English.

Following his paternal line, Bruce's three -times great -grandfather is

Crittenden Senior, who married Jemima Gaskin in the English county of Kent in

1829.

How many of them lived in Australia?

Ah, that's a good question. This is the Register of Immigrant Labourers applying

for free passage to South Australia, but look at the date.

1838. That's how Australia was basically first settled in 1836. So this is

almost right from the beginning.

Yeah. So you come down here to a Samuel Crittenden.

Ah. Your three -times great -grandfather, he was a woodcutter from a

called Capston in Kent.

And his wife, Jemima, 26.

And then you can see they've got children travelling with them. Two boys,

and one and a half.

Four girls, nine.

and a four -year -old and twins. One week when they registered their twins.

They had their hands full. The other thing, there is a Crittenden Reserve and

Crittenden Road past Smithfield, and you'd think that if they were early

pioneering families, that could be a link.

Good place to start.

Intrigued by the Crittenden landmarks his wife Annie has identified...

Bruce is travelling 40 kilometres north of central Adelaide to Smithfield.

Oh, Crittenden Road. There it is. We're on it.

At Crittenden Reserve... Hi, Bruce.

How are you, Heidi? Good to meet you. ..he sought out the expertise of

historian Dr Heidi Ng.

You're...? Three times great -grandparents, Samuel and Jemima,

Australia in 1839. They came into Port Adelaide. And your great -grandfather,

Samuel Jr., he was only two and a half when they actually sailed and arrived in

South Australia. So he was only a little toddler.

The next time we see the family is in the 1841 South Australian census. The

family has their two boys, one of them being Samuel Jr.

Yes. But they only have one little girl. So they have gone from having the four

little girls to only one. They only have their oldest.

We don't know what the little girl died of, but diseases were rampant,

especially for small children.

It's a sad story.

It is. But they have their three children and they're continuing their

South Australia.

So you know that where they originated from in England was Kent.

So when they were trying to get labourers to South Australia, to entice

there was the argument that if they saved, if they were frugal, if they

for a number of years, there would be the possibility for land ownership.

Distinct from other settlements, South Australia was not established as a

convict colony.

Founded in 1836 on the principles of systematic colonisation, It emphasised

settlement and a self -sufficient society.

To accommodate the colony's ambitions to create a pastoral economy, vast areas

of fertile terrain around the Adelaide Plains were appropriated from its

traditional owners, the Kaurna people.

There was the intention in South Australia under systematic colonisation

First Nations people across South Australia would be possibly compensated,

would be a seeding of land.

Now, when it came to...

practicalities and realities that didn't actually always eventuate.

So in South Australia, your three -time great -grandfather, Samuel, he leased

land until we have this document.

Right.

So it's a land deed? It is.

For Samuel Crittenden.

25th day of October, it says, in 1848. So he's been here for a little while.

He's done some hard yards. Yeah.

So nearly a decade.

Yes. And the property's 80 acres, 3164 Manaparas. The name Manapara, are you

familiar with that? I am familiar with it, yeah. In Ghanamiana language, that

Golden Wattle Creek.

So hence, this is why we're out here today.

Okay. This is quite moving, to be honest.

Think about that, all those years ago, 170 or 180 years ago. What a deed, eh?

This particular piece of land was a little bit over that way.

Boy, that's significant for

me.

Little did I know.

Could you imagine how he would have felt that day after a promise from England,

coming out here, three children lost, hard work, and then...

getting to where he wanted to get to in many ways.

What a moment for him and his family.

Gliding over green and grey tufts in the wetlands.

And for me to think aloud now, because I think about the First Nations people,

they didn't really get rewarded.

So that gives it another context, doesn't it?

He continued to work and in 1850 he managed to buy another

80 acres of land.

And that is where we are today.

It's amazing to think that this beautiful park at one stage had a

with my family.

I'm feeling a bit emotional and I didn't think I would.

Bruce has short grey hair.

Heidi.

So Samuel and Jemima built their house on this property. They needed a large

house because they had had an additional nine children since arriving in the

colony.

