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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.

Amazing, right?

Lost connections.

And an essential truth.

Your mother's DNA results.

This is a big moment. Oh, my God.