W.D.Y.T.Y.A AUSTRALIA

trish1 · Post by **trish1** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 4:48 am

I did enjoy Geoffrey Robertson with some reservations as to how he said a few things.

The highlight was in the first 3 minutes watching the misery of Alan Jones on one of the early hypotheticals. As usual I also enjoyed some different shots of Sydney Harbour.

The Scottish connection was interesting as was the investigation of why the family came to Australia. GRs' opinions on hereditary vs nurture seemed to change a little as the program progressed as well.The benefits of the Australian War records in relation to family history were also shown, as were the benefits of finding distant cousins who have already researched the family

Each show seems to be an improvement on the previous. I hope they show them in UK, and I am pleased they have shown a number of the UK programs in Oz

Trish

ninatoo · Post by **ninatoo** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 4:56 am

Drat, missed it again but this time I had a couple of good excuses...dinner with my parents and the Australian Open Final.

Who's on next week?

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 6:35 am

Good show, but there’s that improbable royalty type link again. Sometimes I think some of these Family Stories start out as Family Jokes.

Cathy freeman’s on next week.

I agree with Trish about the UK screening. I just had a look at who has been in the 4 UK series and I’ve only ever heard of about a quarter of them. So most are not celebrities to me but I’d still watch the shows.

The thing to do Nina is to get one of those remote controls that you can tune in to your parents TV, conceal it on your person and act as amazed as they do.

Alan

trish1 · Post by **trish1** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 11:58 am

Hi Alan
Good show, but there’s that improbable royalty type link again. Sometimes I think some of these Family Stories start out as Family Jokes.

I rather liked this one - also the fact that it was admitted there was no way that the story could be verified

I agree with Trish about the UK screening. I just had a look at who has been in the 4 UK series and I’ve only ever heard of about a quarter of them. So most are not celebrities to me but I’d still watch the shows.

I saw the Alistair McGowan show recently - not sure if that will be showing in Australia - it was brilliant - I had never heard of him, but the best show I have seen in the series so far.

The thing to do Nina is to get one of those remote controls that you can tune in to your parents TV, conceal it on your person and act as amazed as they do.

Might be simplier to buy the DVD - no doubt will be available soon.

Trish

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 12:30 pm

I enjoyed the Cathy Freeman programme. Now there’s a family that really has been through a hard time. No captains, royalty, big houses or anything fancy at all like that, just oppression and humiliation.

They didn’t dig into the English side very deeply in the programme but there are some short deleted scenes on the SBS site worth looking at.

Alan

wini · Post by **wini** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:35 am

I am with you Alan.
I think it was refreshing to have someone with no rich and famous in the family, Cathy being the notable exception.
What a mixed background she has, English, Aboriginal and Chinese.
I thought it was quite Cathy like to say that if she had known how hard life was for her ancestors she could have done better.
Palm Island isn't much better today than it was when it was a penal settlement. It is no longer a prison of course but the grog plays a big part in the disruptive society it is.

wini

trish1 · Post by **trish1** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:42 am

I thought the program was done very well - highlighting the injustice without belabouring any issues, being a program on ancestors - but it did make some very worthwhile political statements (at an opportune time).

Having family from Dorset, I would have enjoyed a little more of that side of her family, but they did fit alot into a short time.

So far I have liked each show better than the previous - so the next two are looking to be very enjoyable

Trish

trish1 · Post by **trish1** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 1:28 pm

I missed number 5 but watched Ita on Sunday. I thought they covered rather too much & was disappointed they didn't take the Scottish Roots further. Thus said, one of the researchers dropped into RootsChat & commented that because it was an Australian series they liked to keep most of the research in Oz. I guess that made sense. She also said they are hoping to make a second series

It has been advertised that the shows will be repeated starting next Friday, so any missed shows can be seen - which should fill my gap re No 5 (the football journalist whose name escapes me & about whom I know ziltch)

Trish

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 12:06 am

Hello Trish,

Great minds miss things alike. I also completely missed Number 5 and only caught the last 20 minutes of Number 6 but what I saw looked okay.

According to the SBS site it looks like they’re actually going to run some more UK episodes from 24th February starting with Amanda Redman who I remember mainly as being in the geriatric detective show with Denis Waterman.

Alan

trish1 · Post by **trish1** » Wed Feb 20, 2008 11:03 am

She was also in "at Home with the Braithwaites" & if you google her name appears to be a most interesting lady. They have another 6 English episodes to show - I look forward to them.

Trish