SERIES 4
© ATOM 2012 A STUDY GUIDE BY KATY MARRINER
http://www.metromagazine.com.au
ISBN: 978-1-74295-153-9 http://www.theeducationshop.com.au In Series 4 of the critically SERIES 4 Teachers and students can learn more acclaimed documentary series about Who Do You Think You Are? Who Do You Think You Are? six EPISODE 1: Comedian Shaun Micallef online at
2 Episode 5: Maggie Beer The media production process is generations? Episode 6: John Butler compromised of three separate • So you want to be… Research one stages: pre-production; produc- of the following careers: SERIES 3 tion; and post-production. -- Archivist Episode 1: Magda Szubanski As a class, list and discuss the pre- -- Genealogist Episode 2: Rod Marsh production, production and post- -- Historian Episode 3: Tina Arena production challenges of making -- Museum curator Episode 4: Shane Bourne a documentary series like Who Design a poster that informs others Episode 5: Paul Mercurio Do You Think You Are?. Before about the career that you have Episode 6: Georgie Parker you begin, make sure that every selected. member of the class can define the • What are secondary sources? Does Check the episode listings for the different stages of production. Who Do You Think You Are? depend previous series in the table this page. • Working in a small group, analyse on secondary sources to obtain Some episodes are still available to the use of production values in one information about the participants’ view online at http://www.sbs.com.au/ of the six episodes of Series 4. The ancestors? When does a secondary shows/whodoyouthinkyouare. analysis should make reference to source become a primary source? the following production values by Can you recall any examples of Using Who Do You drawing on specific moments of secondary sources that are used as Think You Are? in the the episode: primary sources in Series 4? classroom -- Sound -- Mis-èn-scene Who do you think you are? Teachers may select from the following -- Editing activities to support students’ viewing -- Cinematography • What stories are part of your fam- and close analysis of Series 4 of Who -- Narrative and narrative ily’s folklore? Do You Think You Are?. structure Tell one of these stories with the -- Performance class. Conversation starters The analysis should be format- Or ted as a PowerPoint. Limit your Develop one of these stories into a • ‘Every family’s story is interesting.’ PowerPoint to ten slides. Use text, narrative of 500 – 750 words. Do you agree? images, video and audio to com- Create a Prezi about your family’s • What role, if any, does family histo- municate the information. history. Draw on existing research ry play in your everyday existence? to begin with and then see if you • Is it important to know about your Keeping records can unearth new information about family’s past? your ancestors. Start your detec- • Has Who Do You Think You Are? Who Do You Think You Are? is wedded tive work at http://www.naa.gov. inspired you to learn more about to primary sources, be they certificates, au/collection/family-history/. your family’s history? documents, wills, ships’ logs, insolven- Make connections between your • Which episode did you enjoy the cy records, diaries, personal and public family’s history and the broader most? Why? letters, drawings, song recordings, context of Australian history, and if • What do you think motivates peo- newspaper reports, or government re- need be the history of your family’s ple to become involved in Who Do ports. Some of this information is now country of origin. You Think You Are? online but much still requires hours and You do not have to share everything hours of looking in the field, from the about your family. Some stories and -- Episode 1: Shaun Micallef well organised databases of National details may be kept private. Just -- Episode 2: Kerry O’Brien and State Archives, to private collec- like an episode Who Do You Think -- Episode 3: Melissa George tions, to local historical societies. In You Are? this is a public document -- Episode 4: Vince Colosimo drawing on these primary sources, Who and you can edit what content you -- Episode 5: John Wood Do You Think You Are? pays tribute to wish to share with an audience. -- Episode 6: Michael O’Loughlin the historians, collectors and archivists who maintain history for posterity. * A Prezi is a web-based presentation For Media students tool that uses a single canvas instead • Based on your viewing of Who Do of traditional slides. Text, images, • Media productions like Who Do You Think You Are? explain the videos and other presentation objects You Think You Are? are construct- importance of primary sources. are placed on the canvas and grouped SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM ed through a long and laborious • What primary sources are part of together in frames. Access the ap- process, involving many profes- your family’s archives? plication and further information at sionals both creative and mana- What information do they provide?
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SERIES 4 - EPISODE 1 Shaun Micallef 2
1-3: Shaun on location in Malta, overlooking Valetta Harbour 4: Shaun at the entrance of 1 Ghurghur Bomb Shelter in Malta where his 4 ancestors found shelter during the air raids. 5: Shaun and Archivist Marlene Gouder at the National Archives of Malta in Rabat.
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Australian actor, comedian and writer, Shaun Patrick Micallef was born on July 18, 1962. 5 He graduated from Adelaide University in 1983, with a a number of websites that offer Shaun thinks that his family’s degree in Law, worked as a all the information that there is to history is most likely rather dull. solicitor in his hometown of know about him. His research proves otherwise. Adelaide for ten years and then http://attentione-il-est-shaun- Shaun’s ancestors were players moved to Melbourne to begin a micallef.tumblr.com/ in some of the most extraordinary http://www.shaunmicallef.com/ moments in modern history career in comedy. http://www.shaunmicallefonline. -- Why is this claim used at the Micallef’s television credits include com/ beginning of the episode? Full Frontal, The Micallef Program, Shaun’s parents, Maltese-born What part does this claim Welcher & Welcher, Micallef Tonight Fred Micallef and South Australian play in the conclusion of the and Newstopia. He is currently the born Judy Hehir married in 1961, episode? host of the popular television game and became parents to Shaun and • On the eve of his fiftieth birthday, show Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation, a his three younger sisters. Shaun Shaun Micallef has become inter- role that has earned him mainstream traces both his maternal and ested in family history. popularity, and will soon be seen host- paternal bloodlines in Episode 1 of -- Do you think there is any sig- ing Mad as Hell on the ABC. Micallef Who Do You Think You Are?. nificance in the connection be- has appeared in feature films and • ‘My great fear is that, this journey tween Shaun’s fiftieth birthday SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM theatre productions, worked in radio, that we’re about to embark on will and his decision to learn more and is also a published author. reveal a never ending, to the hori- about his family’s past? zon and beyond of very dull people -- Have your parents researched • Shaun Micallef’s fans have created …’ – Shaun your family’s history?
