#CinemaJourney
#Who Do You Think You Are
#Who Do You Think You Are
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00:00Hello, shh, shh, shh. Hi. Look what I've got. Look. Come on, Cougar. Oh, hello, Maggie.
00:14You want more? He's like, no fear. I have always felt a kinship with the natural world.
00:21Hello. Hi. I have a deep and profound connection with nature. Come on. And I always wanted to be able to go out into the wild and survive like a wild thing. Under the stars.
00:38Author and adventurer Gina Chick's barefooted escapades have walked her onto Australia's screens. The co-host of Great Australian Walks, she first stole our hearts as the inaugural winner of Alone Australia. Hold it.
00:53Where her grit and emotional resilience captivated audiences. Okay, my friend, how do you feel about being part of my shelter?
01:01The reason that I did so well in Alone is because of my willpower. I'm not afraid of anything that life might bring. I'm really not. And losing my daughter Blaze has had a lot to do with that.
01:17I had Blaze when I was 41 and I didn't think I was going to be able to have a baby. Four days after I found out I was pregnant, I found out I had breast cancer and I was told that I had to terminate the pregnancy or I'd die. And something rose up inside me, this very deep, instinctive voice that just said, no, I'm not terminating. There's a way.
01:45After enduring three months of chemotherapy while she was pregnant, Gina gave birth to Blaze.
01:52Both of us were healthy. And then three years later, I found a tumour in her belly. And very quickly, she died.
02:06I can honestly say that having her was the greatest gift of my life.
02:14Because of her, no matter what comes, no matter how hard, I know I'm bigger than the waves that might want to wash me away.
02:39With all of these experiences, I feel like I have come to a period in my life where I know myself really well.
02:46But in my family, there's this whole unopened box. Mum is adopted. And because she's adopted, Mum's whole journey was about finding her birth mother, the writer named Charmian Clift. And there was a little bit of information that came through about her father, but nothing that we can hold onto.
03:09To unravel this family mystery, Gina is turning to DNA testing.
03:15I want to know, who is my biological grandfather? I want to open that box. I want to see what's inside.
03:24And I'm not afraid of anything I might find.
03:31Turning back the pages of the past.
03:34Oh, my goodness. It's a heist. She's a thief.
03:37Gina discovers rebels and misfits.
03:40He was loud. He swore. He emitted wind.
03:43It's probably more than I wanted to know about my great grandfather.
03:49Confronts profound tragedy.
03:51She didn't even get to say goodbye.
03:53And unearths a new family history.
03:56I've been looking for you.
03:58He looks like he'd be troubled.
04:00A new family history room behind those Jeżeliors backside of sickness.
04:02She's Being an engineer Weekend.
04:05He's the leader of the Isis ande Kai Sergio.
04:09He's the leader of the I.
04:11School of Shadow Talk and Camp.
04:13I'll tell you when somebody sees you here before the elect.
04:17I'm so blessed to be one of my favorite things.
04:20For more people who are deaf, methodologies,
04:25pleased for them to be um valid when it's calledadow believing that Oz webinars.
04:28I grew up in Jervis Bay on the south coast of New South Wales.
04:41I had a childhood that is like something out of a book.
04:46Mum calls it a free-range childhood.
04:47None of us wore shoes and we went out on adventures a lot of the weekends,
04:52camping and bushwalking, and I think that really shaped me.
04:58Born in 1969, Gina is the eldest of three daughters
05:02to teachers Douglas Chick and Suzanne Shaw.
05:06My parents, Sue and Doug, they're so cute.
05:09They're like a couple of forest animals that just scruffle around together.
05:13Family is absolutely at the core of me.
05:15Like, I've never had a day when I haven't known that I was loved.
05:19I have a real sense of connection to my dad's side of the family
05:23because we grew up together.
05:26But because mum is adopted, her ancestors, I don't really know who they are.
05:34In Gina's mid-twenties, her mother Sue discovered that Gina's biological grandmother
05:39was the renowned Australian author Charmian Clift.
05:43Regarded as a fearless writer ahead of her time,
05:47Clift became a rebellious voice for Australian women
05:50during the transformative years of the 1960s.
05:53But in 1969, the year Gina was born, Charmian took her own life.
05:59Our grandmother, it was just this fantasy figure.
06:04So finding out about Charmian was a revelation.
06:10To hear that this incredible, groundbreaking, creative force
06:15was my mother's mother somehow made me make sense.
06:21I've been writing since I was so young.
06:26And now I feel like when I was writing my book,
06:30it was actually Charmian coming through me.
06:33But I've never really tracked backwards
06:36to find out where those qualities of rebelliousness
06:40and creativity and, you know, walking against the grain.
06:45Like, where does that come from?
06:48Who planted the seed in me
06:51that has grown into this wild creature?
06:53In search of the source of her spirited nature,
07:02Gina's travelling to Dharawal country,
07:0470 kilometres south of Sydney.
07:10She's traced her second cousin, Diana Bradshaw,
07:13to the town of Bulleye.
07:16Hi, Gina.
07:17This is the first time these blood relatives have met.
07:20Oh, it's lovely to see you.
07:22Hello.
07:24Come on, it's getting inside.
07:26It's getting inside.
07:29Right, Gina, your grandmother Charmian's brother,
07:33Baray, was my father.
07:36Amazing.
07:37Did you meet her?
07:38Of course.
07:39What was she like?
07:40She was a lovely person and she was glamorous
07:42and she was beautiful.
07:43I've got some wonderful photos.
07:46Look at her.
07:47Aunty Margaret took that photo of her.
