- 6/3/2025
#CinemaJourney
#Who Do You Think You Are
#Who Do You Think You Are
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00:00Hello, shh, shh, shh, shh. Hi. Look what I've got. Look. Come on, cooker. Oh, hello, Maggie.
00:14You want more? Right, no fear. I have always felt a kinship with the natural world. Hello,
00:22hi. I have a deep and profound connection with nature. Come on. And I always wanted to be able
00:33to go out into the wild and survive like a wild thing. Under the stars. Author and adventurer Gina
00:40Chick's barefooted escapades have walked her onto Australia's screens. The co-host of Great Australian
00:48walks, she first stole our hearts as the inaugural winner of Alone Australia. Hold on. Where her grit
00:55and emotional resilience captivated audiences. Okay, my friend, how do you feel about being part
01:00of my shelter? The reason that I did so well in Alone is because of my willpower. I'm not afraid
01:08of anything that life might bring. I'm really not. And losing my daughter Blaze has had a lot to do
01:16with that. I had Blaze when I was 41 and I didn't think I was going to be able to have a baby.
01:29Four days after I found out I was pregnant, I found out I had breast cancer and I was told that I had to
01:34terminate the pregnancy or I'd die. And something rose up inside me, this very deep instinctive voice
01:41that just said, no, I'm not terminating. There's a way. After enduring three months of chemotherapy
01:48while she was pregnant, Gina gave birth to Blaze. Both of us were healthy. And then three years later,
01:55I found a tumour in her belly.
02:03And very quickly, she died.
02:10I 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
02:27than the waves that might want to wash me away.
02:30With all of these experiences, I feel like I have come to a period in my life where I know myself
02:46really well. But in my family, there's this whole unopened box. Mum is adopted. And because she's
02:55adopted, mum's whole journey was about finding her birth mother, the writer named Charmian Clift.
03:03And there was a little bit of information that came through about her father, but nothing that we
03:08can hold on to. To unravel this family mystery, Gina is turning to DNA testing. I want to know,
03:16who is my biological grandfather? I want to open that box. I want to see what's inside.
03:25And I'm not afraid of anything I might find.
03:32Turning back the pages of the past.
03:35Oh my goodness, it's a heist. She's a thief.
03:38Gina discovers rebels and misfits. He was loud, he swore, he emitted wind.
03:44It's probably more than I wanted to know about my great grandfather.
03:49Confronts profound tragedy. She didn't even get to say goodbye.
03:53And unearths a new family history. I've been looking for you.
03:58He looks like he'd be troubled.
04:10I grew up in Jervis Bay on the south coast of New South Wales.
04:17I 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.
04:45Mum calls it a free-range childhood.
04:48None 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.
04:57Born 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.
05:12So family 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.
05:27But because mum is adopted, her ancestors, I don't really know who they are.
05:32In 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.
05:58Our 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 and creativity
06:41and, you know, walking against the grain,
06:45like, where does that come from?
06:46Who planted the seed in me
06:51that has grown into this wild creature?
06:58In 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.
07:14Hi, 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 me inside.
07:26It's getting inside.
07:29Right, Gina, your grandmother Charmian's brother,
07:33Barre, was my father.
07:36Amazing.
07:37Did you meet her?
07:38Oh, of course.
07:39What was she like?
07:40She was a lovely person.
07:41And she was glamorous and 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 at Lithgow Hospital at the time.
07:54Her sister, Margaret, took photographs of them
07:56and entered them into the Pixie Beach Girl competition.
08:01And Charmian won £10 for that.
08:03Wow.
08:03And she actually used that money to take off to Sydney.
08:09I'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.
08:20Oh, my goodness.
08:22She would have been fighting the men off.
08:24Look at her.
08:26Wow.
08:31That 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.
08:44And 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.
09:23That'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,
09:41know it as the place where the sea makes noise.
09:52Author and historian Nadia Wheatley is 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.
10:01So there's a reason why Charmian Clif Reserve is here and it's because over there, the two-storey house there behind you
10:16was the house where Charmian was born in August 1923.
10:20So now we're going to talk a bit about Amy, who is Charmian's mother.