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1: Shaun and Senior Archivist William Spencer at the Yellow storage room at the National Archives in Kew 2: Shaun and Julian Farrance at the British Army Museum in the UK 3: Shaun and Julian Farrance at the British Army Museum in the UK holding a gun that was used in the battle of 4 Inkeman 4: Shaun at the Plymouth Naval Memorial looking at the name of his great-grandfather – John Micallef on the plaque. 5: Shaun with Father Borg at 5 Floriana Parish in Malta
was reformed by one of the most • Shaun begins by investigating his remarkable women in history, maternal line. Shaun’s great great Florence Nightingale. Shaun is great grandfather Patrick Sullivan keen to know whether Nightingale get why dad didn’t want to talk was born in Ireland in 1828 and and his great great great grandfa- about it. I get why he wanted to died in Perth, Western Australia in ther Patrick would have met. bury it.’ – Shaun 1900. Shaun is curious to know -- Is his conclusion about their -- How does the knowledge of what brought Patrick to Australia encounter just wishful thinking? what happened during Fred’s to work as a convict guard. Before • ‘I don’t quite know why I’ve never childhood cause Shaun to he emigrated to Australia, Patrick sat down and spoken to dad at think of his father and their Sullivan was a soldier in the British length. About anything really.’ relationship? Army and fought in the Crimean – Shaun • In Malta, Shaun visits his fa- War. Shaun’s quest to know more Fred Micallef grew up in Malta dur- ther’s childhood home. He meets about Patrick takes him to the ing World War Two. He emigrated 81-year-old Lydia Camillieri, a site of the Mount Eliza Barracks to Australia with his father and sib- resident of Stuart Street, Gzira and in Perth, the National Archives lings in 1951 when he was fifteen. former neighbour of the Micallef in London, the National Army His mother followed in 1952. Fred family. Museum in Chelsea and to Scutari has told Shaun very little about his -- What role do Lydia’s stories Military Barracks in Istanbul. past. Shaun is interested to find serve? -- What does Shaun discover? out why. • Shaun’s grandfather Carmelo Construct a timeline to show -- What does Shaun learn about was a steward in the British Royal Patrick’s story and his involve- his father’s past? Navy. Fred recalls that his father ment in significant moments in -- Given Fred’s story, is it under- was rarely home when he was history. standable that he has chosen growing up; he was always away • Shaun heads to Istanbul. At to say very little about his life at sea. Shaun’s paternal great SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM Scutari Military Barracks, nursing in Malta? grandfather, Carmelo’s father, is historian Natasha McEnroe reveals -- ‘When you start to put names also a mysterious figure. Marianu, that the hospital that operated on to people and when you start a distant cousin shows Shaun a the site during the Crimean War to see numbers. I can sort of war medallion bearing the name
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‘John Micallef’. Marianu explains this was Shaun’s great grandfather. Giovanni ‘John’ Micallef was a steward in the navy. At the British National Archives, Shaun learns that the medallion is a ‘Dead Man’s Penny’, a memorial plaque which was given to the next of kin of all 2 service men and women who died in the First World War. -- What else does Shaun learn about his great grandfather? -- Why do you think Shaun visits the Naval Memorial in
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Plymouth? -- How does Giovanni’s story shape Shaun’s understanding of the men on this side of his family? 1: Shaun and Dr Roberta Attard • Design an A3 poster that uses down the Ghurghur Bomb Shelter, words and images to summarise 3 Malta 2: Shaun on a train to Shaun Micallef’s Who Do You Plymouth, UK to find out more Think You Are story. Britain and France joined the war about the fate of the Black Prince during WW1 3: Shaun and Natasha against Russia. Most of the conflict McEnroe at the Scutari Barracks The following tasks offer students of the Crimean War took place on the in Turkey which was the hospital opportunities to learn more about Crimean Peninsula. The human cost where Florence Nightingale treated the historical events and figures was immense given 25,000 British, the war wounded that are part of Shaun’s family 100,000 French and up to a million tree. Russians died.
The Crimean War Read a detailed account of the Read Russell’s account of the Crimean War online at
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• The Battle of Inkerman was the Write a 250 word description of the Crimean War’s fiercest conflict. painting’s portrayal of Nightingale and Shaun’s great great great grandfa- the Crimean War. ther Patrick Sullivan was injured in the Battle of Inkerman. His index • Florence Nightingale had strong 1 finger was shot in combat and was views about reforming military hos- subsequently amputated. pitals. Why did the military officers 1: Shaun in Malta -- Write a narrative from Patrick and doctors object to many of her 2: Shaun looking at a picture of the Sullivan’s perspective about proposals? How did Nightingale Black Prince ship the Battle of Inkerman. overcome their resistance? Why that was involved in -- Your narrative should indicate was Nightingale called ‘the lady the battle of Jutland. when the Battle of Inkerman with the lamp’? occurred; who was involved -- Nightingale is best known for in the conflict; how the bat- her work at Scutari Military tle played out; and the out- Hospital, Turkey, but what else comes of the battle, including did she achieve in her lifetime? the number of casualties. Incorporate the information The Battle of Jutland about Patrick’s involvement into the narrative. Shaun’s search for more information about his paternal great grandfather Florence Nightingale Giovanni Micallef reveals details of how his ancestor died in World War The Crimean War is famous for the I. Shaun discovers that Giovanni was work of Florence Nightingale, a part of one the biggest sea-battles in pioneer of modern nursing practices. history. Giovanni was a steward on the During the Crimean War more British Black Prince and was killed in action soldiers were dying of diseases such on May 31, 1916, when the boat was as cholera, malaria, typhus and dysen- sunk in the Battle of Jutland. tery than in battle. Even in the Scutari Military • What role did the Black Prince play in World War I? 2 Hospital war wounds only accounted • What role did the Battle of Jutland for one death in six. play in World War I? • As a small child, Fred Micallef On November 4, 1854, Florence Malta’s involvement in used to watch the dogfights Nightingale arrived in Turkey with World War II between the Spitfires and the a group of thirty-eight nurses from Messerschmitts from the rooftop England. The wounded were sleeping By 1942 Malta was known as the most of his home. In the early hours of in overcrowded and dirty rooms. There bombed place on earth. New Year’s Eve in 1942, the family were no blankets and many men were home was hit by a bomb. Luckily still wearing their uniforms from the • Why did Malta become involved in Fred and his family were out, visit- battlefield. Nightingale was given the World War II? ing a relative. Twenty-six people task of organising the hospital. lost their lives in the devastating air Consult the following websites: raid. Visit the Florence Nightingale Museum Write a description of the events online at http://www.florence-nightin- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ of New Year’s Eve in Stuart Street. gale.co.uk/cms/. Siege_of_Malta_%28World_War_II%29 You may adopt a persona or you can write using a third person nar- • View the painting of ‘Nightingale http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/world- rative voice. receiving the wounded at Scutari’ wars/wwtwo/siege_malta_01.shtml (Jerry Barrett, 1857) In the 25 years following World War http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/ II, one-sixth of Malta’s population http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ malta_world_war_two.htm emigrated to Australia. Access more SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM File:Nightingale_receiving_the_ information at