07:50Charmian was studying to be a nurse
07:52at Lithgow Hospital at the time.
07:54Her sister, Margaret, took photographs of them
07:57and entered them into the Pixco Beach Girl competition
08:00and Charmian won £10 for that.
08:03Wow.
08:03And she actually used that money to take off to Sydney.
08:09Oh, yeah, I'm out of here.
08:10So nursing wasn't her thing, obviously.
08:13She was working as an usherette at the theatre in King's Cross.
08:17These are photographs of her strolling around in King's Cross.
08:21Oh, my goodness.
08:22She would have been fighting the men off.
08:24Look at her.
08:24Wow.
08:26Wow.
08:30That would have been just about 19 months or something
08:33before your mother was born.
08:34Right.
08:35That's when we think she must have met whoever.
08:39Whoever was your grandfather.
08:41Wow.
08:42So someone came and swept her off her feet.
08:44Yes.
08:45And then changed her life forever.
08:48Do you know who my grand...
08:49I have absolutely no idea.
08:52Your mother's birth certificate said that she was illegitimate.
08:56It must have been terrible back then,
08:57Charmian's mother not, you know, allowing her to keep her baby.
09:01Oh.
09:02Because it was at a time when women weren't really given a lot of voice.
09:07No.
09:08Going through birth and then having them go,
09:10OK, now we're going to take it away.
09:12I know.
09:13That would just be so hard.
09:14Now, Gina, to get on to more of your grandmother's story,
09:22you need to go to Kiama.
09:24That's where they grew up
09:25and where you'll find a lot more to your family history.
09:30To better understand the forces that shaped her,
09:34Gina's travelled 50 kilometres south to Kiama.
09:39The traditional custodians, the Wadi Wadi people,
09:42know it as the place where the sea makes noise.
09:51Author and historian Nadia Wheatley
09:54is taking Gina to a site
09:56which holds significance to her grandmother.
09:58OK, so this is what I'm bringing up to show you.
10:03Wow.
10:03Charmian Cliff Reserve.
10:05Yeah.
10:05So there's a reason why Charmian Cliff Reserve is here
10:12and it's because over there,
10:14the two-storey house there behind you
10:16was the house where Charmian was born in August 1923.
10:24So now we're going to talk a bit about Amy,
10:27who is Charmian's mother,
10:29so your great-grandmother.
10:31We're just going to go one generation
10:32back before her to her parents.
10:35Following her maternal line,
10:37Gina's great-grandparents were Sydney Clift
10:39and Amy Lila Currie.
10:43Amy is the daughter of James Currie
10:45and Sarah Carson,
10:46who married in Inverell, New South Wales, in 1886.
10:51Only three months after the marriage,
10:54she gave birth to Amy Lila Currie.
10:57She was the beloved only child for the next four years,
11:02very spoiled, adored her mother,
11:05and then along came a brother,
11:06and then in quick succession, three more boys.
11:10And we have a photo here of Amy.
11:13So you can see a very pretty young girl.
11:17Wow.
11:17Look at her.
11:18I can see my family in that photo.
11:23Amy was 13 years old.
11:25It was 1899,
11:27and her beloved mother, Sarah,
11:30died of heart failure.
11:31So when the mother died,
11:34the children were split up
11:35and farmed out to different relatives.
11:38And Amy, age 13,
11:40was sent to the maternal grandparents.
11:42She was very bitter at what had happened
11:44with her mother's death.
11:46And in 1905,
11:48she escaped to Sydney alone.
11:52In the family story,
11:53she worked for the Berlitz School of Languages.
11:56So we have this genteel kind of story.
12:01But what we do know is that by 1913,
12:06she was working as a lady's maid.
12:09And we have some document here
12:12from the Police Gazette
12:13to let us know what happened.
12:15So this is Wednesday, 1st of October, 1913.
12:21Amy Lila Curry,
12:23alias Elizabeth Graham,
12:25alias Mabel Jones,
12:27alias Mabel Brown,
12:29has been arrested by Sydney police,
12:32charged with stealing electroplate and cutlery
12:35value eight pounds
12:36and jewellery values 60 pounds.
12:39Oh, my goodness, it's a heist.
12:41She's a thief.
12:43This is awesome.
12:45I love it.
12:46I love it.
12:48One, two, three, four aliases
12:50and maybe more that they don't know.
12:53Yes, indeed.
12:54Yeah.
12:54So the next episode in this story that we have
12:58is the police record.
13:01Oh, my God, there's a mugshot.
13:03Yeah, but have a look at it.
13:05Oh, wow.
13:08Can you see yourself at all?
13:10Yes.
13:12Holy shitballs.
13:17Wow.
13:18Hello.
13:24A very different look to her, I think,
13:26to the young girl that we saw at Thursday.
13:28Yeah, yep.
13:29That innocence is gone.
13:30Yeah, absolutely.
13:32So we can see here she gets sentenced to nine months light labour in Long Bay Jail.
13:41So she's had this terrible thing happen and then she meets the man of her dreams.
13:47So let's have a look at what your great-grandfather Sid looked like when she met him.
13:53Oh, well, hello, Sid.
13:55Gina's great-grandfather Sidney Clift, also known as Sid, was born in 1887 to a respectable English family in Huntington, East England.
14:04A qualified engineer, he emigrated to Australia in 1909.
14:10In October 1916, Sid and Amy were married at Christchurch St. Lawrence, right close to Central Station, and got on the train and came down here to North Kiama, where Sid had his job at the quarry at North Kiama.
14:28But she's got this terrible, dark secret behind her that nobody can ever find out.
14:37And I am positive we have no proof that I'm positive Sid never knows.
