General News
23 February, 2025
On the hunt for Wimmera heritage
When Wimmera Mallee News journalist Zoey Andrews came across an internet post from a woman in England asking for information on her once-Dimboola-residing family, she felt compelled to find out more.
Lynne Carroll posted on the Dimboola and District Notice Board on Facebook asking for information about the Urquharts, having recently discovered that her grandfather was born in the town.
But as Mrs Carroll revealed in her reply, there's much more to the story, including a child conceived from a forbidden romance and a hidden love story.
Here, Mrs Carroll shares a snippet of it, and why she's searching for her long-lost family.
My very own Australian ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’
I live in a country area in Devon, England; however, I was born in Cairo, Egypt, in 1955 to English parents.
They were there for eight years while Dad worked for the airline BOAC, living the typical 1950s airways ex-pat life with afternoons at the club and regular parties.
In 1956 the Suez Crisis necessitated a sudden return to UK, where we settled in London.
Sadly, my Dad died when I was 13.
His surname, my maiden name, was Redhead.
When I was 15 my mother told me that my natural father was actually a family friend called John Urquhart who I had known and who had also been stationed in Cairo at the time.
He had died in 1960, when I was five.
Although my parents had a happy marriage, many times over the following 80 years my mother would say John was the love of her life.
I understood it had been a long-term affair.
My dad and I had always been inseparable but I had also been fond of John while I knew him.
Apparently both spouses knew of the affair but it was agreed that Dad would raise me as his own daughter.
Obviously, I was always curious whether it was true that John was my real father, but I had no way of finding out until three years ago when I decided to take a DNA test.
I paid the fee, sent off the pack and waited.
I had suspected it might be a waste of money but felt it was worth the chance.
Three weeks later an email arrived: "Your DNA results are ready."
The test results confirmed it.
The many ‘matches’ were Urquharts while the surname Redhead was nowhere to be found.
I have since been reunited with one of John’s sons, my half-brother, who confirmed that he had been aware of my existence "for many years".
Only very recently have I discovered that John Garnham Urquhart, my natural father, was Australian.
He had been born in Koroit in 1922 to an Australian father, William, and an English mother, Elsie.
They had met while William was serving with the Anzacs in World War I and had made their home in Australia following the end of hostilities.
William had been allocated farmland on the Woodlands Soldiers' Settlement at Willatook, but they had returned to England following the death of their infant daughter in a fire.
My father, a young boy, came with them, but I understand an older son was left in Australia with a relative.
Through a genealogy search I have discovered my grandfather, William John Urquhart, was born in Dimboola in 1894.
His father, my great-grandfather, Donald Mcdonald Urquhart, was born in Branxholme in 1854.
The furthest I have managed to trace is my great-great-grandfather, Alexander Wilson Urquhart, who was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1825.
He emigrated to Australia in the 1850s.
I wondered whether he had been one of the fortune hunters who tried their luck in the goldfields or even a convict, but it transpires he travelled as a free settler via assisted passage.
Although Alexander was a carpenter by trade, he took up farming, with his children following in his footsteps.
I know Donald McDonald had other children so it is highly likely I have close relatives in Victoria, possibly still involved in farming.
It would be wonderful to be in contact so they could fill in the family history gaps.
I felt posting on the local community pages may assist with the search.
Although I’ve had no responses from Urquharts, locals responded with many useful suggestions and contacts and even photos of Donald Mcdonald’s grave at Urana and William’s name on the Woodland’s Soldiers’ Settlement plaque in Willatook.
The irony of my recent discovery is that, until six years ago, my husband and I were living in Australia.
He was serving with the Royal Australian Navy and we spent five years in Cairns and five years in Canberra, both of which we grew to love.
I immediately felt an unexplained affinity with the country.
During those 10 years we travelled the country extensively and even proudly gained Australian citizenship, expecting to remain there.
However, we made the decision to return to England in 2018.
Had I been aware of my father’s nationality at the time I would have made a point of visiting Koroit, Urana, Dimboola and other related towns and begun the family history search earlier.
The other irony is that regularly I deliver talks, one of which is ‘Convicts and Settlers: The Characters Who Built Australia’.
Whilst in Canberra I worked as a guide at the historic property, Lanyon Homestead, which was settled in the 1830s by another Scottish free settler.
I had no idea that my great-great-grandparents had made the same epic life-changing decision to begin a new life so far away from home.
– LYNNE CARROLL