7 2 SERIES 4 - EPISODE 2 Kerry O’Brien
• ‘All those little bits and pieces of family folklore that have been handed down, it turns out that every one of them had more than a grain of truth behind them.’ – Kerry -- What are the O’Brien family myths? -- Do you have any family myths of your own? Share your sto- ries with the class. • ‘They were sailing for their lives to Australia from a nightmare in Kerry O’Brien is one of Ireland.’ – Kerry Kerry O’Brien’s paternal great Australia’s most distinguished great grandfather Charles O’Brien and respected journalists. He and his family were the first of his began his career as a cadet O’Briens to arrive in Australia. The journalist with Channel Nine family survived the Irish Potato in Brisbane in 1966. O’Brien history of the family was lost. Kerry Famine and a perilous voyage on a is best known for his role as begins his Who Do You Think You disease ravaged ship to Australia. host of the ABC’s Lateline Are? journey by visiting his sister, -- Why does Kerry call his and for his fifteen years as the Barbara, who possesses what is ancestors ‘refugees’? presenter of the 7.30 Report. left of the family archives. • ‘The unhappy condition in which He is currently the host of -- What has Barbara learnt about the immigrants by the ship the O’Brien family tree? Emigrant appeared to have arrived Four Corners. -- Is there a member of your fam- in this port calls for a search- ily who is keeper of the family’s ing inquiry from the Executive • Read more about Kerry O’Brien story? Government. Under the present online at
born to John Joseph O’Brien and cardboard. Make copies of the County Clare to England, before SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 Charlotta Mary Gordon. Kerry is keen photographs you have selected. sailing to Brisbane on a ship named to learn more about his Irish ancestry. Affix the photographs to the six Emigrant. An epidemic of typhus faces of the cube. Write a cap- broke out on board and the ship • When the 1974 floods hit Brisbane tion for each photograph. Affix was quarantined for months on and the O’Brien family house went the captions to the correspond- arrival. The shipping records and under, the entire photographic ing faces of the cube. newspaper reports paint a horrific
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had been convicted of pig stealing and sentenced to seven years to be served in Australia. Patrick and Hannah married and had six children in a little over six years. Patrick served less than ten years of his life sentence before re- ceiving his Ticket of Leave in 1837. -- How does Kerry respond to the news that his ancestors were convicts? -- Do you have convicts in your family tree? -- Do you think that shame may portrait of the outbreak and spread • ‘Grandma was tough. She was the have stopped Kerry’s ancestors of the disease. Charles O’Brien and matriarch of the family. She had from passing on their stories to his family would have spent their fixed ideas. But you look at the their descendants? first days in their new country sur- photo and you remember the per- • ‘This is just a litany of disasters.’ rounded by sickness and death. sonality and I can’t help thinking – Kerry -- Drawing on the information in that Jane might have had a pretty By checking the birth records of Episode 2 of Who Do You Think tough childhood. I know nothing Patrick and Hannah’s last two You Are? and after complet- about the circumstances of her children, Kerry follows their trail to ing further research, plan and early life.’ – Kerry Sydney, where their criminal pasts write a fictional narrative based Having always thought that his catch up with them. Newspaper on the O’Brien family’s voyage maternal grandmother’s heritage reports and criminal records to Australia and time spent was English, Kerry is surprised to show Patrick was charged with in quarantine on Stradbroke find more Irish ancestors. Kerry’s attempted murder but found not Island. maternal great great grandpar- guilty, while Hannah was charged • ‘Who would imagine that you’d get ents Patrick McEvoy and Hannah with running a brothel and other so emotional about someone from Lenehen were transported to misdemeanours. 160 years ago.’ – Kerry Australia for livestock theft. -- Is Patrick and Hannah’s story a Charles O’Brien embraced the op- Patrick McEvoy was born in County case of desperate times calling portunities that Australia offered. Clare. When he was twenty-seven for desperate measures? -- How did Charles make and years old he stole three cows in -- What does Kerry think of his then lose his fortune? Tipperary and was given a life rather colourful great great -- What do Charles O’Brien’s sentence to be served in Australia. grandparents? fortunes tell us about what life He arrived in the colony of New
was like in the colony at this South Wales in 1828 and was sent The youngest of Patrick and Hannah’s SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 time? to work for Alexander Berry at eight children, Joseph and Mary -- Drawing on the information Coolangatta Estate in Shoalhaven. Teresa, were admitted to the Asylum that Kerry discovers, what type Hannah Lenehen was from Cork for Destitute Children in December of man was Charles O’Brien? and was transported to the colony 1857 and housed there for six months. How does Kerry regard his of New South Wales in 1837. She The reason given: ‘Mother is in jail for great great grandfather?
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assault, recommended by the Police Magistrate.’
The Benevolent Society was The following tasks offer students Australia’s first charity, founded to help opportunities to learn more about people in desperate need. the historical events and figures that are part of Kerry’s family tree. On May 8, 2013, The Benevolent Society will be celebrating its bicente- The Great Famine References: nary. Information about the heritage of the Benevolent Society can be located • What is a famine? http://adminstaff.vassar.edu/sttaylor/ at: FAMINE/ The Great Famine was a period of http://www.authenticireland.com/ http://www.bensoc.org.au/director/ mass starvation, disease and emigra- irish+potato+famine bicentenary.cfm tion in Ireland from 1845 to 1849. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/ During the famine approximately one victorians/famine_01.shtml http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/discover_ million people died and close to two http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/ collections/history_nation/religion/ million people emigrated. As a direct education/int/hist/immigrants/ charity/benevolent.html. consequence of the famine, Ireland’s irish_in_ireland/index_irish_ireland. population of almost 8.4 million in shtml • ‘Out of the dark side … comes a 1844 had fallen to 6.6 million by 1851. http://www.britannica.com/ generation of stability and a light, EBchecked/topic/294137/ if you like, at the end of the tunnel. The cause of the famine was a potato Irish-Potato-Famine That’s a part of our family history disease commonly known as potato http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/ and for what it is I embrace it.’ blight that caused the potato crop to historyonline/irish_potato_famine. – Kerry fail in successive years. Potatoes were cfm -- Use this claim to discuss, how a staple of the Irish diet, particularly http://www.historyplace.com/ Kerry makes sense of all that for the rural poor. worldhistory/famine/