14:42Really?
14:43Absolutely.
14:44What makes you say that?
14:46Oh, no man in those days of middle class would be able to accept a wife with this level of criminal background.
14:53I think everything would have been over, if at any time he'd have found out.
14:59But it did completely shape Amy's life.
15:03In the little settlement of North Kiama, no one, no adult, ever entered the door of the Clift Cottage,
15:11which is almost unheard of in a small working class community.
15:18And I believe she was terrified that somebody would recognise her.
15:25I feel she must carry this burden, this secret, this dark secret for the rest of her life.
15:31She would say sometimes you were driven to poetry.
15:34And she would write poetry late at night and then scrunch it into a ball and feed it into the fuel stove.
15:48So she continued her intellectual interests and pursuits in this place, but it was a thwarted life.
15:55That just hits me, I guess because, you know, Charmian had this incredible passion and talent and creativity.
16:08And then her mother would write poetry and then screw it up and throw it in the fire.
16:15It just breaks my heart.
16:18What women go through, what women have been through, it's just such a tragedy.
16:25Wow, you know what you've done is you've taken photos and dates and bits of information and you've brought them alive.
16:37I can feel a connection with them in a way that I never have.
16:42So for that, I will always be grateful because you really, you have, you've just given me my great grandparents.
16:50Like I just wish I could have met them.
16:52To piece together a picture of the life Sid and Amy built for themselves in Kiama,
16:59Gina's heading to Bombo Quarry, where her great-grandfather Sid worked.
17:04Here, she's drawing on the expertise of Dr Tony Gilmore from the Kiama Historical Society.
17:10So Gina, welcome to Bombo Quarry, Railway Commissioner's Quarry.
17:15And this was where your great-grandfather Sid was working.
17:19Wow.
17:22This was a busy, dangerous, noisy quarry.
17:27Many, many men were either injured or killed in quarries like this.
17:33They used dynamite to blast away the rock.
17:36So these starbursts in the rock here, are they from dynamite?
17:42That will be a blast mark.
17:43They're the actual scars.
17:44This would have been a solid land form.
17:48As the quarry was worked, they went further and further back, taking all this material away.
17:52The rock that then had to be cleared, smashed and transported through to the rest of the colony.
17:58Mining on Bombo Headland began in the 1880s.
18:02The quarry's basalt rock was used to construct public buildings.
18:05It was also hand-crushed for shingle metal, used to make Sydney's roads and train tracks.
18:13By this time, the Wadi Wadi people had been subjected to decades of conflict and trauma,
18:19as colonial settlement had dispossessed them of their country and moved them to new encampments.
18:25The Wadi Wadi people were saltwater people, and so they lived by the ocean.
18:31They would have known the river inlets where they fished.
18:34They would have known headlands like this.
18:35They would have known the beaches.
18:37Goodness.
18:37One of their main camps towards the end of the 19th century,
18:41where they'd been moved to by the white settlers,
18:43was really only two kilometres down that distance,
18:46and they would have been able to see the changes taking place.
18:48You know, the stone that was, in a way, stolen from this area,
18:53was used to literally build the foundations of colonial society.
18:58Wow.
19:02Being in the rubble of such devastation,
19:06and knowing that this is a direct part of my ancestry,
19:10I'm really conflicted.
19:14Sid and Amy Lila were doing the best with what they had.
19:18So survival for one family is devastation for another.
19:22The people who were displaced and had to witness this
19:26and were powerless to stop it,
19:28and it's my great-grandfather that was a part of that.
19:31Ah.
19:39Confronting her past, two questions remain unanswered.
19:44Where did Gina's wild ways come from?
19:47And who is her biological grandfather?
20:01In Kiama, on the New South Wales south coast,
20:04author and adventurer Gina Chick
20:06is hoping to find a link between her deep connection to nature
20:10and her great-grandfather, Sid.
20:16To understand the role Sid played in mining Bombo Quarry
20:20on the ancestral lands of the Wadi Wadi people,
20:23Gina has asked local historian Dr Tony Gilmore
20:26to unseal the quarry's records.
20:29Now, Sid, he was working in a responsible job in a quarry,
20:33and I've got here his work record for about 20 years.
20:38Oh, wow. Oh, my goodness.
20:39So he gets promoted quite early on
20:41to effectively be head engineer.
20:43Wow.
20:44During the Depression,
20:46the railway commissioners,
20:48they were going to close down the quarry
20:50because they couldn't afford to pay
20:51for the engineering upkeep of the equipment.
20:54And Sid stepped forward and went to them
20:58and made the offer of saying,
21:00I will keep the machinery running for no extra payment
21:04if you keep everybody in work.
21:06I mean, that's a real mark, I think,
21:08of how much he supported his fellow people.
21:11And they must have loved him.
21:13Well, there's two sides to his story.
21:16He loved nature,
21:17he was a really good swimmer,
21:19and he adored fishing.
21:21But also, Sid was known locally
21:23as someone who was a real character.
21:26He was loud,
21:28he swore,
21:29he emitted wind,
21:31he spat,
21:32drank,
21:33and told yards.
21:35Many people must have been either entertained
21:37or bored by his tall tales.
21:40He was also not one for wearing a formal suit.
21:43I mean, back then,
21:45men and women would dress very conservatively.
21:48Not Sid.
21:49He was rarely seen wearing much more than a pair of shorts.
21:52Oh, God.
21:54So, known to be barefoot.
21:56Yes!
21:57A lot of the time.
21:58Wow.
21:59We've got a bit of an insight
22:01as to what he might have looked like.
22:04So I'd just like to show you this picture of Sid.