10:28Charmian's mother, so your great-grandmother, we're just going to go one generation back before her to her parents.
10:35Following her maternal line, Gina's great-grandparents were Sydney Clift and Amy Lila Currie.
10:43Amy is the daughter of James Currie and Sarah Carson, who married in Inverell, New South Wales in 1886.
10:49Only three months after the marriage, she gave birth to Amy Lila Currie.
10:58She was the beloved only child for the next four years, very spoiled, adored her mother,
11:04and then along came a brother, and then in quick succession, three more boys.
11:10And we have a photo here of Amy, so you can see a very pretty young girl.
11:17Wow, look at her.
11:19I can see my family in that photo.
11:23Amy was 13 years old.
11:25It was 1899, and her beloved mother, Sarah, died of heart failure.
11:31So when the mother died, the children were split up and farmed out to different relatives.
11:38And Amy, age 13, was sent to the maternal grandparents.
11:43She was very bitter at what had happened with her mother's death,
11:45and in 1905, she escaped to Sydney alone.
11:52In the family story, she worked for the Berlitz School of Languages.
11:56So we have this genteel kind of story.
12:00But what we do know is that by 1913, she was working as a lady's maid, and we have some document here
12:12from the Police Gazette to let us know what happened.
12:15So this is Wednesday, 1st of October, 1913.
12:21Amy Lila Curry, alias Elizabeth Graham, alias Mabel Jones, alias Mabel Brown,
12:29has been arrested by Sydney police, charged with stealing electroplate and cutlery,
12:35value eight pounds, and jewellery, value 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.
12:47One, two, three, four aliases, and maybe more that they don't know.
12:53Yes, indeed.
12:54Yeah.
12:54So the next episode in this story that we have is the police record.
13:01Oh, my God, there's a mugshot.
13:03Yeah, but have a look at it.
13:05Oh, wow.
13:07Can you see yourself at all?
13:10Yes.
13:12Holy shitballs.
13:16Wow.
13:18Hello.
13:24A very different look to her, I think, to 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
14:01English family in Huntington, East England.
14:04In 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.
14:58But 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, that'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, Gina'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.
18:36Goodness.
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?
19:51Who 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
20:19on 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.
20:37Oh, my goodness.
20:39So he gets promoted quite early on to effectively be head engineer.
20:43Wow.
20:44During the Depression, the 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, he 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, he swore, he emitted wind,
21:31he spat, drank, and told yarns.
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.
21:44I mean, back then, men and women
21:46would dress very conservatively.
21:47Not Sid, he was rarely seen
21:50wearing 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, he's hilarious.
22:12Look, he's doing a full flex.
22:13Look at his legs!
22:14Very muscular.
22:15I mean, I mean, the budgie smugglers
22:18are very smugly.
22:22It's probably more than I wanted to know
22:24about my great-grandfather.
22:28It'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.
22:52So having put behind her
22:54her one-woman crime wave in Sydney
22:56and got married,
22:58she lived a very respectable life.
23:01Her 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, really.
23:15I can't imagine a home with lace doilies.
23:19You don't have a fine bone china tea set, then?
23:22Oh, no.
23:22No, I definitely take after my great-grandfather
23:26rather than my great-grandmother.
23:28But it's interesting that
23:31the way that Charmian was brought up
23:34was really, really progressive for the time.
23:37Sid believed that daughters
23:39should, 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
23:54that Charmian and Margaret learned to swim
23:57because very dangerous currents out at Bombo.
24:01And so she would be out age seven,
24:03body surfing.
24:05Wow.
24:06And often on a moonlit night,
24:09she would be out there at a discreet place.
24:13She would maybe strip down
24:15and lie in one of the rock pools.
24:18And she did what she called later starbaking.
24:20So if you sunbake during the day,
24:23you starbake at night.
24:25Wow, I love that.
24:27I love the mental image of that
24:29at a time when girls and women
24:32were supposed to behave with such decorum
24:34that she was running around,
24:36trapping rabbits, catching fish,
24:37and then getting naked and lying under the stars.
24:40I know, I know.
24:47My 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.
25:01But 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.
25:31Having 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
26:13and 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
26:27to know who 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.
26:40I love you, Mum.