he has learnt about Patrick and SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 Hannah? • Working with a partner, make a • Why was the Great Famine so • Design an A3 poster that uses three minute digital story that devastating? words and images to summarise provides a summary of the Great • View a photograph of the Famine Kerry O’Brien’s Who Do You Think Famine. Memorial in Dublin online at You Are? story. 10 2 File:Famine_memorial_dublin.jpg>. • Why did people choose to become home to the McEvoys: -- What does the memorial tell assisted immigrants? Your answer an onlooker about the Great should refer to both the push and ‘The row of houses, twenty-five in Famine? What response does pull factors. number, are all weatherboard with a the memorial invite? Why is the • At what other times in Australia’s roof of shingles in an exceedingly di- memorial important? history have their been programs lapidated conditions. Totally unfit to be of assisted immigration? Does the residence of human beings. Filled Immigration assisted immigration still exist in with vermin that the people can hardly Australia today? live at all in them. The wet comes The Great Famine resulted in a mass in through the roof and runs off the exodus from Ireland. The starving and Charles O’Brien and his family settled street into them, the floors being lower the destitute left Ireland for America, in Fortitude Valley in Queensland. than the street. There is no drainage Britain and Australia, often on board and only one well to all the houses … rotting, overcrowded ships that came • A brief history of colonial im- The back of the house, fronting back to be known as ‘coffin ships’. migration to Queensland can doors, are the privies, five in number, be read online at 187,000 free settlers had migrated to subdivision and sub-standard build- SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 Australia, most of who had arrived un- ings meant that Chippendale was unfit der an assisted passage scheme. The for human habitation. assisted migrants had the opportunity to build a new and fulfilling life. A report published in 1859 highlighted the living conditions in Woods Lane, 11 3 SERIES 4 - EPISODE 3 Melissa George 1 2 1–3: Melissa at the Old Geraldton Gaol where William Ward worked as Chief Warden 4: Melissa with her parents Glen and Pam George 5: Melissa and archivist Damien Hassan at the State Records Office in Perth, reading letters about William Ward 3 4 Melissa George left her You Are? journey begins with the ru- suburban Perth home at the mour of an ancestor who was possibly age of sixteen to pursue an a guard at the old prison on Rottnest Island. This ancestor is Melissa’s great- acting career in Sydney. The great-great-grandfather William Ward. move proved successful when George scored a role on Home • Rottnest Island is located eight- and Away. 35-year-old George een kilometres off the Western now lives in New York and Australian coast, near Fremantle. 5 has an international film and Like many West Australians, television career. Melissa has fond memories of this could be because Ward, like childhood holidays at Rottnest. Henry Vincent and his son William • Read more about Melissa George What does Melissa learn about Vincent, the assistant superinten- online at: Rottnest’s past? dent, had also ‘treated the natives http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ • ‘I’m hoping it’s a positive story.’ brutally’. Melissa_George – Melissa -- What does historian, Dr Neville http://melissageorge.co.uk William Ward arrived as an im- Green, tell Melissa about http://www.imdb.com/name/ migrant from the United Kingdom William Ward? How does she nm0313534/ in 1862. Following the Prison respond? Superintendent’s request for a new • ‘I don’t think he was part of that.’ Melissa George was born in Perth, warder at Rottnest Island Prison, -- Why is Melissa determined to Western Australia in 1976. Her parents a letter of reply from the Colonial prove that William Ward was a are Pamela Green and Glenn George Secretary recommended Ward. good man? SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 and she is the second of four children. While his superior, Superintendent -- What does Melissa learn about While Melissa knows something about Henry Vincent described William William Ward when she visits her father’s side of the family there as ‘the best warder he’s ever had Geraldton and the old gaol at are a number of gaps in her mother’s on the island’, the governor of the Champion Bay? ancestral story. Her Who Do You Think time John Hampton wondered if -- Is Melissa content with all that she discovers? 12 3 1: Melissa in Taunton Somerset where her ancestors lived 2: Melissa at her parents’ home looking at a family tree 3: Melissa at the B Shed Wharf in Fremantle where her ancestors arrived 4: Melissa standing on Fremantle Wharf, holding a picture of her great grandmother Lilian Tames 5: Melissa at Old Fairbridge farm where her great grandparents were child migrants 6: Melissa at Fairbridge Village reading Ted White’s school report 7: Melissa and Prof. 1 Geoffrey Sherrington at the child immigrant processing shed, Fremantle Wharf. 2 5 3 6 4 Melissa meets Lorraine and Patricia, the daughters of Lilian’s 7 younger sister, Doris. They bring -- Does Melissa come to terms photographs but their knowledge with Maretta’s decision to of Lilian, Reg and Doris’ past is Melissa’s great grandparents Edmund send Ted to Australia as a child limited. Lorraine and Patricia do ‘Ted’ White and Lilian Tames were migrant? How do you view know that their mother felt as if she child emigrants from the United Maretta’s decision? had been abandoned. Kingdom, who met and married in -- At the Fairbridge Farm site -- What does Melissa learn about Australia. Because they didn’t speak at Pinjarra, Melissa learns the children’s past at Fairbridge to their children or grandchildren more about Ted’s life both at Farm? about their past, Melissa’s family were Fairbridge and after he left the • Lilian, Reg and Doris’ parents, left with many unanswered questions farm. Melissa’s great great grandparents, about why they were sent to Australia -- Spend time as a class discuss- were Frederick Tames and Emma as children. ing what Melissa’s investiga- Mounsher of Taunton in the south- tions reveal about her great west of England. • ‘But he wasn’t an orphan, I don’t grandparent Ted White. -- What does Melissa discover get it.’ – Melissa • ‘I’d like to find out a bit about Lilian when she visits Taunton? Like Ted White was thirteen years old Tames because I know that she Melissa, were you shocked by when he arrived in Fremantle, was quite a tough lady. My nana all that happened? Western Australia in 1913. used to say that she was very, very -- After the death of their fa- He spent his adolescence at tough and I want to know what ther, Florence Mounsher, the Fairbridge Farm in Pinjarra rather made her so.’ – Melissa children’s stepmother and aunt SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 than with his mother and siblings Lilian Tames was ten years old was deemed an unfit guardian in the United Kingdom. Ted’s when she arrived in Australia in for Lilian, Reg and Doris. mother, Maretta White signed the 1921. Like Ted, Lilian and her -- How did you react to the rev- application to the Child Emigration younger siblings Reg and Doris elation that Florence signed the Society. grew up on Fairbridge Farm. children over to the care of the 13 3 2 1: Melissa with Dr Nick Barrett at the Taunton Library, looking at the original newspaper 1 article about baby Victor’s death. 2: Melissa with Dr Nick Barrett reading documents about Fred & Emma Mounsher 3–4: Melissa at Rottnest Island 5: Melissa at Taunton Cemetery in Somerset, where her great great 3 grandparents are buried in an unmarked grave. 6: Melissa 4 Child Emigration Society and intended to move to Canada? -- How does Melissa view 5 Florence and her decision to send the children to Australia? -- Before Melissa leaves Taunton, come from.’ – Melissa she visits the unmarked grave -- Is Melissa right, has shame got of Frederick Tames and Emma in the way of the passing on of Mounsher. her family’s history? -- What prompts Melissa to make -- Do you think that sometimes 6 a temporary memorial and a family’s history can be lost then to commit to erecting a because stories are just too headstone at the gravesite of sad to tell? • ‘What’s lovely is I have all their fac- Frederick Tames and Emma -- Do your relatives speak about es now. You know before I didn’t Mounsher? the family’s past? What stories know who these people were but • ‘I’m taking these back to New York do they tell? now as I walk through life myself to frame.’ – Melissa -- How has Melissa’s investiga- I’m going to have everyone’s face. Photographs are a type of primary tion into her family’s past I know their history. I know their document. They tell our story and changed the way that present life … We know the answers and connect us to our past. and future generations of her there’s no more secrets anymore.’ -- Why are the photographs of family will remember their – Melissa her ancestors so important to ancestors? -- Use this claim to discuss how Melissa? Melissa perceives her new- -- Melissa looks for herself in the found knowledge of her fam- portraits from the past. Does ily’s past. SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 she find any resemblance? • Design an A3 poster that uses -- When you look at photographs words and images to summarise of your ancestors, can you spot Melissa George’s Who Do You family resemblances? Think You Are? story. • ‘I’ve never quite known where I 14 3 The following tasks offer English-speaking world, and students opportunities to learn provide new life and a chance more about the historical events Melissa at the Old of honourable livelihood for and figures that are part of Geraldton Gaol thousands of slum children, Melissa’s family tree. Pinjarra tells the story of the first Fairbridge Farm in the Rottnest Island Prison orphans. making, and is the work of the founder’s widow.’ The aboriginal prison on Rottnest • Had you heard or read anything -- How does this statement posi- Island is a dark chapter in West about the Child Migration Scheme tion the readers of the time to Australian’s history. In 1839, Rottnest prior to watching this episode of view child migration? Island Prison was established to hold Who Do You Think You Are? -- Why do we now view the Aboriginal prisoners. Records from the • Working as a class, make a list policy of child migration as time list some of the prisoners’ crimes of reasons why British authorities unacceptable? as theft, sheep spearing, assault and sent children to Australia. • On 16 November 2009, on behalf threats to settlers. Aboriginal prison- Further information about the of the Australian Government, ers were brought to the prison from history of child migration in Prime Minister Kevin Rudd de- all over the state and many died in the Australia can be accessed livered an apology to Forgotten overcrowded and disease-ridden con- online at: Australians and Child Migrants ditions. Those Aboriginals who died in http://museumvictoria.com.au/ who suffered abuse or neglect in custody are buried on the island, many immigrationmuseum/what- care. On 24 February 2010, the in unmarked graves. son/current-exhibitions/ British Prime Minister Gordon on-their-own/ Brown issued an Apology to the • Read about the Rottnest Island http://www.childmigrantstrust.com Child Migrants. Prison online at: http://www.naa.gov.au/ Why were these apologies http://www.creativespirits.info/ collection/fact-sheets/fs124. necessary? ozwest/fremantle/wadjemup. aspx html http://www.naa.gov.au/ The Spanish Influenza http://www.rottnestexpress.com. naaresources/Publications/ au/rottnestisland/history.aspx research_guides/guides/ Melissa’s great great grandmother http://www.rottnestisland.com/ childmig/introduction.htm Emma Mounsher was a victim of the about/rottnest-history • On 15 April 1912, philanthropists 1918 influenza pandemic. • Why was Rottnest Island deemed Kingsley and Ruby Fairbridge ar- a suitable site for a prison for rived in Albany, Western Australia, • What is a pandemic? Aboriginal men and boys? from Britain and made their way The 1918 influenza pandemic -- Does it seem just that this to Pinjarra, where they established lasted from January 1918 to site is now used as tourist Fairbridge Farm School. Kingsley December 1920. It was a global accommodation? Fairbridge’s aim was to resettle disaster, killing somewhere • Henry Vincent was Superintendent and educate migrant children. between 20 and 40 million peo- of Rottnest Island Prison. His He believed Britain’s poor and ple, more than the number of son Vincent was made Assistant orphaned children could be saved casualties from World War One. Superintendent. from a pauper’s existence if given • Why was the pandemic called the -- How did these men exert their the opportunity to become good Spanish flu? authority over the prisoners? and useful citizens. Bringing the • Where did the Spanish flu children to the colonies to work the originate? Child Migration land would also bolster the popu- • What type of people were most lation with much desired white likely to catch the Spanish flu? During the late nineteenth and twen- settlers. • What factors contributed to the tieth centuries, Britain sent over -- Learn more about the global spread and severity of the 100,000 child migrants from Britain Fairbridge organisation now, pandemic? to Canada, Australia and other and then, at child migration schemes. They were • Melissa reads the blurb from the Use the internet to source primary SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 sent by charitable and religious book Pinjarra by Ruby Fairbridge: documents from the time, particu- organisations, with government sup- ‘Twenty-five years ago “child larly images of posters and leaflets port, in the belief that their lives would migration” became Kingsley that were part of public health improve. Many of these children came Fairbridge’s dream. To-day campaigns at the time. What do from families who were unable to the Fairbridge Farm Schools these documents reveal? care for them and only very few were are famous throughout the 15 4 SERIES 4 - EPISODE 4 Vince Colosimo 2 1 1: Vince on location in Melbourne 2: Vince and Archivist Gerardo Papalia with the crew at the National Archives of Melbourne where Vince looks at documentation about his grandfathers migration papers Vince Colosimo became an 3: Vince with this mother Lina and sister actor at age fifteen, when he Rachel 4: Vince with his daughter Lucia at the Immigration Museum Tribute was cast in the film Moving Out. 3 garden where Vince’s father Santo’s name He is now one of Australia’s appears 5: Vince and Archivist Gerardo most recognised actors with Papalia with the crew at the National an extensive and successful Archives of Melbourne where Vince looks at documentation about his grandfather’s career across theatre, television migration papers. and film. Colosimo’s feature film credits include Lantana, Chopper and The Wog Boy. His television credits include 5 The Secret Life of Us and Underbelly. • Read more about Vincent be the case? Colosimo online at: -- Have your parents ensured that -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ you have a knowledge of your Vince_Colosimo family’s ancestry? -- http://www.imdb.com/name/ • Vince’s Who Do You Think You nm0173194/ Are? journey begins with his fam- ily’s migration papers. Vince Colosimo was born and raised Antonio Russo, Vince’s nonno led in Melbourne’s North Carlton. His par- 4 the Russo family’s migration to ents are both migrants from Calabria, Australia in September 1955. He in the south of Italy. His father, Santo wanted his family to escape the Colosimo emigrated to Australia in interest in family history has been poverty of post war Italy. Having fi- 1956 and arrived in Melbourne as a prompted by a cousin who sug- nanced his own fare, Antonio then young man of twenty. Vince’s mother, gested that they should listen to had to earn the money to pay the Lina Russo was thirteen years old the stories of the older members of fares of his wife and eight children. when her family came to Australia. the family ‘before it was too late’. -- What does Vince learn about Santo and Lina met and married in the -- Why are oral stories important Antonio’s love of family as he early 1960s. They had four children: to a family’s history? How can researches his family’s history? Rachel, Vince, Tony (Vince’s fraternal your family’s oral stories be • ‘Hopeless … They made hope.’ twin brother), and Veneranda, who documented for generations to – Vince SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 died of cot death at ten months old. come? Vince views his grandparents’ ap- • Vince wants his daughter, Lucia, to plication for Australian citizenship. • ‘At least Vince did the family tree.’ grow up understanding her Italian -- Why do these documents – Vince background. make Vince angry? Vince acknowledges that his -- What moments highlight this to • ‘A formidable figure’ – Vince 16 4 1: Vince and Col Zarcone at the Rome 1 Army Archives of Italy where he learns about his grandfathers involvement with the ‘Camicia Nera’ 2: Vince 2 3 on location in Monza, Italy 3: Vince at the Decollatura Archives in Calabria where he tries to build a picture of his grandmothers life 4: Vince with replica of great grandfather Rosario’s Star of Merit Award 5-6: Vince on location in Calabria, Italy 7: Vince with Santo Pascuzzi 8: Vince & Santo Pascuzzi with the original plough that Vince’s ancestor 4 Rosario Scalzo invented. 