22:07He's wearing budgie smugglers.
22:10Oh, my goodness.
22:11He's hilarious.
22:12Look, he's doing a full flex.
22:13Look at his legs.
22:14Very muscular.
22:16I mean, the budgie smugglers are very smugly.
22:22It's probably more than I wanted to know
22:24about my great-grandfather.
22:27It's interesting.
22:29I can see, like, the strong personality
22:32in my great-grandfather here.
22:36And then the photos that I saw yesterday
22:38of my great-grandmother, Amy,
22:41I could see how they would be attracted
22:43to each other's spirit.
22:44Hmm.
22:45Hmm.
22:45I think they both had spirit,
22:47but I think Amy was quite different
22:49in her time in North Kiama.
22:51So having put behind her a one-woman crime wave
22:55in Sydney and got married,
22:58she lived a very respectable life.
23:02Her interests were collecting fine lace
23:04and bone china, reading poetry.
23:07Yeah.
23:08But a very genteel type of existence.
23:12Lace doilies.
23:13Oh, my goodness.
23:14Really.
23:15I can't imagine a home with laced oilies.
23:19You don't have a fine-bone china tea set, then?
23:22Oh, no.
23:22No.
23:23I definitely take after my great-grandfather
23:26rather than my great-grandmother.
23:29But it's interesting that the way that Charmian
23:33was brought up was really, really progressive for the time.
23:37Sid believed that daughters should, like sons,
23:42go out into the outdoors.
23:44So Charmian enjoyed catching rabbits,
23:48which would help the family dinner,
23:50fishing, but also swimming.
23:53I think Sid was very keen that Charmian and Margaret
23:56learned to swim because very dangerous currents
24:00out at Bombo.
24:01And so she would be out age seven body surfing.
24:05Wow.
24:05And often on a moonlit night,
24:09she would be out there at a discreet place.
24:13She would maybe strip down and lie in one of the rock pools.
24:18And she did what she called later starbaking.
24:21So if you sunbake during the day, you starbake at night.
24:25Wow, I love that.
24:27I love the mental image of that at a time
24:30when girls and women were supposed to behave
24:33with such decorum that she was running around
24:35trapping rabbits, catching fish,
24:38and then getting naked and lying under the stars.
24:41I know, I know.
24:48My incredible great-grandparents
24:50have completely shaped my line.
24:54Sid, my great-grandfather,
24:56and his barefoot, wild ways
24:59are very alive in me.
25:03But I feel a sadness
25:07when I think about Amy Lila
25:09who had that creativity
25:14that we see in Charmian and in my mother.
25:17All of these women write to heal.
25:21And I feel so privileged
25:23to be born in a time
25:25where I can write honestly
25:27without holding back.
25:29Having discovered the source
25:37of her wild ways
25:38in her maternal grandmother's line,
25:41Gina's now shifting focus
25:42to the mystery
25:43surrounding her maternal grandfather.
25:45My next question is,
25:47who is my biological grandfather?
25:51That's what's burning in my heart now
25:53to find out.
25:56Does the answer lie in Gina's DNA?
25:58Hey, Gina, how are you going?
26:00Ancestry's Jason Reif
26:01has come to her family home
26:02on the South Coast
26:03to deliver the results
26:04of Gina's DNA test
26:06to Gina and her mum, Suzanne.
26:09So, obviously, we are here today
26:10to talk a little bit
26:11about the burning question
26:12that you have
26:13that I want to try and help with today
26:14because you get this answer
26:16about your biological mother,
26:18but there was nothing more
26:20in the adoption files
26:20about your biological father.
26:22Oh, there never is.
26:23As far as I know,
26:24there never is.
26:25The child is not entitled to know.
26:28who the father is.
26:29You've also got to remember
26:31that this is in the Second World War.
26:33This place was full of servicemen.
26:35So there were so many penises
26:37hanging around, so to speak.
26:39Not hanging.
26:41I love you, Mum.
26:42Not exactly hanging.
26:46A little extra clarification.
26:48But what you're saying is
26:48it was not unusual
26:49for a missing father figure.
26:51Not at all.
26:51There were so many women
26:53that had been impregnated
26:55by soldier sailor them
26:57and, you know, whatever,
26:58that it just seemed automatic to me
27:01that, well, I'm probably never going
27:03to know who my father is.
27:04Have you been able to discover anything
27:06about your biological father
27:08in the years that have passed?
27:09Oh, I know his name.
27:11I think you said it was Ted something.
27:12Yeah, Ted Beck.
27:13Ted Beck.
27:13Ted Beck.
27:14Well done.
27:15Yes.
27:15Well done.
27:16OK.
27:16Yeah.
27:16There have been an abundance
27:18of people that I've met
27:19within the line of work
27:20that I do
27:20who have been
27:21absolutely certain of something
27:23and once they take a DNA test...
27:25It isn't.
27:25...suddenly it's not correct.
27:26Oh, my goodness.
27:27And the reason for that
27:28is that, you know,
27:29particularly when you're talking
27:30about things like adoptions,
27:32people are quite secretive
27:33and when you're looking
27:33at documentation,
27:34sometimes you can still
27:35be led astray.
27:36And Charmin was known
27:37for having many sexual partners,
27:39so, you know, who knows?
27:41Why don't we take a look
27:42at the DNA
27:42and see what it tells us?
27:43Yeah.
27:44OK.
27:44You can see here
27:45that you have first and foremost
27:47a very large portion of England
27:50and north-western Europe.
27:52Mm-hm.
27:52Now, because we have
27:53this question mark
27:54around Ted Beck,
27:55we'll be looking for,
27:57you know, relatives of Ted Beck,
27:58right, descendants of
27:59that you connect to genetically.