26:42Not exactly hanging.
26:46A little extra clarification.
26:48But what you're saying
26:48is it was not unusual
26:49for a missing father figure.
26:51Not at all.
26:52There 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,
27:02I'm probably never going to know
27:03who my father is.
27:04Have you been able
27:05to 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
27:11it was Ted something.
27:12Yeah, Ted Beck.
27:13Ted Beck.
27:14Ted Beck.
27:14Well done.
27:15Yes.
27:15Well done.
27:15OK.
27:16There have been
27:17an abundance of people
27:18that 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.
27:25Suddenly 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
27:32and 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
27:38sexual partners,
27:39so, you know,
27:40who knows?
27:41Why don't we take a look
27:41at the DNA
27:42and see what it tells us?
27:43Yay.
27:44You can see here
27:45that you have
27:46first and foremost
27:47a very large portion
27:49of England
27:50and north-western Europe.
27:52Now, because we have
27:53this question mark
27:54around Ted Beck,
27:55we'll be looking for,
27:57you know,
27:57relatives of Ted Beck,
27:58right, descendants of
27:59that you connect to
28:00genetically.
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
28:11our genetic genealogist
28:12can confirm
28:13that your biological father
28:15and Gina's grandfather
28:17is, in fact,
28:18Ted Beck.
28:19There you go.
28:19Congratulations.
28:22You have an official father
28:23and I have an official
28:25grandfather.
28:25I am very curious now
28:27to find out more
28:28about 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.
28:35So 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.
28:49So to learn more
28:50about Ted Beck,
28:52my suggestion to you both
28:53would be
28:53Bega.
28:54Bega's the next place to go.
28:55Oh, my goodness.
28:56Go find the Becks.
28:58The Beck family history
29:00is now calling Gina
29:01267 kilometres
29:03further south.
29:05Named from the Aboriginal
29:06word Bega
29:07or Big Campground,
29:09Bega has for thousands
29:11of years
29:11been a meeting place
29:12of the clans
29:13of the Yuin Nation.
29:14Well, 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 for my mother.
29:30Whereas for me,
29:31it's more like
29:33a door has opened.
29:34I haven't even seen
29:37a picture
29:38of my grandfather
29:40and I want
29:42to 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.
29:49To 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
30:05this map
30:07which you might
30:09be able to help
30:10me decipher a bit.
30:12Well, yes.
30:13What can you tell me?
30:15Well, they're
30:15original maps
30:16and as you can see
30:17on the map here,
30:18Ferdinand Beck
30:20had all these
30:21blocks of land
30:22up here,
30:23something like
30:24700 acres
30:25which was a huge
30:27amount of land
30:28in those days.
30:29Wow.
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.
30:39Oh!
30:40Look at this!
30:42That is,
30:43it's already
30:44magnificent.
30:46Oh my goodness,
30:47Ferdinand.
30:47So when we come
30:48over here...
30:49Hang on,
30:50I just have to
30:50smell it.
30:51Oh, wow.
30:53And that's him.
30:55So that's your
30:55three times
30:56great-grandfather.
30:58Following the
30:58Beck line,
31:00Gina's three times
31:00great-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,
31:14was born in
31:15Bega in
31:161863.
31:18I have a photo
31:19of Herman
31:19here in the
31:20album.
31:22So what did
31:22Herman get up
31:23to?
31:23He left the
31:24area and went
31:25out to
31:25Cootamundra
31:26to work on
31:27farms and
31:28while 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.
31:36All right,
31:37what have we
31:37got here?
31:3821st September
31:391892,
31:41Herman Joseph
31:42Beck,
31:43who is a
31:44selector and
31:44a bachelor.
31:45And selector
31:46was the name
31:47given for a
31:48farmer in
31:48those days.
31:49And Margaret
31:50Ellen Dawson,
31:52also a
31:53selector.
31:54So they're
31:54both selectors.
31:55Both selectors.
31:56And that
31:57means that she
31:58must have had
31:59property and
32:00she selected
32:01land in her
32:02own right.
32:03So she's a
32:04bit of a
32:04trailblazer.
32:05I'd say so,
32:06yes.
