Ancestry…
I always feel so disingenuous when I mention to people that I have Chinese ancestry. My red hair and green eyes don’t exactly give me credibility.
I thought I’d sit down this afternoon and draw up a family tree so that I have it straight in my head and I can explain it to other people, including Dexie’s Family Day Carers. So I dug out the 20L box of family tree information that Mum left behind – the laws regarding adoption were relaxed in the early 80s and Mum started looking into Dad’s family tree then.
It’s a big .jpg, so you’ll have to click through to it. It’s not very detailed, but you get the idea.
The dates and names don’t really tell the story. Dad was adopted by a lovely couple. He was born in Adelaide in 1950 and went home with his parents, but they felt they had to get away from South Australia and moved to New South Wales in 1951 with his older sister, leaving him behind. Funny, I thought it was Melbourne, but the official document says NSW. They left him with the neighbour, but she realised that she couldn’t care for him, he was put into an orphanage. His parents still didn’t feel that they could look after him, so he was put into departmental care before he turned one.
His adoptive parents took him home in early 1952, then with consent from his birth parents, they adopted him legally in 1953. According to the official documents, his birth parents often enquired about his well being, but they conceded that he was better off adopted into a stable and loving family. The last correspondence was from Dad’s birth mother was in 1956, advising the Department that their marriage was over.
Further information about his birth mother, Queenie states that she was also a Ward of the State at a young age. She was in and out of foster care, absconding from homes until she was so old that the Department no longer cared. History does indeed repeat.
My mum also found out that my great grandfather, William George Hock-kie was a Laundry Man in Hindley St when his daughter, Queenie was born. I also remember mum discovering that he had a laundry on Rundle St. I have olden day photos of both streets up on our lounge room wall. William’s father’s occupation was listed as farmer.
Elizabeth Jane Loo was a domestic, her father was a gardener.
So there, you have it. I do not come from good stock.