28:01When we've had a look
28:03at the DNA results
28:04for your genetic cousins,
28:06what we have found
28:07is definite connections
28:09to the Beck family.
28:10Right.
28:11Which means our genetic genealogists
28:12can confirm...
28:14Yes.
28:14...that your biological father
28:15and Gina's grandfather
28:17is, in fact,
28:18Ted Beck.
28:19There you go, Mum.
28:19So, congratulations.
28:22You have an official father
28:24and I have an official grandfather.
28:25I am very curious now
28:27to find out more about Ted.
28:29Well, look,
28:29I don't have a lot
28:30of information on Ted.
28:31What I do have
28:32is a little map here.
28:34So, this is an old parish map
28:37of Bega.
28:38Right.
28:39And it's quite small
28:40to read,
28:42but if you were to read,
28:43you would see that
28:44the Beck name
28:45is actually represented
28:46quite strongly
28:47on this map.
28:47Oh, wow.
28:48Yeah.
28:48So, to learn more
28:50about Ted Beck,
28:52my suggestion
28:52to you both
28:53would be
28:53Bega's the next place to go.
28:55Oh, my goodness.
28:56Go find the Becks.
28:58The Beck family history
29:00is now calling
29:01Gina 267 kilometres
29:03further south.
29:05Named from the
29:06Aboriginal word
29:07Bega,
29:07or Big Campground,
29:09Bega has for thousands
29:11of years
29:11been the meeting place
29:12of the clans
29:13of the Ewan Nation.
29:17Well, that's it.
29:19We know now
29:20that Ted Beck
29:21is my biological grandfather.
29:24I feel like
29:25there's probably
29:26some settling
29:26inside
29:28for my mother.
29:30Whereas for me,
29:32it's more like
29:33a door has opened.
29:36I haven't even seen
29:37a picture
29:38of my grandfather
29:40and I want to know
29:42who he is.
29:43I want to know
29:44how much
29:45of what I find
29:46in myself
29:47actually comes
29:48from him.
29:56To find out
29:57more about
29:57the grandfather
29:58she never knew,
30:00Gina's calling in
30:01on family historian
30:02John Reinberger.
30:03So, I've got this
30:05map
30:07which you might
30:09be able to help
30:10me decipher it.
30:12Oh, yes.
30:13What can you tell me?
30:15Well, the original maps
30:16and as you can see
30:17on the map here,
30:19Ferdinand Beck
30:20had all these blocks
30:22of land up here,
30:23something like
30:24700 acres,
30:25which was a huge
30:27amount of land
30:28in those days.
30:30Wow.
30:31With Ferdinand,
30:32I came across
30:33something that was
30:35a very interesting
30:36document
30:36and that's
30:38his photo album.
30:39Look at this.
30:42That is,
30:43it's already
30:44magnificent.
30:46Oh, my goodness,
30:47Ferdinand.
30:48So, when we
30:48come over here...
30:49Hang on,
30:50I just have to smell it.
30:51Oh, wow.
30:53And that's him.
30:55So, that's your
30:55three times
30:56great-grandfather.
30:58Following the Beck
30:59line,
31:00Gina's three times
31:01great-grandfather
31:01was Ferdinand
31:02Beck,
31:03who emigrated
31:04from Prussia
31:05to Australia
31:05in the 1850s.
31:08Ferdinand
31:09married Johanna
31:09Schultz
31:10and their son,
31:11Gina's two times
31:12great-grandfather,
31:14Herman Beck,
31:15was born in
31:15Bega in 1863.
31:18I have a photo
31:19of Herman
31:19here in the album.
31:22So, what did
31:22Herman get up to?
31:23He left the area
31:25and went out
31:25to Cootamundra
31:26to work on farms
31:28and while he was
31:29out there,
31:29he met his
31:30future wife,
31:31Margaret Ellen
31:32Dawson,
31:33and we have
31:33their marriage
31:34certificate.
31:35All right,
31:37what have we
31:37got here?
31:3821st of September,
31:401892,
31:41Herman Joseph Beck,
31:43who is a selector
31:44and a bachelor.
31:45And selector
31:46was the name
31:47given for a farmer
31:48in those days.
31:49And Margaret
31:51Ellen Dawson,
31:52also a selector.
31:54So, they're both
31:54selectors.
31:55Both selectors.
31:56And that means
31:58that she must
31:58have had property
31:59and she selected
32:01land in her own
32:02right.
32:03So, she's a bit
32:04of a trailblazer.
32:05I'd say so,
32:06yes.
32:07Have we got a
32:07photo of her?
32:08We do have a
32:09photograph.
32:11I saw that you
32:12had a little
32:12magnifying glass.
32:14May I?
32:15Sorry.
32:15Great.
32:16Let's have a look.
32:17Look, I'm struck
32:19by the formality
32:20and the kind of
32:23effortlessly
32:23genteel look
32:25to them both.
32:28Margaret and Herman,
32:30their firstborn
32:31child was James,
32:32born in 1893.
32:34He is your
32:36great-grandfather.
32:38That's James.
32:39Hello, James.
32:40Goodness, my ancestors
32:46are such a good-looking
32:48bunch.
32:49He looks very
32:50pensive and wistful
32:51and I'd like to find
32:53out what happens to him.
32:54Well, in the 1900s,
32:57Herman and Margaret
32:58moved to the 700 acres
33:01to take over the farm
33:02and he worked at home
33:04on the farm.
33:04But then, in 1914,
33:09the world changed
33:10and this had a severe
33:11impact on the Beck family.