5 6 -- What are Vince’s memories of his nonno? • ‘He might have been a war hero.’ – Vince Antonio never talked about the war. His response to the curi- ous was always, ‘You wouldn’t understand.’ -- What does Vince learn about 7 Antonio’s military service? -- How does this knowledge change his perspective of his • Rachele’s father, Vince’s great 8 nonno? grandfather Rosario, was a farmer -- Construct a timeline to show in rural Calabria. Antonio’s story and his involve- -- What type of man was Rosario Vince’s story? What places are ment in significant moments in Scalzo? significant to your family’s story, history. -- Why was Vince’s great grandfa- past and present? • ‘I have a great sense of her now.’ ther given a Star of Merit award • ‘You’re part of a team.’ – Vince – Vince by Mussolini? Vince leaves Italy with a much Santo Colosimo lost his mother -- Have any of your ances- greater sense of who he is and Rachele when he was eight. Santo tors been honoured for their who his ancestors are. has never spoken about Rachele achievements? -- Do you agree with Vince? Does and very little is known about • Rachele was one of twelve chil- a knowledge of family history Rachele’s life or family. dren. In 1915 four of her brothers give an individual a sense of Rachele Scalzo was born on 24 died in four days. belonging? February 1902. Her father was -- What does Vince learn about • What do you think Vince has Rosario Scalzo and her mother the deaths? learnt, and now appreciates, about SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 Saveria Bonacci. -- Why is it important to Vince his family heritage? Imagine what Vince will tell Santo to find out what happened • Design an A3 poster that uses about his mother Rachele. Write to Rosario and Saveria’s four words and images to summarise the conversation between father sons? Vince Colosimo’s Who Do You and son. • What part does Calabria play in Think You Are? story. 17 4 3 1 2 5 write a script and source pho- tographs and other keepsakes to compose the story. Then there are other decisions. Who 4 will narrate the story? What 1–2: Vince with Mayor Anna Maria sounds and music will be part Cardamone at the Decollatura Archives in made the journey to Victoria. The of the digital story? What is an Calabria where he tries to build a picture Tribute Garden features the names appropriate title? Not to forget of his grandmothers life 3: Vince with his Aunt Dorina and Uncle Enzo at their of immigrants who came from over a dedication and end credits. home in Bianco, Calabria 4: Vince with 90 countries, from the 1800s to the -- When you interview the subject archivist Adele Virdo at Soverio Mannelli present day. of your digital story, give the Council in Calabria looking through person time to talk and allow death records 5: Vince with his daughter Lucia at the Immigration Museum Tribute Vince visits the Tribute Garden with for moments of silence as they garden where Vince’s father Santo’s name his daughter Lucia and locates the reflect. Listen attentively and appears. Colosimo plaque. respect their privacy. Follow up on interesting answers with • Learn more about the history of another question. Take notes or The following tasks offer students Italian immigration to Victoria at record your subject’s respons- opportunities to learn more about http://museumvictoria.com.au/ es. When you have constructed the historical events and figures origins/history.aspx?pid=32 and a storyboard and draft of the that are part of Vince’s family about Australia’s Italy-born com- script, ask the person for their tree. munity at http://www.immi.gov. comments and make appropri- au/media/publications/statistics/ ate changes. Italian immigrants comm-summ/textversion/italy.htm. • Create a digital story about an indi- Becoming Australian citizens Vince has honoured his family’s vidual’s experience of migration. experience of immigration. A plaque -- A digital story uses multi- Australian citizenship is a significant in the Tribute Garden at Melbourne’s media tools and visual and chapter in any migration story. Vince’s Immigration Museum, commemorates audio resources from personal maternal grandparents were granted his father’s journey to Australia. archives. Most digital stories Australian citizenship in 1968. SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 are approximately two to five Located in the northern garden of minutes in length. Digital sto- • The Nationality and Citizenship Act the Immigration Museum, the Tribute ries are a unique and power- 1948 created an Australian citizen- Garden is a public artwork that pays ful way to tell a story. You will ship and the conditions by which it tribute to 7000 people who have need to construct a storyboard, could be acquired. 18 4 1 2 Italians during Mussolini’s rule? • On 10 June 1940, Mussolini de- clared war on Britain and France. As a conscript, Antonio had no choice but to leave his family to fight for Italy. Why did Mussolini align Italy with Nazi Germany dur- 3 ing the Second World War? The Russian Front In July 1942, Antonio Russo, now a 4 soldier in Mussolini’s M Battalions, was sent to the Russian Front, where 1: Vince with Giulio Polishicchio at his -- Why is citizenship important? home/museum in Soveria Manelli, Italy he would fight in one of the most View citizenship stories online learning about great grandfather Rosario’s horrendous struggles in Italian military at a citizenship test that consists tion to ten slides. You should use Italian_Army_in_Russia>. SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 of 20 questions drawn at ran- text and images and may use • Drawing on the information of this dom from a pool of questions. audio and video clips. You must episode and additional print and To pass the test, applicants include a bibliography. electronic sources, construct an must answer 75 per cent, or 15 • Who were the Black Shirts? annotated A3 map to show the out of 20 questions, correctly. • What was life like for ordinary story of the battle and the retreat. 19 5 SERIES 4 - EPISODE 5 John Wood 1: John Wood on location at the Lund Archives in Sweden where he learned of 2 his great Grandfather, Jons Peterson. 2: John with Historian Thanos Veremis in Athens, looking at War records of John’s father Lesley Wood. 1 3: John with Doug Nix, a surviving Australian POW from John Wood began his acting Stalag 18A, looking career in 1967, with a guest role at photos taken by John’s father 4: John in the Australian television series with Doug Nix Bellbird. He is best known for 3 his role as Senior Sergeant Tom Croydon in Blue Heelers. Wood -- What do John’s memories of appeared in every episode of his mother reveal about the the series from its beginning way that she has shaped his in 1994 until its end in 2006. identity? With a career spanning forty -- Write a personal narrative years on the stage and screen, about the way one or both of Wood has become one of your parents have influenced 4 the most identifiable actors who you are. of his generation. Wood was • ‘I know very little about his time in the army. I know that he didn’t talk nominated for the Gold Logie about it. As many of those blokes for most popular personality Episode 5 of Who Do You Think You didn’t.’ – John on Australian television every Are?. The results of his investigations The only information Les Wood year from 1997 to 2007. After prove surprising and shift John’s ever divulged about his capture nine consecutive nominations understanding of his family’s place in was that it happened on a beach in without a win, Wood was finally history. Greece. Why he was there, how he awarded the accolade in 2006. was treated and what he suffered, • ‘I think I was probably very lucky to all remain unanswered. • A more detailed account of John be born at the time I was, as part John begins his search for Wood’s career can be read online of the Baby Boomers’ generation.’ information about his father’s at: – John service during the Second World http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_ -- Who are the Baby Boomers War with the help of historian Peter Wood_%28Australian_actor%29 and what defines this Monteath. Monteath is an expert http://www.imdb.com/name/ generation? on Australian prisoners of war nm0939801/ -- What generation can you claim (POWs) in Nazi Europe. He has a SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 as your own? What defines copy of Les’ military service record Born in 1946, John Wood is the son your generation? and a long-lost photograph of of Thomas Leslie ‘Les’ Wood and • ‘She was the inspiration for, well, Les holding his POW number. Les Nancy Lobb. Wood traces his father’s probably everything that’s in this was captured on 28 April 1941 in and a great grandfather’s story in room.’ – John Corinth. He then spent four years 20 5 as a POW in camps in and around Wolfsburg, Austria. -- What does John know about Les’ time as a soldier and as a prisoner of war? -- What does he learn? -- How does this knowledge shape his understanding of 2 Les’ character and outlook on life? -- Why do you think Les rarely spoke of his wartime experiences? • Les carried a photograph of his sweetheart Nancy Lobb with him during his time as a soldier and a prisoner of war. The photograph is 1 3 5 4 1: John and Museum Victoria Head Curator got the money to buy 2700 acres Dermott Henry looking at the replica gold now, in six days or less. I will be is a mystery. nugget collection 2: John reflecting at Jons Peterson’s graveside 3: John at awful glad to get there. I’ve seen -- Why did Jons Peterson Museum Victoria with the replica gold all that I want to of this place. I emigrate to Australia? nugget that John’s ancestor found 4: John want to get back where I know -- What does John learn about and genealogist Ted Rosvall at the State someone. I hope this finds you Jons’ life in Trolle Ljungby? Archives in Lund, Sweden looking at the Seaman’s house register of his great and all your family feeling a little bit -- Jons’ children found a gold grandfather Jons Peterson 5: John at better. nugget when they were out Museum Victoria looking at gold nugget So ’til I get home, lots of love, Les.’ mustering the cows. The sale replica display Les married Nancy five days after of the nugget increased the he returned home. fortunes of Jons and his family. • ‘One of the things I do know Drawing on the information that signed, ‘All my love, Nancy’. about the family is that my great John discovers, write a newspaper -- Why do you think this grandfather was Swedish.’ – John article from the time that offers photograph was important to John’s great grandfather an account of Jons Peterson’s Les? Jons Peterson was born in change of fortune. Information John’s father was liberated in May Trolle Ljungby in the county of about ‘The Boort’ nugget can 1945, four years after his capture. Kristianstad, Sweden in 1836. He be accessed online at 21 5 3 2 1 1: John at Museum Victoria holding the replica gold nugget 2: John with Historian Thanos Veremis in Athens, looking at War records of John’s father 3: John and Union Historian Chris McConville at the Noel Butler Archives at the 4 ANU in Melbourne 4: John Wood and genealogist Ted Rosvall at the State • Learn more about gold nuggets Archives in Lund, and the Melbourne Museum’s Sweden looking at collection at: the Seaman’s house http://museumvictoria.com.au/ register of his great grandfather Jons discoverycentre/infosheets/ Peterson. 5: John gold-nuggets/ at Museum Victoria • How are gold nuggets formed? looking through the Design a poster to explain the Gold Nugget Register 5 process. all had an emotional impact.’ decision to earn a meagre living The invasion of Greece ‘… every moment of our lives is from the land proved very fortunate. part of that great continuum of The discovery of a gold nugget on a The Greek campaign – in which history.’ – John nearby property improved his future Australian, British and New Zealand -- Use these claims to discuss prospects. troops under the command of the how John makes sense of all British General, Sir Henry Maitland that he has learnt about his Nuggets are large masses of gold. Wilson, supported Greek forces family’s history. While nuggets have been found on against the Italian and German • Design an A3 poster that uses many goldfields around the world, armies – resulted from Britain’s earlier words and images to summarise those found in Victoria have been guarantee to support Greece if it were John Wood’s Who Do You Think particularly large. In 1869 the Victorian attacked without provocation. On 6 You Are? story. Department of Mines instituted an April 1941, German forces attacked official list of nuggets, and soon after Greece and Yugoslavia simultaneously. The following tasks offer students began making models of some of the From the outset, the Allied forces were opportunities to learn more about largest specimens. This collection is outnumbered. the historical events and figures now held by the Melbourne Museum, that are part of John Wood’s along with models of recently • Read about the 1941 Greek family tree. discovered nuggets. The Melbourne Campaign online at: SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 Museum has only one real gold nugget http://www.awm.gov.au/ Eureka! in its collection, the fifty-ounce Bunyip, encyclopedia/greek_campaign.asp ploughed up near Bridgewater in the http://www.ww2australia.gov.au/ Unlike those who headed for the early 1970s. greatrisk/ goldfields of Victoria, Jons Peterson’s 22 5 1 Any decision by a country to commit troops to a war zone is a difficult one. • Why were Australian troops sent to fight in Greece? • What role did Robert Menzies, the then Prime Minister of Australia, play in the campaign? • Was the campaign a success? • Construct an A3 annotated map that offers an account of the 1941 2 invasion of Greece by the German Army. of other men who were Prisoners of War imprisoned at Stalag 18a online at: A prisoner of war (POW) is a person http://www.stalag18a.org.uk/ who surrenders to, or is captured http://www.data-wales.co.uk/ by, the enemy during wartime and is stalag1.htm entitled to certain protections under http://www.wartimememories. international humanitarian law. co.uk/pow/stalag18a.html 3 • 96-year-old Doug Nix was a POW More than 30,000 Australians became 1 & 3: John Wood on location at the Lund at Stalag 18a. He shares his POWs between 1940 and 1945. Archives in Sweden where he learned of his great Grandfather, Jons Peterson. experiences of being captured, 2: John with Doug Nix, a surviving the train journey to Stalag 18a in • Where were Australians imprisoned Australian POW from Stalag 18A Wolfsburg, Austria and his time in during the Second World War? the camp with John Wood. Locate the prisoner of war camps -- Spend time as a class, on a map of the world. Begin your research at 23 6 SERIES 4 - EPISODE 6 Michael O’Loughlin 1 2 Michael O’Loughlin is one of the most talented players in the history of Australian Rules Football. He played over 300 games for the Sydney Swans from when he was drafted to the team in 1994 as a seventeen-year-old until his retirement in 2009. Since retiring from the game, O’Loughlin has taken on the role of head coach of the AIS-AFL Academy, 3 where he mentors and develops young players. O’Loughlin is an 1: Michael in the Coorong, SA 2: Michael Ambassador for Reconciliation with his mother Muriel O’Loughlin at her and with fellow Sydney Swans home in Adelaide, SA, looking through family photos 3: Michael with his mother player Adam Goodes has and grandparents Cecelia and Clem established the Goodes- O’Loughlin 4: Michael with Director O’Loughlin Foundation. Kay Pavlou and mother at her home in Adelaide, SA. • Learn more about Michael 4 O’Loughlin online at: to discover the history of his people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Michael has Indigenous Australian Michael_O%27Loughlin heritage and his tribal ancestry can be grandmother Kudnarto, a full blood http://www.footywire.com/afl/ traced to the Kaurna people of South Kaurna women. Michael learns that footy/pp-sydney-swans Australia. her husband, Michael’s great great --michael-o-loughlin great great grandfather was a white http://www.fanfooty.com.au/ • ‘You know I’m disappointed that I settler called Thomas Adams. players/profile.php?firstname= didn’t learn about her much earlier Michael&surname=O%27 but she’s obviously lived such an ‘Yesterday, Thomas Adams marriage Loughlin amazing life in such a short period to Kudnarto an Aboriginal native girl http://www.go-foundation.org/ of time, so I’m so proud and hon- of the Crystal Brook tribe. This is the oured to be along her bloodline.’ first legal marriage which an Aboriginal Michael O’Loughlin was born in – Michael South Australian has been a party. The SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 Adelaide in 1977 to Alex Stengle and bridegroom is about seven and thirty Muriel O’Loughlin. Michael’s mother shows him a family years of age and the bride is sixteen. tree of his maternal line. It stretches all She has been for more than two years His Who Do You Think You Are? jour- the way back to before white settle- living with her present husband whose ney takes him home to South Australia ment and to his great great great great affections have become so strong 24 6 3 1 1–2: Michael in Poonindie, SA 3: Michael at St Peter’s College in Adelaide where he discovered the sporting talents of his ancestors 4: Michael at St Matthews Church in Poonindie 5: Michael at the South 5 Australian Museum in Adelaide 2 can be accessed online at • ‘What a woman’ – Michael. Poonindie from the perspective a connection to the two small SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 Kudnarto died in 1855. She was of Tom Adams. Draw on the in- figures depicted standing in twenty-three years old. formation about his childhood front of a church on Australia’s Given all she achieved in her short and adulthood experiences of fifty-dollar banknote. Keen to life, Kudnarto deserves to be life at the mission. determine whether the story is honoured. More information about Poonindie fact or fiction, Michael begins his 25 6 2 1 1: The bust of Michael’s ancestor, Milerum 2, 4, 6, 7: Michael at the South Australian Museum in Adelaide where he finds out more about his Aboriginal Ancestor, Milerum. 3: Michael at the South Australian Museum with Milerum’s bust 5: Michael at the South Australian Museum in front of 3 Milerum’s skin coat 6 6 4 5 investigation at the Aboriginal community of Raukkan at Point -- Milerum worked alongside McLeay. Raukkan was founded Australian anthropologist, as a Christian mission in 1859 on Norman Tindale to document the banks of Lake Alexandrina in Indigenous Australian culture. the heart the Ngarrindjeri nation. In Working as a class, discuss 7 1974 the land was handed back to Milerum’s contribution to its traditional owners. Australian society and in par- -- What does Michael discover ticular to Indigenous Australian • Michael returns to Adelaide to visit about the fifty-dollar banknote? society. South Australian Museum. It was You can view an image and de- -- Having learnt about Milerum’s here that much of the important scription of the fifty-dollar note at achievements, what does work between his great grandfa- http://www.rba.gov.au/banknotes/ Michael decide? ther Milerum and the anthropolo- types/fifty-dollar.html. • Milerum’s country is known as gist Norman Tindale took place. • Michael’s great grandfather the Coorong. The Coorong is a At the museum, Michael reads Clarence Long was born around vast network of lagoons expand- from Tindale’s journal: 1869. His traditional name was ing out from the mouth of the ‘Once a great native warrior, 1932. Milerum. Milerum was one of the Murray River. It is the life-blood of The last of his tribe and the last SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 last tribal Aboriginals from the the Ngarrindjeri nation. Milerum full-blooded black man of the Coorong and Lake regions to move helped Norman Tindale map the South East, Milerum came to onto the mission. Ngarrindjeri nation. Adelaide today so the Adelaide -- What type of man was -- What else did the partnership Museum could secure a cast of Milerum? of Milerum and Norman Tindale his face, his measurements and achieve? particulars of his life. Milerum is 26 6 2 3 1: Michael at the South Australian Museum reading through Tindale’s diary 2: Michael with Jenny Scott at Skillogalee Creek, Clare Valley, SA 3: Michael at Glenelg Beach, Adelaide 4: Michael with Beryl George (nee Tindale) and Ali Abdullah-Highfold, Aboriginal Curator, at the South Australian Museum 5: Michael with Beryl George the South Australian Museum 6: Michael looks at 4 1 a map for the Coorong region where his father is from. sixty years of age and has only just been forced to give up active work. Milerum means great warrior and the old man is a great example of the finest type of Aboriginal. He is nearly six feet tall, broad and muscular; he walks with a proud and active step. His voice is mel- low but commanding. His face has a dignity and culture about it which commands respect. The old war- rior is very sad that his death will 6 5 mean the death of his full-blooded tribe, which roamed the South East for generations. He intends now for the other players that you’re • Design an A3 poster that uses to spend the rest of his life teach- amongst. The coach is the clan words and images to summarise ing his four children as much of leader. Every lesson I’ve learnt Michael O’Loughlin’s Who Do You the old customs of his people as in my adult life has been through Think You Are? story. he can remember. For many years football.’ the Adelaide Museum has carried ‘Before this journey I was a little bit The following tasks offer students out the gigantic task of obtain- unsure, I don’t think I was confi- opportunities to learn more ing records of every living South dent enough to be able to say I about the historical events and Australian Aborigines, but these am from this clan, I’m from that figures that are part of Michael records, the Aboriginal, the oldest clan, I’m from that tribe. I’ve gone O’Loughlin’s family tree. living trace of the world, will not be from a, I won’t say an old man, forgotten when its last survivors but a middle aged man who knew Land Rights have gone.’ bits and pieces to a man now who -- What does this journal entry can stand up in front of hundreds, Land was and is central to Indigenous reveal about Milerum and thousands of people and say this societies, cultures and religions. SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 about Tindale’s relationship is where I am from and these are with Milerum? my people.’ – Michael When the First Fleet arrived in January • ‘When you go to a footy club it’s -- Use these claims to initiate a 1788, Britain took formal possession almost like a tribe. You belong to discussion of Michael’s under- of Australia without consent and with- that group and you’re responsible standing of belonging. out negotiating with the Indigenous 27 6 2 1 1: Michael with Senior Aboriginal Access Officer Andrew Wilson at the State Records Office, SA 2: Michael at St Matthews 3 Church in Poonindie, SA 3: Michael with Sporting Historian Bernard Whimpress at St Peters College in Adelaide where he discovered the sporting talents of his ancestors 4: Michael in the Coorong, SA 5: Michael at the South Australian Museum. 4 • What were missions? -- Why were missions established? people. The British declared that the -- Where were missions located? continent was ‘terra nullius’ – land -- Were they a success? belonging to no one. Aboriginal people -- How does contemporary have waged a continuous battle for Australian society view this land rights since this time. period in Australia’s history? Begin your research at Missions http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/site/ SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 Through a lifetime of fieldwork and page.cfm?c=4026 Like many Indigenous Australians, consultation Tindale demonstrated Michael’s ancestors lived in mission that Aboriginal people held a strong communities. territorial connection to the lands they occupied. 28 Who Do You Think You Are? format devised by Wall to Wall Media Ltd and based upon a program originally produced in the UK by Wall to Wall Media Ltd. Format licensed by Wall to Wall Media Ltd. This study guide was produced by ATOM. (© ATOM 2012) ISBN: 978-1-74295-153-9 [email protected] For information on SCREEN EDUCATION magazine, or to download other study guides for assessment, visit free screenings, conferences, seminars, etc. SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 Sign up now at 29