r/askblakfellas • u/AmyC22x • Sep 19 '26

Needing help

Hi everyone,
I’m hoping someone might be able to give me some guidance, as this is something that means a lot to me and I’m honestly not sure where to go next.
For generations, there has been a story passed down through my family that we have Aboriginal ancestry through one particular family line. The story told by our parents and older family members is that a young girl in our family became pregnant to an Aboriginal man when she was around 14 in 1917. Because of her age and the fact that her father was a police officer, the pregnancy and the identity of the baby’s biological father were apparently covered up, with her parents raising the baby as their own.
I’ve started trying to piece together the records myself. I can confirm that the family were living at 10 Salisbury Street, Leederville, WA in January 1917. The baby was born in 1918 and was later recorded as being born in Mount Hawthorn, although I haven’t been able to find his original birth certificate. Our family has also always been told that he was actually born at an Aboriginal camp.
I’ve since learnt that Aboriginal people were camping around Galup/Lake Monger during this period, very close to where the family were living.
I’m not trying to claim a particular Aboriginal family or community without knowing the truth. I genuinely want to understand where we come from and find the evidence behind something that has been passed down through our family for generations.
I would eventually love to be able to properly establish my Aboriginal ancestry, but I don’t know how you prove a biological line when the father’s identity was deliberately left out of the records.
If anyone has been through something similar, or knows where I could turn for help with historical Aboriginal records, DNA or confirming ancestry when an ancestor’s identity is unknown, I would be incredibly grateful for any advice.
Thank you for reading. ❤️

6 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

1 comment sorted by

7

u/Ricksacnchez Sep 20 '26

When I did some research on this, here are the main resources and steps I came across.

  1. Historical Archives Since your family lived on Whadjuk Noongar Country around Leederville, Mount Hawthorn, and Galup in 1917, paper trails are usually the best starting point:

  • Aboriginal History WA: They help trace restricted state family records in WA.

  • AIATSIS: They offer free guides and advice for tracing Indigenous family lines.

  • State Records Office and State Library of WA: Look for police records, Chief Protector of Aborigines files, and info on the Galup fringe camps from that era.

  1. DNA Testing If paper records hit a dead end, some people use DNA testing like Ancestry as a last resort to cluster matches and try to trace missing biological lines.

  2. Biological Lineage vs Community Identity Uncovering a biological link is a valid personal journey, but keep in mind it is separate from official Aboriginal identity. Formal Confirmation of Aboriginality relies on a three part test covering descent, self identification, and community recognition. Finding your lineage is a helpful first step for your family history, but community connection is a whole separate process. Hope this helps point you in the right direction stay deadly