33:17Following the Beck family
33:18into one of the darkest
33:20events in world history,
33:22Gina will discover a story
33:24of immense tragedy
33:25and extraordinary courage.
33:34author and adventurer
33:39Gina Chick has come
33:40to Canberra,
33:41having traced her
33:42grandfather's family,
33:43the Becks,
33:44back in time to 1914.
33:48At the Australian War
33:49Memorial,
33:51military historian
33:52Michael Kelly...
33:52G'day, Gina.
33:53How are you?
33:53..has secured Gina
33:54special access
33:55to the memorial's
33:57World War I archives.
34:04September 1914,
34:10the First World War
34:10begins and like
34:12any community,
34:13Bega hears the call.
34:15A lot of the sons
34:16in the district
34:16want to sign up
34:17and go to war.
34:19It was just the done
34:20thing to do
34:20to go and serve
34:21not only Australia
34:23but for the greater cause
34:24of the British Empire,
34:25fighting against Germany.
34:26And the Beck family
34:27is no different.
34:28So we've got Herman Beck
34:30and Margaret Dawson,
34:31your two times
34:32great-grandparents.
34:33Yep.
34:33And they had
34:34seven children
34:35and it's actually
34:36their second son,
34:37Francis Beck,
34:38known as Frank,
34:39who enlists first
34:40in early 1915.
34:43So Frank is 19 years old
34:45so he's actually
34:47two years underage
34:48to enlist
34:48so he puts his age up
34:50and goes down
34:52to Liverpool Camp
34:53which is the enlistment camp
34:56for the Sydney area.
34:59And his mother finds out
35:00and she's none too pleased
35:01and she sends Herman down
35:03and says,
35:04go and get him back.
35:05Good for you, Margaret.
35:07So we've got this one here.
35:09So this is the
35:09Cootamundra Herald,
35:11Friday, July 16th, 1915.
35:14Two or three weeks ago,
35:16Mr Herman Beck of Bega
35:17visited Cootamundra
35:19and while here,
35:20his wife wrote to him
35:21to urge him
35:22to do his best
35:22to stop his son
35:23from going to the war
35:24as he had enlisted
35:25and been accepted in Sydney.
35:27His mother said
35:28she would rather
35:29see him dead
35:29than go to the war.
35:31We deeply regret
35:32to say that her wish
35:34has been realised
35:35for her young patriot son
35:36died in Liverpool Camp
35:38this week.
35:39So unfortunately,
35:41Frank had developed
35:42measles
35:43and also bronchial pneumonia
35:44only days after joining
35:47and was dead
35:48within a week
35:49at Liverpool Camp.
35:51So he died in the camp?
35:53He died in the camp.
35:53He didn't even make it?
35:54No.
35:55Oh, Margaret.
35:56I'm so sorry.
35:58So Herman headed down
36:01to the camp to get him
36:02and wasn't in time?
36:03He's already dead.
36:04He's too late.
36:05So his father's
36:06actually returned home
36:07quite grief-stricken
36:08and knowing that
36:09they couldn't bring him back
36:10and have him at home.
36:11Oh, so he didn't even
36:12get to bring the body back?
36:13No.
36:14She didn't even get
36:15to say goodbye?
36:15No, he's buried
36:16at Liverpool.
36:18Ow.
36:18It's a pretty heavy thing
36:19from untabbed to bear.
36:20Yeah.
36:22But unfortunately,
36:23the news for the family
36:25doesn't get any better.
36:26It actually gets worse
36:26when the third son,
36:28Harold,
36:29who's only 17,
36:31enlists in September
36:32only two months
36:33after his brother's death.
36:3417.
36:3517.
36:36Yep.
36:36And so he's actually
36:37left home without permission,
36:39without his parents' knowledge,
36:40puts his age up to 21
36:41and gone and signed up
36:42and managed to get away overseas.
36:45But prior to him
36:46getting to the Western Front,
36:47we have something else
36:47that happens to the family.
36:49All right.
36:52Death certificate.
36:54February 1916.
36:56Herman Beck.
37:00So Margaret's husband died?
37:02Yeah.
37:04Oh, wow.
37:0552 years.
37:08My goodness.
37:09Not old.
37:09He's three years younger than me.
37:11Gets endocarditis.
37:14Oh, poor Margaret.
37:16And so this is after
37:17Harold's gone?
37:18Yes.
37:19And this brings us
37:20to the next part of the story.
37:21So by December 1916,
37:24Harold,
37:24he's actually serving
37:25with the 60th Battery,
37:27which is part of
37:27the 25th Field Artillery Brigade.
37:30When he arrives
37:30on the Western Front,
37:31it's in the worst winter
37:32that's actually been experienced
37:34in France
37:35for over 40 years.
37:37In some cases,
37:38the men's clothing
37:38is actually freezing to them,
37:40and so frostbite casualties
37:41are actually really large.
37:42So they're actually dealing
37:44with not only the enemy,
37:45but Mother Nature as well.
37:47So my mind is just going
37:49into all the, like,
37:51what it would be like.
37:53The noise and the mud
37:55and the screaming and...
37:56Yeah.
37:57And beyond the gun line too,
37:58it's never quiet.
37:59And it's within
38:00German artillery range.
38:02In January 1917,
38:04Harold's commanding officer
38:05writes a letter
38:06to Harold's mum
38:06that is later published
38:08in the paper.
38:08And we can have a read
38:09of that here.
38:10Okay.
38:11Saturday, February 10th, 1917.
38:15My dear Mrs Beck,
38:18I am extremely sorry
38:19to say that I have
38:20to break the sad news
38:21of your son Harold's death.
