‘You may discover family’: The SBS show asking entire towns to hand over their DNA

After artfully guiding celebrities through their family trees on Who Do You Think You Are? Australia, SBS is launching another format that puts ordinary people in the frame. Presented by Marc Fennell, Rae Johnston and the Australian head of Ancestry Studios in London, Brad Argent, The Secret DNA of Us breaks down the genetic make-up of Victorian townships Bairnsdale and Geelong, as well as the NSW town of Bathurst and the Sydney suburb of Surry Hills, with surprising results.

“People had a preconceived idea of who they were,” says Argent. “They also had a preconceived idea of what made up their town from an ethnicity perspective. In every town, we were able to show them a very different view.”

The Secret DNA of Us hosts (from left) Brad Argent, Marc Fennell and Rae Johnston.

The people of Bairnsdale, featured in the first episode of the four-part series, find out how many of them are related to the Scottish immigrants who settled the area. An adoptee makes discoveries about her birth parents. A former nurse finds a royal connection. And a Gunaikurnai father learns of a new chapter of his family history. In the series, Johnston, a Wiradjuri woman, notes that “science can never tell the whole story”.

“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Identity isn’t something that can be defined by DNA alone,” says Johnston, who is NITV’s science and technology editor. “It’s about finding your place in and gaining acceptance from, the community. DNA is just one piece of the puzzle.”

In development for a decade, the series was trialled in the Cotswolds in the UK, but Argent says the subject holds more appeal for an Australian audience.

“We are a nation built on immigration,” says Argent, who first became interested in genealogy in the 1980s while researching his family history with his father. “Most of the population has connections outside Australia. Whereas in the UK, the focus is on, ‘Well, we’ve been here forever.’”

The Secret DNA of Us unpicks the ancestry secrets of Bathurst and Geelong, as well the Sydney suburb of Surry Hills.

Not everyone in each town signed up to have strangers rummaging in the family closet.

“There were some people who found the process of genetic testing uncomfortable,” says Argent. “It’s important to have a conversation about the kinds of things you’re going to uncover. You may discover family that you did not know exist. You might discover that you’re not Irish but Scottish. Or, indeed, you may discover information about biological family. We were very upfront about protecting the community and ensuring that they felt safe and that at any point, they could back out.”

Johnston believes the discovery of unknown ethnicity in people’s lineage has the potential to broaden perspectives.

“If DNA testing leads people to a place where they become curious about cultures they are otherwise unfamiliar with, and they choose to respectfully learn from and form relationships with people of those cultures, I believe that can be a wonderful experience of connection that brings us closer together as a nation,” she says. “Education always trumps ignorance.”

Attitudes to Australian ancestry are changing, says Argent. Once shameful, the discovery of a convict ancestor is now a badge of honour, extra points if they were shackled on the First Fleet. There is a growing desire to connect with Indigenous history and to acknowledge the roles of ancestors in our colonial past.

“We need to acknowledge the things that have gone before – the good, the bad and indeed the ugly,” he says. “And accept the role that our ancestors may have played in those things – acknowledge that as individuals, as communities, and as a nation, so that we can move forward.”

Although big revelations occur across the miniseries, Argent says it is often the “accumulation of little moments” that are most powerful.

“If you watch the crowd carefully, you can see these moments of wonder as little bits and pieces of people are revealed, and you can see them looking at the world in a different way,” he says. “It is this narrative arc that reshapes the way we might see the country.”

The Secret DNA of Us premieres on Thursday, April 17, at 7.30pm on SBS.

Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.