A Pirate Judge?! Adam Hills Uncovers a Dark Family Secret | FULL EPISODE | Who Do You Think You Are?

Añadido: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]Come on, monkey.

[00:00:06]>> I think the word that probably describes my family best is laughing.

[00:00:09]>> Do [music] you want to do swingy swingy?

[00:00:10]>> We all bonded by making each other laugh.

[00:00:14]>> It was a really warm upbringing. We kind of all looked out for each other.

[00:00:19]>> Yeah.

[00:00:19]>> Adam Hills is one of Australia's best known TV [music] presenters and comedians.

[00:00:24]>> Since having a daughter, I make sure that I keep in contact with my parents.

[00:00:27]make sure that she knows who her family is.

[00:00:30]>> While he [music] knows his father's side of the family story, Adam's mother's ancestry is shrouded in mystery.

[00:00:36]>> I'd never really thought about what it meant for my mom's ancestors to [music] have been immigrants. We knew there was Maltes and we knew there was German, but it was just something that never really came up. I guess now I'm starting to think, well, why why did they leave?

[00:00:49]>> The journey ahead will reveal the desperate plight of his migrant ancestors.

[00:00:53]>> So, what you're telling me is this is legalized racism.

[00:00:57]Torn apart by war [music] and prejudice as they search for a better life. Of all the things I thought I'd get emotional about, a patch of empty land was the least and a medieval magnate.

[00:01:13]>> That is a plot twist.

[00:01:14]>> Who made a fortune from a barbaric business. Wait. Oh, I got him, too.

[00:01:23]Heat.

[00:01:26][music] Heat.

[00:01:59]I'm getting my license renewed. I'm standing there. The guy's looking at my form going, "So, you do have an artificial foot?" Like, "Yes." He went, "Okay. Um, how long have you been missing the foot?"

[00:02:11]I lost it at birth. And then he actually said this, >> "Right, were you missing the foot when you originally applied for your license?"

[00:02:19]>> Maybe having an artificial foot gives me a different perspective. Maybe that's why I like talking about differences [music] on stage and how ridiculous they are.

[00:02:28]Comedy is so lovely for obscuring prejudices and the like. There's no reason to hate the people over in that over that border.

[00:02:39]I grew [music] up in ' 70s Australia.

[00:02:41]All boys school, you did your best not to stand out.

[00:02:46]Having a [music] Maltese background or a European background would have been cause for a little bit of mockery.

[00:02:52]An immigrant almost had a bit of a slur attached to it. As you get a [music] little bit older, you kind of embrace whatever it is that makes you different makes you unique.

[00:03:02]Adam Hills was born in [music] 1970.

[00:03:05]He is the eldest of two sons born to Robert Hills and Judith Clukan.

[00:03:14]On my mother's side, I don't really know anything past my grandmother really. I take a few pieces out.

[00:03:20]>> And then on my maternal grandfather's side, I don't know. [music] Just just a mystery on that side of the family.

[00:03:26]>> What has prevented the family history from being passed on? It's something Adam and his mom [music] Judy have never discussed before.

[00:03:34]>> These are my parents.

[00:03:36]>> Yep.

[00:03:36]>> Mary Valo.

[00:03:37]>> Yep.

[00:03:38]>> And Ron Cluken. He was a good-looking man.

[00:03:42]>> Dad's surname was Klukan. In German, that means cluckucky hen. And I used to get called the clucky hen at school. And I don't think the boys at school realize that that's what it meant. Anyway, >> P [music] changed the spelling to K L U K E N.

[00:04:00]>> Right.

[00:04:00]>> Um to anglicize it a little bit. My dad [music] and his mother didn't get along very well.

[00:04:09]These are your greatgrandparents, [music] Vera. Yeah.

[00:04:13]>> And Oscar Cluken. Vera was a very strict and difficult lady. Oscar [music] was very easygoing, very placid.

[00:04:22]>> She just looked really stern.

[00:04:24]>> As far as I know, she was Scottish.