And while they were living on this property, the other property, section

was rising in value quite dramatically.

And I've got another document to show you why.

So this is a plan of the township of West Smithfield,

1858. So basically a decade after he first purchased it, he just swallowed

land. And it would seem as if, well, streets have been created. That's right.

The reason he's subdividing it is because...

The next door neighbour, John Smith, has already subdivided his land to become

the town of Smithfield.

So what Samuel did is see an opportunity.

So he decides to subdivide a portion of his land to become West Smithfield. And

it brings in over 700 pounds in sales.

That is a substantial amount of money at that time.

It's a good business plan.

Is there significance with the street names? I mean, obviously I can see

Street there.

Yes, Samuel Street for Samuel Jr, your great -great -grandfather.

It's a revelation that I didn't expect to know about. I have no connection with

this area and I have no idea that he was, I guess, a person of some standing.

In South Australia, Samuel Crittenden and Jemima were very active in the local

community. Now, I have another document, an extract from a newspaper.

Okay, so general news. April the 18th, 1868.

The trotting match between Mr. Francis Starr's bay mayor and Mr. Alfred's grey

mayor came off on Friday afternoon on the road behind Smithfield.

The course being from the Salem Chapel to Mr. Samuel Crittenden's property.

They got away well.

Star was riding the bay, Long was riding the grey. The former broke six times.

You don't want a break in a harness racing trotting. It took them 12

was three miles in the third, so it's a stay of test.

There were a lot of people there, and the business was suspended in

so it was almost like a public holiday.

That is near and dear to my heart.

I've got to tell you, I wish my father was here.

He would love that.

Even better, that race, it ended.

at Samuel Crittenden's farm gate.

I'm speechless.

Doesn't happen often.

Can't believe it.

I grew up going to the trots with my mother and father and calling them and

of that. And if Dad had known about that connection, he would

have told me and I would have enjoyed hearing that story, as I have today.

So it might surprise you to know that in 1875, when they were aged in their 60s,

they sold up and they left.

I think you're going to need to go to North Adelaide to find out more.

Bruce is wandering along red soil.

To have my feet on the same place that my ancestors walked on, I have a real

sense of belonging to this little bit of South Australia.

And I didn't have that before I arrived here today.

Pretty good, eh?

Bruce heads off from the edge of the wetlands. Then in a white SUV, he's

down a sealed country road toward narrow white towers.

Keen to find out why the Crittentons left their Smithfield property and if

Samuel's success is shared by his son, Samuel Jr., Bruce is heading 40

kilometres south to North Adelaide.

A curving bridge spans a dark, mirror -like river below the city's tower

skyline.

Here, he's enlisted the help of social historian Kay Inverarity.

We're on the Kinnan Parade in North Adelaide. You might like to look at the

house across the road.

The double story?

Yes, yes.

It's a bluestone property and it has the original facade.

It was built in 1867 and your street on...

Great -grandfather Daniel bought it in 1875.

I've seen this house a lot of times in my life. I used to run around the block

here so often, so that's pretty amazing.

They didn't live here.

He had this as a rental property.

They had a house further up the street. We can go inside. I've got a few more

things to show you.

Have you ever seen a photo of your three times great -grandparents?

No, I haven't, no.

Well, here you are.

Wow, okay. It's Jemima and Samuel.

Wow.

That was taken about late 1860s, 1870.

Oh, what a wonderful thing to be able to actually see them. Jemima, you think

about all the things that have happened in her life as a mother. She had how

many? Fifteen pregnancies.

Incredible. Eleven children surviving.

Oh, look at Samuel.

And I see a very determined man.

They look well suited.

I think they worked well together.

It looks like it. When Samuel Senior bought the house here in 1875, he's

as being out of business, which means he's retired.

Right. But just after Jemima and Samuel retired, this occurs.

Ah, okay. So 2 July 1875 and it's a death notice and the heading is...