32:07Have we got a
32:07photo of her?
32:08We do have
32:08a photograph.
32:11I saw that
32:11you had a
32:12little magnifying
32:14glass, may I?
32:15Sorry.
32:15Great, thank
32:16you.
32:16Let's have a
32:17look.
32:18I'm struck
32:19by the
32:19formality and
32:21the kind of
32:23effortlessly
32:23genteel look
32:25to them
32:25both.
32:28Margaret and
32:29Herman, their
32:30firstborn child
32:31was James,
32:32born in
32:331893.
32:34He is your
32:36great-grandfather.
32:38That's
32:38James.
32:39Hello,
32:40James.
32:45Goodness, my
32:46ancestors are
32:47such a good-looking
32:48bunch.
32:49He looks very
32:50pensive and
32:51wistful and I'd
32:52like to find out
32:53what happens to
32:54him.
32:54Well, in the
32:551900s, Herman
32:58and Margaret
32:58moved to the
33:00700 acres to
33:01take over the
33:02farm.
33:02and he worked
33:03at home on
33:04the farm.
33:05But then, in
33:061914, the
33:09world changed
33:10and this had a
33:10severe impact on
33:12the Beck family.
33:16Following the
33:18Beck family into
33:19one of the
33:19darkest events in
33:20world history,
33:22Gina will
33:23discover a
33:24story of immense
33:25tragedy and
33:26extraordinary
33:27courage.
33:37Author and
33:38adventurer Gina
33:39Chick has come
33:40to Canberra,
33:41having traced her
33:42grandfather's family,
33:43the Becks, back
33:45in time to 1914.
33:48At the
33:49Australian War
33:49Memorial, military
33:51historian Michael
33:52Kelly...
33:52G'day, Gina.
33:53Has secured Gina
33:54special access to
33:56the Memorial's
33:57World War I
33:58archives.
34:08September 1914,
34:10the First World
34:10War begins and
34:12like any community,
34:13Bega hears the
34:13call.
34:15A lot of the
34:15sons in the
34:16district want to
34:17sign up and go
34:17to war.
34:19It was just the
34:19done thing to do
34:20to go and serve
34:21not only Australia
34:22but for the
34:23greater cause of
34:24the British Empire
34:25fighting against
34:25Germany.
34:26And the Beck
34:27family is no
34:27different.
34:28So we've got
34:29Herman Beck and
34:30Margaret Dawson,
34:31your two times
34:32great-grandparents.
34:33Yep.
34:33And they had
34:34seven children and
34:35it's actually their
34:36second son, Francis
34:38Beck, known as
34:39Frank, who enlists
34:40first in early
34:411915.
34:43So Frank is 19
34:45years old so he's
34:46actually two years
34:47underage to enlist
34:48so he puts his
34:49age up and goes
34:52down to Liverpool
34:53camp, which is
34:55the enlistment
34:56camp for the
34:57Sydney area.
34:59And his mother
34:59finds out and
35:00she's none too
35:01pleased and she
35:02sends Herman down
35:03and says, go and
35:04get him back.
35:05Good for you,
35:06Margaret.
35:07So we've got
35:08this one here.
35:09So this is the
35:09Cootamundra Herald,
35:11Friday, July 16th,
35:131915.
35:14Two or three
35:15weeks ago, Mr.
35:16Herman Beck of
35:17Bega visited
35:18Cootamundra and
35:19while here, his wife
35:20wrote to him to
35:21urge him to do
35:22his best to stop
35:23his son from
35:23going to the
35:24war as he had
35:25enlisted and been
35:26accepted in Sydney.
35:27His mother said
35:28she would rather
35:29see him dead than
35:30go to the war.
35:31We deeply regret to
35:33say that her wish
35:34has been realised
35:35for her young
35:35patriot son died
35:37in Liverpool
35:37camp this week.
35:39So unfortunately,
35:41Frank had
35:41developed measles
35:43and also
35:43bronchial pneumonia
35:44only days after
35:46joining and
35:47was dead
35:48within a week
35:49at Liverpool
35:50camp.
35:51So he died
35:52in the camp?
35:53He died in the
35:53camp.
35:53He didn't even
35:53make it?
