It is now almost eighteen months since my son, Roger, and I completed our trip up through northwestern New South Wales to find where our colonial Wilson and Jones Ancestors lived and worked. James Joseph Wilson arrived in Sydney in 1827 and Michael Jones in 1829. Both were convicts. Their free settler wives, Jane and Elizabeth Harris, came from a small village in Wiltshire.

It was the trip of a lifetime, a trip that I’m probably too old to do again.

Of course, we were a couple of rank amateurs as far as making videos went. And viewing the results no television station will be running after us. However, despite our amateur efforts we are more than happy with the results. We achieved what we set out to do. We set out to trace our family history, not only for ourselves, but for Australians with similar family background.

The experiences of our family and like-families were, and are, an important part of Australia’s history. Indeed, they were the starting point of the Australian nation. Without them, there would be no Australian nation. It’s a part of Australia’s history that an elite class is now desperate to erase.

I hope the six episodes of our discoveries will spur other Australians to go and find themselves and Australia in a similar expedition. You won’t regret it.

*****

*****

*****

*****

*****

*****

*****