So on the 28th of June at North Adelaide, Jemima, the beloved wife of

Crittenden, aged 63 years, mourned by a large family of children and a large

circle of friends.

However,

Samuel continues to live here. And in 1887, we have this document.

So this is his will.

But he doesn't die until 1893.

He lived a long life.

He must have been in his 80s. He survived.

So in the Supreme Court, this was Lodge.

Yes. This is the last will and testament of me, Samuel Crittner.

So I transferred to my son, William Crittner, my 40 acres of land, convert

the rest and residue of my property into money and divide the same amongst my

children. And we know they had a lot of children.

Bruce examines the writing.

Um, Samuel's missing.

My two -times great -grandfather, Samuel Junior.

He's not receiving anything in the will, so he's been dispossessed.

Gee, you're taking me there.

OK, so I've got to get my head around all this.

Something monumental must have happened.

Do we know anything about him?

Well, we're going to look at this document, which is the next thing we

Samuel Junior.

Ah. So the marriage in the District of Adelaide, 1854.

So it was on July the 22nd. So it's at the property, at Gawler Plain, Samuel

Crittenden Senior, at Gawler Plain, District of Adelaide. Samuel Crittenden,

at the time, junior this is.

He was actually 17.

Okay. Sarah Louisa Connor is his wife. Yes.

Well, you think about him not being in the will.

Well, he's obviously still on good terms with his father because he actually is

married at the property, at his father's house. So something's happened between

1854 and 30 years on. Yes. So, fascinating.

But for you to learn about that, you're going to have to go to Tarawi in the Mid

-North.

Delving deeper, Bruce will be confronted by tragedy and a family rupture.

with profound consequences.

In an SUV.

Veteran sports commentator Bruce McEvaney has made the shock discovery

-times great -grandfather, Samuel Crittenden Senior, a South Australian

has disinherited his son Samuel Junior from his will.

It looks like an old western town.

What caused the family fracture in his paternal line?

Bruce has travelled 230 kilometres north of Adelaide to the town of Tarawi on

Ngadjeri land.

Susan, Bruce.

Yeah, nice to meet you.

There, he's asked historian Dr Susan Marston to unravel the mystery.

So Samuel Jr worked for his father in Munapara and then in the 1860s, he and

wife, Sarah, they moved to Kapunda, which was...

At that point, quite booming as a copper mining town, Samuel and Sarah had five

children. And then this happened.

That's Samuel Kapunda.

So January 11, 1867.

We regret to state that an accident occurred on Saturday last, which has

resulted in the death of the youngest child of Mr. S. Crittenden.

It appears that on the morning in question...

Mrs Crittenden lit the fire and went outside with her eldest child to get in

some water, leaving deceased a little girl of one year and ten months old and

another child in the room.

Whilst getting the water, they heard the children screaming out, on which they

returned and found the door shut to and the latch being broken. It could not be

opened from the outside.

Mrs Crittenden immediately broke through the window and found the deceased in a

blaze, her hands being severely burnt in doing so.

Unhappily, the child had suffered such severe injuries before the flames were

subdued that after lingering painfully until Monday night, death released it

from its sufferings.

That's a hard story, isn't it?

That breaks your heart.

It does.

That's really hard.

They did go on to have two more children.

However, in 1878...

Samuel Juna, he left his wife apparently.

He left them. He left them. And we next see him here in

Tarare.

The historic town of Tarare was founded in the mid -1870s as part of South

Australia's new railway network.

It became the vital link between Adelaide and New South Wales and the

where the two different railway gauges met.

The railway created economic opportunities for new settlers and the

population rose to 2 ,000.

Samuel Junior, he did buy property here. Right.

A butcher business and a bakery. He was in partnership with a quite

entrepreneurial woman, Mrs Anne or Annie Clifford. And in

1881, we see this in an Adelaide newspaper.

The Evening Journal was tarouring in the Magistrates' Court the case in which Mr

John Nolte was informant and two well -known residents, Mr Samuel Crittenden

William Underwood, are accused were in the employ of one Anne Clifford, who led

a house to the informant, who became in arrear with his rent.