35:54No.
35:55Oh, Margaret.
35:56I'm so sorry.
35:58So Herman
36:00headed down to
36:01the camp to
36:01get him and
36:02wasn't in time?
36:03He's already
36:04dead.
36:04He's too late.
36:05So his father's
36:06actually returned
36:06home quite
36:07grief-stricken
36:08and knowing that
36:09they couldn't
36:09bring him back
36:10and have him
36:11at home.
36:11Oh, so he
36:12didn't even get
36:12to bring the
36:13body back.
36:13No.
36:14She didn't even
36:14get to say
36:15goodbye.
36:15No, he's
36:16buried at
36:16Liverpool.
36:18Ow.
36:18It's a pretty
36:18heavy thing
36:19for a mum
36:19to have to
36:19bear.
36:20Yeah.
36:22But unfortunately
36:23the news for
36:24the family doesn't
36:25get any better.
36:26It actually gets
36:26worse when the
36:27third son,
36:28Harold, who's
36:29only 17,
36:31enlists in
36:31September, only
36:32two months after
36:33his brother's
36:34death.
36:3417.
36:3517.
36:36Yep.
36:36And so he's
36:37actually left
36:38home without
36:38permission, without
36:39his parents'
36:39knowledge, puts
36:40his age up to
36:4121 and gone and
36:42signed up.
36:42And managed
36:43to get away
36:43overseas.
36:45But prior to him
36:46getting to the
36:46Western Front, we
36:47have something else
36:47that happens to
36:48the family.
36:49So that's it.
36:50All right.
36:52Death certificate.
36:54February 1916.
36:56Herman Beck.
37:00So Margaret's
37:01husband died.
37:02Yeah.
37:03Oh, wow.
37:0552 years.
37:08My goodness.
37:09Not old.
37:09He's three years
37:10younger than me.
37:11Gets endocarditis.
37:14Oh, poor Margaret.
37:16And so this is
37:17after Harold's
37:18gone?
37:18Yes.
37:19And this brings us
37:20to the next part
37:21of the story.
37:21So by December
37:221916, Harold, he's
37:25actually serving with
37:26the 60th Battery,
37:27which is part of the
37:2725th Field Artillery
37:28Brigade.
37:30When he arrives on
37:30the Western Front,
37:31it's in the worst
37:32winter that's actually
37:33been experienced in
37:34France for over 40
37:36years.
37:37In some cases,
37:38the men's clothing
37:38is actually freezing
37:39to them.
37:40And so frostbite
37:41casualties are
37:41actually really large.
37:42So they're actually
37:43dealing with not only
37:45the enemy, but
37:45Mother Nature as well.
37:47So my mind is just
37:48going into all the
37:50like, what it would
37:51be like.
37:53The noise and the
37:54mud and screaming
37:55and...
37:56Yeah.
37:57And beyond the gun
37:57line too, it's never
37:58quiet.
37:59And it's within
38:00German artillery range.
38:02In January 1917,
38:04Harold's commanding
38:05officer writes a letter
38:06to Harold's mum that
38:07is later published
38:08in the paper.
38:09You can have a
38:09read of that here.
38:10Okay.
38:11Saturday, February
38:1310th, 1917.
38:15My dear Mrs. Beck,
38:18I am extremely sorry
38:19to say that I have
38:20to break the sad
38:20news of your son
38:21Harold's death.
38:23He was asleep in
38:23his dugout behind
38:24his gun when a
38:25shell came.
38:26He was asleep and
38:27could have felt no
38:28pain.
38:29Your son was an
38:29excellent gunner and
38:30his loss is keenly
38:31felt by all.
38:33That's how you find
38:34out that the child
38:36that you bore and
38:37raised is gone.
38:39Yeah.
38:43So Margaret doesn't
38:45get the body of
38:47Francis and she
38:48doesn't get the body
38:49of Harold.
38:49No, he's buried
38:50in France.
38:53Margaret is now
38:55left on the farm
38:56by herself with
38:58four young children
38:59and your great
39:00grandfather James is
39:01away at teaching
39:02college.