38:23He was asleep in his dugout
38:24behind his gun
38:25when a shell came.
38:26He was asleep
38:27and could have felt no pain.
38:29Your son was an excellent gunner
38:30and his loss
38:31is keenly felt by all.
38:33That's how you find out
38:34that the child
38:36that you bore and raised
38:38is gone.
38:39Yeah.
38:43So Margaret doesn't get
38:45the body of Francis
38:47and she doesn't get
38:48the body of Harold.
38:49No, he's buried in France.
38:53Margaret is now left
38:55on the farm
38:56by herself
38:57with four young children
38:59and your great-grandfather
39:00James is away
39:01teaching college.
39:03Whilst he's in Sydney
39:04at Teachers College,
39:05he meets Mary Frances Pike
39:07and the pair of them
39:08are married in 1915
39:09and they have
39:10their first son, Ted,
39:12which is your grandfather,
39:13in 1916.
39:14And then in 1917,
39:16Frank is born,
39:16his brother.
39:17When James qualifies
39:18as a teacher,
39:19he actually moves back
39:20to a town closer to home
39:22to be nearer to his mum.
39:24Also, at this time
39:25in 1917,
39:27it's been one of the worst years
39:28for the AIF
39:29on the Western Front
39:30and the casualty rates
39:31have been really high.
39:33So there's a lot
39:34of recruiting going on
39:35and the pull
39:35to go and serve
39:36is pretty strong.
39:38And in September 1917,
39:40he can't resist
39:42the call any longer
39:42and joins up.
39:45This is the third son
39:46of Herman and Margaret
39:47to enlist
39:48in the First World War.
39:48And here's a photo
39:51of your great-grandfather,
39:53James Aloysius Beck,
39:54in his uniform
39:55before his sails.
39:57Wow.
40:00What are you thinking
40:01right now, James?
40:04In July 1918,
40:06he is then posted
40:07over to France
40:08and he joins
40:09the 34th Battalion.
40:11And on the 8th of August,
40:1234th Battalion
40:13goes into an attack.
40:14The Battle of Amiens
40:16was a major turning point
40:17in World War I
40:18the first of a number
40:21of successful
40:21Allied offensives
40:23that would culminate
40:24in the armistice
40:25of November 11, 1918,
40:28ending fighting
40:29on the Western Front.
40:31But the cost
40:31of victory was high.
40:346,000 Australians
40:35lost their lives
40:36in the battle.
40:38Saturday, August 31, 1918.
40:42The price of liberty.
40:45During the week,
40:46advised of the death
40:47in action
40:48of Private James Beck.
40:50This young hero
40:50had not been long
40:52at the front.
40:52He was a schoolteacher
40:53at Bermagui
40:54and a married man,
40:55but he could not resist
40:56the call
40:57and gave up his position
40:58and left his wife
40:59and young children
41:00to go forth
41:01and do his bit
41:02for home and empire.
41:05All sympathy
41:05to the young widow
41:07and little children
41:08so cruelly bereft
41:09of their protector.
41:12Oh, goodness.
41:13Once James was killed,
41:17Mary took her sons
41:17up to Sydney
41:18to be with her parents.
41:19So Ted,
41:20my grandfather,
41:21grew up in Sydney.
41:22Yes.
41:23In three years,
41:24four of the men
41:25in the family
41:27have died.
41:28Oh, Margaret.
41:31Wow.
41:31She stayed strong, too.
41:33I mean,
41:33she ran that farm
41:34and she kept it going.
41:36So as the history goes on,
41:38all four remaining children
41:39remained with her
41:41on the farm
41:41for the rest of her life.
41:43That's,
41:44that's,
41:44wow.
41:47What a story.
41:50In 1964,
41:51Margaret passed away
41:52just about a month
41:54shy of 100th birthday.
41:56Wow.
41:57Like,
41:58the will
41:58of this woman.
42:00Oof.
42:01That's quite a story.
42:02This is a lot.
42:03It's a lot to take on.
42:04This is a lot.
42:06What a woman.
42:07Absolutely.
42:11Having such an affinity
42:19for Margaret,
42:22the mother in me
42:24wants to reach through time
42:27and hold her hand
42:29and say,
42:31I see you.
42:35I know what it's like
42:36to lose my child,
42:38but not in war.
42:39I had her body.
42:43I got to hold her.
42:45I got to wash her body.
42:47I got to sing to her.
42:51I got to say goodbye.
42:53And Margaret got none
42:55of those things.
43:02But I would like to think
43:05that the land brought her comfort
43:07because she stayed there.
43:12The land has been
43:13the thing that's held me
43:15more than anything else.
43:17I feel like I lean back
43:21into the arms of the trees.
43:25I get that sense of
43:28things being right.
43:32and I hope Margaret did too.
43:41In the final chapter,
43:43Gina will come face to face
43:45with her grandfather,
43:47Ted Beck.
43:48Author and adventurer
43:54Gina Chick
43:55has traced the grandfather
43:57she never knew
43:58to Sydney.
43:59To find out what happened
44:01to Ted Beck
44:01after his father James
44:03was killed in World War I,
44:05Gina has come to the State Library
44:07in search of records
44:08relating to Ted's life.
44:12The library's senior curator,
44:14Elise Edmonds,
44:15is helping her navigate
44:16the collection.
44:18Your grandfather, Ted,
44:20after his dad sadly
44:21was killed in the war,
44:23his mum, Mary,
44:25moved him and his brother
44:26closer to some of her family
44:28in Sydney.
44:29And so Ted and his brother,
44:31Frank, they grew up in Concord.