So obviously John Nolte hasn't paid Anne Clifford the rent.

Crittenden and Underwood, under instructions from Mrs Clifford, removed

portion of the roof which constituted the offence charged against them. God

blimey, they were committed for trial.

Okay, so Samuel Crittenden responded,

you would think, to Anne Clifford's wishes to show Mr John Nolte a thing or

That's a rather strong reaction to someone not paying their rent order for.

But he was penalised. They actually had to pay.

Fine. One thing I want to ask you, though, they weren't just business

obviously, Annie and Samuel. They were in a relationship. I think so.

Yeah, so he's not running his own shops, perhaps. So I guess, Susan, that

answers that query about why he was left out of the will.

Well, yes, that's absolutely right.

And this is really when things start going downhill.

This is... July the 1st, 1882, from the South Australian Register, auctions here

in Terowee.

Saturday, July 1, at 2 o 'clock.

Jacob and Eglinton have been favoured with instructions from the mortgagees to

sell by auction on the above date without reserve.

All that valuable property in the township of Terowee, lately occupied by

Crittenden, he's obviously had to sell.

So, God, that would have been... I would have imagined for him. He actually did

go insolvent.

So what does he do next? Well, clearly he's already, by this point, working for

or with Annie.

And probably in the mid -1880s, they both moved to Broken Hill.

Ah. Silver lead is discovered in Broken Hill by a boundary rider in 1883.

And it just takes off. It's massive.

Samuel's obviously showing no signs of returning to his wife and family.

His wife, Sarah, she's not in a good situation because of this. And this

Ah.

So this is at a mission register to the death dispute asylum,

1895.

Ooh. This is a bit...

Of a shock. We've transcribed it here if it's easier to read. I might go here,

yeah.

So Sarah Crittenden, she'd been in the colonies for 43 years.

Sillimkapunda, reasons for acquiring admission, unable to work for her

This is so sad.

And without a home, her relatives are not in a position to assist her.

Destitute.

She's only 61.

Yeah, that's tough.

She's in a hard life.

Must have been.

Some desperate times.

Two years later, we know Samuel was still in Broken Hill because of this.

So this is from the local newspaper, New Year's Eve, 1897.

Coroner held a magisterial inquiry into the death of Samuel Crittenden.

Charles Pilcher, licensee of the South Australian Hotel,

6 .15 last night, he saw deceased on his veranda. Oh, gee.

Annie Clifford stated that Crittenden had suffered badly with his heart for

years. He left her home at 7 in the morning, and that was the last time she

him alive.

Dr. Grove said he believed death was caused by the excessive heat of

acting on a weakened heart.

So... At 61 years of age.

Oh, God, how... What an awful, sad...

lonely way to die, eh?

Samuel was buried on the 1st of January 1898 in the Broken Hill Cemetery as a

pauper. A life that could have been and wasn't.

Bruce wears a thoughtful expression, then the slender -faced man with light

wrinkles is strolling in front of the town's blacksmith.

I thought it was really sad.

His hands are buried in his dark jacket's pocket.

It was a tale of two very different men.

And for me personally, I say to myself, how does that filter down to me?

And sitting here right now, I'm hoping that there's a bit more of Samuel Senior

than Junior in how I go about things.

But in my Grandpa Mac, I see more.

of Samuel Crittenden Jr.

And that's harsh.

That's hard for me to say that because I loved my grandfather.

But my grandfather was a flawed person.

But I don't know what he went through.

And nobody's perfect.

Having uncovered the contrasting fate of his paternal ancestors, Bruce is now

shifting his focus to his mother's side.

Mum was a very, very strong woman.

Yeah, she was a great girl, my mum.

Yeah, you've only got one mum, and I was lucky.

A photo of a woman with upswept hair.

Bruce's mother, Betty Allen, was born in 1927 in Loxton, South Australia.

to William Paddy Allen and Vera Oxley.

