Tracing Ancestral Voices

‘Tracing ancestral voices’ outlines a genealogical research journey involving memory, emotion, history and archival research. It demonstrates the reclamation of lost ancestors and their stories, covering the inevitable highs and lows of archival research. Resources employed during this research include the archives, databases and websites of Public Record Office Victoria, Birth Deaths and Marriages Victoria, the Department of Health and Human Services, and other government resources.
At the centre of this research are the author’s grandfather, Charles William Stott/Hicks, and great-grandmother, Ethel Blanche Hicks. Just days before passing away in 2008, Charles had whispered into the ear of his great-grandson: ‘You can’t choose your family.’ Those curious words were the inspiration for the author’s family history inquiries. The research started with birth and death certificates, eventually leading to state ward records. These revealed that, in 1924, Charles, aged five, and his siblings, had been made wards of the state of Victoria. To understand possible causes for this, numerous public document collections and institutional records were analysed and cross-referenced to show how details and discrepancies can be used to support hypotheses and speculation.
Reader warning: the terms ‘mentally deficient’ and ‘illegitimate’, which some may find offensive, are used in some of the records. They are used here to offer insight into the historical context of the era.