39:03Whilst he's in
39:04Sydney at Teachers
39:05College, he meets
39:05Mary Frances Pike
39:07and the pair of them
39:08are married in 1915
39:09and they have their
39:10first son, Ted,
39:12which is your
39:12grandfather, in 1916.
39:14And then in 1917,
39:16Frank is born,
39:16his brother.
39:17When James qualifies
39:18as a teacher, he
39:19actually moves back
39:20to a town closer to
39:21home to be nearer
39:23to his mum.
39:24Also, this time in
39:251917, it's been one
39:27of the worst years
39:28for the AIF on the
39:29Western Front and the
39:30casualty rates have
39:31been really high.
39:33So there's a lot of
39:34recruiting going on
39:35and the pull to go
39:36and serve is pretty
39:37strong.
39:38And in September
39:391917, he can't
39:41resist the call any
39:42longer and joins up.
39:45This is the third
39:45son of Herman and
39:47Margaret to enlist in
39:48the First World War.
39:51Here's a photo of
39:51your great-grandfather,
39:52James Aloysius Beck,
39:54in his uniform
39:55before he sails.
39:57Wow.
40:00What are you
40:01thinking right now,
40:02James?
40:04In July 1918,
40:06he is then posted
40:07over to France
40:08and he joins the
40:0934th Battalion.
40:11And on the 8th of
40:12August, 34th Battalion
40:13goes into an attack.
40:15The Battle of
40:15Amiens was a major
40:16turning point in
40:17World War I,
40:19the first of a
40:20number of successful
40:21Allied offences.
40:22that would culminate
40:24in the armistice of
40:25November 11, 1918,
40:28ending fighting on
40:29the Western Front.
40:31But the cost of
40:32victory was high.
40:346,000 Australians
40:35lost their lives in
40:36the battle.
40:38Saturday, August 31,
40:411918, the price of
40:44liberty.
40:45During the week,
40:46advised of the death
40:47in action of Private
40:48James Beck, this young
40:50hero had not been
40:51long at the front.
40:52He was a schoolteacher
40:53at Bermagui and a
40:54married man, but he
40:56could not resist the
40:57call and gave up his
40:58position and left his
40:59wife and young children
41:00to go forth and do his
41:02bit for home and
41:03empire.
41:05All sympathy to the
41:06young widow and little
41:07children so cruelly
41:09bereft of their
41:10protector.
41:10Oh, goodness.
41:14Once James was killed,
41:17Mary took her sons up to
41:18Sydney to be with her
41:19parents.
41:19So Ted, my grandfather,
41:21grew up in Sydney.
41:22Yes.
41:23In three years, four of
41:25the men in the family
41:27have died.
41:28Oh, Margaret, wow.
41:31She stayed strong, too.
41:33I mean, she ran that
41:34farm and she kept it
41:35going.
41:36So as the history goes
41:37on, all four remaining
41:39children remained with
41:40her on the farm for the
41:42rest of her life.
41:43That's, that's, wow.
41:47What a story.
41:50In 1964, Margaret passed
41:52away just about a month
41:54shy of 100th birthday.
41:56Wow.
41:57Like the will of this
41:59woman.
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.
42:16Having such an affinity
42:19for Margaret.
42:23The mother in me.
42:26Wants to reach through
42:27time and hold her hand
42:29and say, I see you.
42:34I know what it's like to
42:36lose my child, but not in
42:38war.
42:40I 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.
42:52And Margaret got none of
42:55those things.
43:02But I would like to think
43:05that the land brought her
43:06comfort because she stayed
43:08there.
43:12The land has been the thing
43:14that's held me more than
43:15anything else.
43:16I feel like I lean back
43:21into the arms of the trees.
43:23And I 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 Gina Chick
43:55has traced the grandfather
43:57she never knew to Sydney.
43:59To find out what happened to
44:01Ted Beck after his father James
44:03was killed in World War I,
44:05Gina has come to the State
44:06Library in search of records
44:08relating to Ted's life.
44:12The library's senior curator,
44:14Elise Edmonds, is helping her
44:16navigate the collection.
44:18Your grandfather, Ted,
44:20after his dad sadly was killed
44:22in the war, his 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
44:32Concord.
44:33And then the Second World War
44:35came.