Grandpa William, we all called him Paddy. He could do anything with his

The big job that I know that he did was be part of the group that helped build

the barrages along the River Murray.

Nana, Vera, she was a diabetic, just like Mum, so every day of her life she

to have an insulin needle.

Vera, she was the, I guess, the consummate.

She was somebody that you could just trust.

If I was categorising the women in my family, strong.

I think there's a bit of German heritage on Nana's eyes.

That's about as good as I've got.

Here I am, well and truly old enough to know more about it, and I don't.

Where did that maternal strength come from?

Seeking parity on his ancestry, Bruce has taken a DNA test.

Chris, are you there?

And is sharing the results with his sister, Anne Crawford, who also lives in

Adelaide.

I know Nana and Grant pretty well.

You're two and a bit years older.

You were always spoiled a bit. You knew them even better than I did, didn't you?

Much. I stayed there a lot.

Spent every summer holiday there.

I adored being there.

Those Christmas parties were memorably extraordinary.

They would have, I don't know, 80 or 100 people at these Christmas parties.

Barrels of beer, lovely food. As a kid, I adored it.

We were lucky, weren't we? Yeah, we were. What have you got there? I have

photo of Vera and Paddy.

A beer in hand and a bottle in hand.

And... I'm pretty sure that's an opaque.

An opaque racist, yeah. It's a good photo.

That's them to a T.

And she has got quite a Germanic look. She sure has.

I've had my DNA done.

So let's have a look at mum and dad. That's mum and that's dad.

So dad's dominated by the Irish. Yeah, yeah. Mum's dominated really by a

So mum's probably half German and a fair bit of England and northwestern Europe

and a bit of Scotland and then a bit of...

Central Asia.

I'm thinking I might want to follow Nana's Germanic background.

Well, she was the perfect housewife in many ways.

What's this one?

Now, this one is Nana.

Vera and our mother, Betty.

That relationship was very strong.

Oh, very. I remember Mum adoring Nana. Yes.

Do you think some Nana...

The German bits all from her mother?

I think her mother was 100 % German. Her mother died when she was 14. I didn't

ever meet Sophie Trager, her mother, but maybe you need to tell me a lot more

about it when you find out.

I will.

On a quest to learn about the origins of his maternal ancestry, Bruce is seeking

the help of a German -Australian history specialist 100 kilometres north of

Adelaide at Peters Hill.

situated on paramount land.

Hello. Hello, Ruth. Is this Samuel? Yep, Samuel.

Pleased to meet you. Welcome to Peter's Hill. You too. Samuel Dering has invited

Ruth to meet him at a significant landmark.

So this is where the first of your German ancestors, Christian and Elise

Marshall, settled here in this cottage in 1856.

A fireplace inside the stone space.

Still in pretty good condition.

So the hut that we see now has been reconstructed based on original

from the original homestead.

So the hut, did they build there? Yes, they did. So Christian actually worked

a hausler in Germany, in Prussia.

So a hausler is a German word for someone who built cottages.

Following his maternal line, Bruce's three times great -grandparents were

Christian Marshall and Elise Ruskin, both born in Babau, Prussia, now

They moved to Australia in 1854 with their eight children.

It was no small feat.

They had to sell their property and all their assets in Germany to pay for their

passage to South Australia. And that only accounted for half of their fare.

they had to take out a loan in order to secure the rest of their passage.

How did they find out about South Australia?

There was economic opportunity over here. They had read letters that

Wends, previous migrants had sent back to their homeland.

They were Wendish by origin.

The Wendish people, who are of Slavic descent, moved into Lusatia in present

-day Eastern Germany from the 5th century.

With their own language, culture and customs, many Wens were devout

In the mid -1800s, approximately 2 ,000 Wens emigrated to Australia as a result

of political unrest, crop failure and a desire for a better life.

Your three -times great -grandparents, Christian and Elise Marshall, first

arrived to this Wendish community in 1856 at Peters Hill.

And you were two times great -grandmother with nine years old. And

name? Maria Marshall.