44:33And then the Second World War came.
44:36He was in his 20s
44:37and he served in Sydney.
44:39And so he met a young 19-year-old
44:41called Charmian.
44:43And so we don't know
44:44how long they were together.
44:46Ted really didn't know
44:48that he had a daughter.
44:51So Charmian didn't tell Ted
44:52she was pregnant?
44:53That's right.
44:54But in 1943,
44:57she happened to meet Ted
44:58on the street,
44:59which is pretty amazing.
45:00And apparently she said to him
45:02that she'd had a baby.
45:05But he didn't believe her
45:07and didn't accept it.
45:08How did that story come to light?
45:12So we believe that it was
45:14one of Charmian's best friends
45:16that she shared that encounter with.
45:20Yeah.
45:21Yeah.
45:22He led a very interesting life,
45:24particularly after the war.
45:26He went into the business
45:28of wine connoisseurship.
45:30You do get the impression
45:31that he was a real character,
45:33that he was very charming
45:34and full of life.
45:36And he really enjoyed
45:38the good things in life.
45:39He very much socialised
45:41in bohemian circles in Sydney,
45:43particularly at King's Cross.
45:45In the mid-1940s and 50s,
45:48Sydney's King's Cross
45:49was a bohemian haven
45:51for artists, writers and poets
45:53pursuing intellectual
45:54and artistic freedom.
45:57Its urban character
45:59and late-night cafes
46:00and nightclubs
46:01provided an escape
46:02from the social
46:03and political conservatism
46:05that dominated
46:06post-war Australia.
46:10And he was quite close friends
46:13with the famous photographer
46:14Max Dupain.
46:15Oh, wow.
46:16The iconic Australian photographer.
46:18And so in the collection
46:19here at the State Library,
46:20we have an amazing collection
46:22of Dupain photographs.
46:24And so we have some
46:25featuring your grandfather.
46:26Oh, my goodness.
46:27So this is a lovely photograph
46:30taken of Ted.
46:31This is Ted.
46:32By Max.
46:33So this is my grandfather.
46:36Ted, I've been looking for you.
46:40He's a good-looking fella.
46:44Oh, he looks like
46:45he'd be trouble.
46:46You can see there's a crinkle
46:48around the eyes, isn't there?
46:49Yes.
46:50By Max Dupain.
46:52Wow.
46:53So this is another photo of Ted.
46:55Oh, here we go.
47:01I did not think I was going to see
47:02photos of my grandfather.
47:04He married a lady called Dorothy Hogg.
47:07And they ended up having four daughters.
47:11This is his wife, Dorothy.
47:13Okay.
47:13And one of her...
47:14Four girls?
47:15Four girls, yeah.
47:16And this is Max.
47:17Max Dupain.
47:18Okay.
47:18So Ted does not have a long life.
47:23He dies quite young, at the age of 51, with a heart attack.
47:29That was in 1967.
47:32Despite, you know, having a relatively short life, I think he did live life to the full.
47:37I could see him with a cigar in his hand, at four in the morning, sipping Absinthe, while
47:43some poetry reading is going on in a back room in the cross.
47:50Yeah.
47:51Just thinking about that, this photo makes sense.
47:53And I wonder if part of him was asking a little question about Charmy and stopping him in
48:05the street and saying that she'd had a baby.
48:08I can never know.
48:15It's really interesting with Ted.
48:17And I didn't have a sense of the person who I could relate to from a heart level.
48:27And when I heard that he and Charmy had met on the street and she'd told him that she'd
48:32been pregnant and he didn't believe her, there was a bit of me that was like, oh, really?
48:37I feel protective of my grandmother.
48:39She carried that burden and then that secret the rest of her life.
48:44And I wonder how it would have gone for her if he had actually acknowledged her in that
48:51moment.
49:00Wow.
49:01What a ride this has been.
49:02I feel like there are parts of me that now make sense.
49:25My willpower is absolutely from Margaret, my two times great grandmother.
49:40Amy Lila's defiance also feels like that is a very strong part of me.
49:50Charmian's creativity is a huge part.
49:53But also Sid's adventurous nature and his barefoot, wild ways.
50:11All of those qualities are very alive in me.
50:15And I have a sense of kinship and place and that wherever I go, I'll never be alone.
50:42Next time on Who Do You Think You Are?
50:53Oh dear, this is not great.
50:56Now I'm moving into true crime territory.
50:58Comedian Tom Gleeson discovers a hardened criminal past.
51:02His wife's rooting around and he killed two people.
51:05He was a good looking murderer.
51:07Feuds on the goldfields.
51:09Wow.
51:10It's like something from good, the bad and the ugly.
51:13And unravels a family legend.
51:15Okay, I'm hoping I'm adopted at this point.
51:17You've brought great shame upon me.
51:19You've brought great shame upon me.
51:20You've brought great shame upon me.
51:21You've brought great shame upon you.
51:22You've brought great shame upon you.
51:23You've brought great shame upon you.
51:24You've brought great shame upon you.
51:25You've brought great shame upon you.
51:26You've brought great shame upon you.
51:27You've brought great shame upon you.
51:28You've brought great shame upon you.
51:29You've brought great shame upon you.
51:30You've brought great shame upon you.
51:31You've brought great shame upon you.
51:32You've brought great shame upon you.
51:33You've brought great shame upon you.
51:34You've brought great shame upon you.
51:35You've brought great shame upon you.
51:36You've brought great shame upon you.
51:37You've brought great shame upon you.
51:38You've brought great shame upon you.
51:39You've brought great shame upon you.
51:40You've brought great shame upon you.