44:36He was in his 20s and he
44:38served in Sydney.
44:39And so he met a young 19-year-old
44:41called Charmian and so we don't
44:44know how long they were
44:45together.
44:46Ted really didn't know that
44:49he had a daughter.
44:51So Charmian didn't tell Ted
44:52she was pregnant?
44:53That's right.
44:54But in 1943, she happened to
44:57meet Ted on the street,
44:59which is pretty amazing.
45:00And apparently she said to him
45:02that she had a baby.
45:05But he didn't believe her
45:07and didn't accept it.
45:08How did that story come to
45:12light?
45:12So we believe that it was one
45:14of Charmian's best friends
45:16that she shared that
45:18encounter with.
45:20Yeah.
45:20Yeah.
45:22He led a very interesting
45:23life, particularly after the
45:26war.
45:26He went into the business of
45:28wine connoisseurship.
45:30You do get the impression that
45:31he was a real character, that
45:33he was very charming and full of
45:35life and he really enjoyed the
45:38good things in life.
45:39He very much socialised in
45:41bohemian circles in Sydney,
45:43particularly at King's Cross.
45:45In the mid-1940s and 50s,
45:48Sydney's King's Cross was a
45:50bohemian haven for artists,
45:52writers and poets pursuing
45:54intellectual and artistic
45:55freedom.
45:57Its urban character and late
45:59night cafes and nightclubs
46:01provided an escape from the
46:03social and political
46:04conservatism that dominated
46:06post-war Australia.
46:10And he was quite close
46:12friends with the famous
46:13photographer Max Dupain.
46:15Oh, wow.
46:16The iconic Australian
46:17photographer.
46:18And so in the collection here
46:19at the State Library, we have
46:20an amazing collection of Dupain
46:22photographs.
46:24And so we have some featuring
46:25your 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 he'd be
46:45troubled.
46:46You can see there's a crinkle
46:48around the eyes, isn't there?
46:49Yes.
46:51By 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
47:06Hogg.
47:07And they ended up having four
47:10daughters.
47:11This is his wife, Dorothy.
47:13And one of her...
47:14Four girls?
47:15Four girls, yeah.
47:16And this is Max.
47:17Max Dupain.
47:18Okay.
47:19So Ted does not have a long life.
47:23He dies quite young at the age of 51
47:26with a heart attack.
47:29Oh.
47:30That was in 1967.
47:32Despite, you know, having a relatively
47:34short life, I think he did live life to the full.
47:37I could see him with a cigar in his hand
47:39at four in the morning,
47:41sipping Absinthe,
47:43while some poetry reading is going on
47:47in a back room in the cross.
47:50Yeah, just thinking about that,
47:52this photo makes sense.
47:55And I wonder if part of him
47:57was asking a little question
48:02about Charmy and stopping him in the street
48:05and saying that she'd had a baby.
48:08I can never know.
48:15It's really interesting with Ted.
48:17I didn't have a sense of the person
48:20who I could relate to from a heart level.
48:27And when I heard that he and Charmy
48:29had met on the street
48:31and she'd told him that she'd been pregnant
48:32and he didn't believe her,
48:34there was a bit of me that was like,
48:35oh, really?
48:37I feel protective of my grandmother.
48:39She carried that burden
48:41and then that secret
48:42the rest of her life.
48:45And I wonder how it would have gone for her
48:47if he had actually acknowledged her
48:50in that moment.
48:52Wow, what a ride this has been.
49:02I feel like there are parts of me
49:23that now make sense.
49:25My willpower is absolutely from Margaret,
49:34my two-times great-grandmother.
49:39Amy Lila's defiance
49:42also feels like that is a very strong part of me.
49:46Charmian's creativity is a huge part.
50:00But also Sid's adventurous nature
50:04and his barefoot, wild ways.
50:08All of those qualities are very alive in me.
50:22And I have a sense of kinship
50:24and place
50:28and that wherever I go
50:36I'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
50:59discovers a hardened criminal past.
51:02His wife's rooting around
51:04and he killed two people.
51:05He was a good-looking murderer.
51:07Feuds on the goldfields.
51:09Wow, it's like something from
51:11good, 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.
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