So she's the grandmother of my nana. That's right. So Vera Oxley's

Yes. So she's the connection with me.

Absolutely. Okay.

Quite a journey for a nine -year -old. So we've got a map here which shows the

County of Light. This is from 1857.

And so Christian and Elise Marshall, your three times great -grandparents,

themselves up on Section 1590, which is about 56 acres.

Is that where we are at the moment? That's where we are now.

So Christian was quite a strong Lutheran, and he decided to donate a

land a bit further down the hill for the construction of a makeshift church and

school. Is that still standing? No, the original church no longer stands, but

the second church in the district. the St. Peter's Church still stands 160

later now, and your two -times great -grandmother, Maria Marshall, was

in there in 1869.

Wow.

On the trail of his ancestor, Maria Marshall, Bruce will discover incredible

maternal strength in the face of harrowing loss.

Master sportscaster Bruce McEvaney is at Peter's Hill, north of Adelaide.

deeply invested in the lives of his beloved mother's ancestors, the Marshall

family.

At St Peter's Lutheran Church, Bruce has engaged Australian -German history

specialist Samuel Dering to uncover traces of his two -times -great

-grandmother, Maria Marshall.

So this is where Maria Marshall was married. So this is the marriage

certificate. It was August 6, 1869, to Lehman, Johann Lehman and Maria

He was a labourer? He was also of Wendish origin too.

Okay. They very quickly had three children and in 1872, the family decided

make a big move east to Sudan, about 20 kilometres from the Murray River.

Right. So why would they leave here and go there?

They were looking for new opportunity to take up farming enterprise.

But then the same year that they arrive in Sudan, there's a very tragic incident

that occurs in the family.

Okay.

The Adelaide Observer, Saturday, November 2, 1872, drowned.

At 10 o 'clock on the morning of October 27 at Swanreach, John Lehman, a

shearer, was drowned while bathing.

So Maria would have been left with three pretty young children. That's right.

That must have shattered Maria.

And Maria was only 25 at the time. So does she stay there and incident?

She does. And in the next 18 months, she finds a new partner. And his name is

August Ferdinand, or Fred Traeger.

The traitors.

That's where they come in.

In 1874, Bruce's two -times -great -grandmother, Maria Marshall, married

second husband, Prussian -born Fred Traeger.

In Sudan, they had five children, but they decided to make a big move, one of

several. In the early 1880s, Fred and Maria decided to move to Morgan.

They'd have three more children before making an extra move to Wentworth.

In New South Wales. That's right. They moved upriver.

It was not unusual for people in this time to travel for work. You were

following the labour.

And it was in Wentworth that your great -grandmother, Sophia, or Sophie Traeger,

was born.

And then it was after your great -grandmother was born in Wentworth that

family made an extra move to Mildura.

Travelling 350 kilometres east, following the Murray River and crossing

Victorian border, Bruce is heading to the town of Mildura, known as Red Earth,

or Yarra Yarra, by the region's first people.

European pastoral settlers first arrived in the district in the mid -19th

century.

After savage droughts, the Victorian government contracted Canadian brothers

George and William Chafee to develop an ambitious irrigation scheme and plan the

town of Mildura in the late 1880s.

Piecing together the lives of his two times great -grandparents, Maria and

Traeger, Bruce has arrived at Rio Vista.

the stately Mildura house built for the Chafee family.

I'm Bruce. Welcome to Mildura, Bruce. Well, what a magnificent building, Bob.

certainly is. Here, he's enlisted the help of local historian Bob Walton.

The bearded man, Fred and Maria, they came here obviously

looking for work. Here's actually a picture of them at that time, about

1889, I believe, just after their arrival.

This is the first time that I've ever seen a photo of my two -time great

-grandparents, Fred and Maria.

So he looks pretty powerful. He looks in his prime.

And I look at Maria and for probably two decades of her life, from her mid -20s

to maybe early 40s, she was either having a child, because she had 12, or

rearing a child. And she went through so much tragedy as well. She lost her

husband at a very early age, her first husband.

And here we have the family tree.

And you can see there are the 12 children.

Here is your particular maternal line there down, in fact, to you.

OK.

Yeah, Mum, I see my mum's there.

And what was quite incredible at that time in the 1890s, that all

of these children were still living.

And that was quite unusual. I wondered about that, Bob. So how lucky. That

speaks also for the quality of the parenting.

As you can see...

She must have been a wonderful mother.

So did they end up acquiring land themselves? Oh, they did. In 1889, they

bought one of the first residential blocks.

They built their own house.

But then... I'll get you to read this, actually.

So it's October the 20th, 1894, shocking boat accident.

Yeah. Two lives lost.

A sad accident occurred on Sunday afternoon at the lake with the result

well -known settler named Ferdinand Traeger and his son Benjamin, a lad of

nine years old, lost their lives.

A search was made for the bodies of the unfortunate father and son.

I believe he had Down syndrome.

But it was not until Tuesday morning that they were recovered, so three days

later.

Ben, here's Benjamin here. That's Benjamin there. So he was the third last

child, so not much older, I guess, than my great -grandmother. Well, she would

have been six at that time, the older brother who was also on the boat.

You know, he escaped. In fact, for the inquest held into the incident, Gustav

made a deposition. He was 16.

I'll get you to read these words if you can, but they're quite distressing.

So it's 1894, 16th of October.

The capsize was very sudden.

We were all thrown into the water.

I can swim.

And while trying to save my brother...

Bruce licks his lips.

He caught me around the neck with both hands and around the chest with his

We both went down together.

When I came up, I saw both my brother and father

close together, sinking.

Father held out one hand.

He places a hand over his mouth.

They both sank.

And the boat was then between them and me.

Bruce's chin creases with emotion as he looks back over the passage of text.

So, a real tragedy, both for, obviously, your ancestors and for the district.

So... And Maria had already lost her husband. Maria had already lost... John,

you know, when she was...

Young, so she was now a widow for the second time.

And most by drowning. How does she come home?

Bruce is gazing out the window toward a bird drinking from a water fountain.

I'm feeling a bit shattered.

Bruce's face seems crestfallen. Then he wanders outside near where ducks are

swimming in calm, glistening waters.

My nana would have heard those stories.

My mum probably had some connection in terms of stories told.

I'm removed a bit and it's affected me so much today.

Bruce is in sunlight.

So that's... Even to see my mother's name.

I had a jolt.

I loved my mother.

And I loved my nana.

And they would have loved Sophie.

And it was her day.

So, forever connected, aren't we?

After a long pondering moment, Bruce turns away from the view of the water.

Immersed in his mother's family, Bruce will find great courage and an

unbreakable bond.

He heads back along a wooden walkway and under the cover of trees as the velvety

surface of the water continues rippling.

A mirror -like body of water is reflecting the trees of the forest, then

pelican's shadow glides on its surface.

Sports broadcaster Bruce McEvaney is in the Victorian town of Mildura on the

Murray River, following his two -times great -grandmother, Maria Traeger.

who had suffered the loss of two husbands and a son.

Hoping for some good news about his maternal ancestor,

Bruce has sought out researcher Chris Cook.

Well, Maria's a very resourceful woman. I don't know how she did it.

She didn't remarry. She decided she'd open a boarding house.

And she also becomes a midwife.

She's not young when she's taking on these new roles, is she?

Great character and courage.

Yes. How much do you know about Maria's daughter, my great -grandmother, Sophia?

Well, Sophie gets married and she marries a local man, Charles William

and he's known locally as Jack. That Oxley name I know. My Nana's maiden

And two months later, we have this document.

Ah, so this was birthed in the District of Mildura in 1905.

Mm -hm. Vera Eileen, that's Nana. Mm -hm. Um, father, Charles William Oxley,

the mother, Sophia Oxley, Nhi Traeger.

So she's 17 years of age, is she? Mm -hmm. When she has Nana? Yeah. Oh, okay.

And it was only a few months after they were married.

Oh. Oh, well, that's revealing.

I wonder how that went down in those times. Was there... Have a look over

Mrs Traeger is the nurse at the birth.

Maria. The midwife?

Yeah. She just lives with her little grandchild.

Oh, wow.

I think Maria being a midwife, she would have been very well aware that these

things happened. And the fact that they were married in Maria's home, I think

she accepted it. Isn't that lovely?

It's beautiful.

After all she'd been through, Maria, and then for her to be... The person that

delivers my grandmother just makes that connection even stronger.

It's such a bond.

So I feel very warm about everything about that. So it's a lovely thing to

Now, Maria continues to live a life here in Mildura.

She's well loved by the community. I've got a document here that speaks to

Maria's character from the local newspaper. Right.

So it's the 1st of September, 1917.

Mm -hmm.

On the evening of Friday the 24th, a very enjoyable time was spent at

The residence of Mr and Mrs H .A. Johnson in honour of the 70th birthday

Trager Singh. So we're talking about Maria. Yeah, she's turned 70.

It was a large company assembled.

All were royally regaled with... Ample and appetising refreshments. Sounds like

a good party.

The juvenile portion of the party was allotted to the enclosed veranda. They

went into detail, didn't they? Yes. Which was admirably suited for a real

-fashioned frolic and dance.

Mrs Trager Maria, who was one of the pioneers of the settlement and versed in

its earliest history, was the recipient of many presents and tokens of

affection.

That's her.

Lovely story.

And Vera would have been there. She would have been one of those children

frolicking on the enclosed veranda. I can tell you, Chris, my Nana loved to

party. So I grew up knowing that every Christmas Eve we'd go to Nana and

Grandpa's place, Vera's place, the granddaughter of Maria, and we would

real song and dance and a frolic just like this. So true.

Well, we have another document here and it's 18 months after the party.

Right. Death in the district of Mildura, March 1919.

And it's Maria Trader. She was 71 and cause of death, diabetes.

So diabetes has been a really common illness in our

family. Maria wouldn't have had any insulin.

No. So with all the other...

Things that happened in life. She was dealing with diabetes as well.

A remarkable woman. Yeah. And if I look over here,

I see all the children.

And she obviously had a lot of love, didn't she? Yes. I think she cared a lot

about her children. I mean, what a matriarch she must have been.

I feel like I know her. And I really am a little bit in awe of her. And it feels

good. It really feels good.

Sunlight's reflected in the water between trees.

For most of all other strong women in my family, my sister, my mother, Nana, I

see that as a huge compliment and something I'm very proud of, that Maria,

two -times great -grandmother, would be somebody of conviction, somebody of some

strength, real backbone, character.

But what is...

Stunning in a way, and what makes the story so beautiful is that Maria, Sophia

and Vera joined in a way linked through the birth of Nana.

It's been a while since I've seen Nana. She could be sitting here right now and

I would know exactly what she'd be saying and exactly her expressions on

face. God,

that's a good feeling. That's a great feeling.

Bruce shakes his head while grinning, a warmth in his eyes.

now gliding down a long forest -edged river.

Oh, what a canvas.

What a story.

What experiences.

I do feel like I know more about myself.

I know where I've come from.

It's pretty important, I reckon.

My parents have been a big part of this journey and it was a huge motivation for

me to be involved.

I have.

I succeeded in feeling closer to them in

a way that I didn't expect.

I know what I think about my forebears. They would have loved me because I was

part of their family.

With a sincere expression.

Even if I had done something that they didn't agree with, they would wrap their

arms around me and support me.

Now I'm getting emotional.

That's how I've felt with my mum and dad.

Always.

Always.

He nods with certainty, then a steamboat making its way down a green -tinted

river ripples glistening in its wake.

Next time on Who Do You Think You Are?

Musician Guy Sebastian untangles his ancestral story.

Jack and I was a war zone.

Finding trailblazers. I didn't expect this.

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Lost connections.

And an essential truth.

Your mother's DNA results.

This is a big moment. Oh, my God.