[00:04:26]Oscar, I [music] think, was born in Czechoslovakia, but I don't know if that's right or not. Clen [music] is like a German name really. Maybe it was because of the war and Hitler and everything that that they never ever said [music] Germany.

[00:04:41]>> Maybe Oscar didn't want to talk about it.

[00:04:42]>> He may not have.

[00:04:46]>> This is an FOB watch that belonged to Oscar.

[00:04:48]>> Oh wow.

[00:04:50]>> And it is in working condition. So I thought you might like to take it with you on your journey. And if you open up the back here, his name's engraved inside.

[00:05:05]Oh yeah.

[00:05:07]>> Adam's grandparents were [music] Ron Klukan and Mary Valo.

[00:05:12]His great-grandparents were Oscar Clukan and Vera Watt.

[00:05:17]For some [music] reason, there was a rift between these two generations.

[00:05:21]To find out why, [music] Adam is turning to his mom's brother, Uncle Kevin.

[00:05:26]>> Hi.

[00:05:26]>> Who is overseas.

[00:05:27]>> Hey, Adam. How are you? [laughter] >> I'm fine.

[00:05:30]>> You have a photo there of your grandparents. about 6 months after they married.

[00:05:35]When they decided to marry, uh, mom's family gave instant approval. But when dad announced it to his parents, your great grandmother Vera immediately cut him off from the rest of the family, including and sadly from your greatgrandfather Oscar.

[00:05:51]She disapproved uh for no other reason than if your grandmother was of Maltese descent. She said, "She's quite dark, isn't she?

[00:05:59]And also your great-g grandandmother had issues with Oscar's Germanic background.

[00:06:04]In fact, she stopped him from having any contact with anyone back in central Europe.

[00:06:10]>> She intentionally cut off the rest of the family. It seems this one woman was the reason that we don't really know our family ancestry.

[00:06:19]>> That's exactly right.

[00:06:21]Ver's [music] prejudices left Oscar isolated both from his family in Europe and also from his son whose [music] wife was Maltese.

[00:06:30]But Kevin has managed to uncover a keepsake that gives some insight into Oscar's life. [laughter] [laughter] That's a caricature that was drawn by a cartoonist for the Melbourne Herald. I think it was done about 1932.

[00:06:49]>> May 32. Yeah. Oscar was a head waiter the Mensy's hotel in Melbourne and in its day it was probably one of the finest hotels in the world. They used him as an exclusive waiter whenever they had visiting dignitaries. People like Dame Nelly Melbour, General MacArthur.

[00:07:07]In fact, uh >> no, >> he was used as a sounding board by some of the politicians and business people.

[00:07:13]They knew that they could trust him. I had no idea that my great-grandfather was one of the best head waiters at one of the best restaurants in the world and may have actually given counsel to some of the most important people in the world.

[00:07:29][music] It was kind of weird to suggest this woman is the reason that the family history hasn't been passed down, but she was a poor guy. So he didn't have any contact with his future generations from my grandfather and he wasn't allowed to contact the people that he had left behind.

[00:07:49]From what I can tell, we don't even know where Oscar came from. No one has said he left here and ended up in Australia.

[00:07:55]So I'm not not entirely sure where he came from.

[00:08:00]Oscar may have been happy to keep his origins mysterious.

[00:08:05]World events that unfolded after his arrival would [music] come to make him a target of suspicion. Thanks for having me.

[00:08:12]>> At the National Archives, Jane Mcnite has tracked down Oscar's naturalization papers. [music] >> Oscar, who lives in St. Kilda, occupation waiter, born in Austria, arrived 1907, >> right, >> is applying to be a naturalized Australian. This is the 10th of August 1914, >> right? So this is six days after World War I broke out and it's only 4 days after Australia enters the war.

[00:08:42]>> Wow.

[00:08:43]>> So it's pretty significant date and that would have involved him appearing before a police magistrate to take the oath of allegiance to the British Empire.

[00:08:52]>> So this is 4 days after Australia joined the war.

[00:08:55]>> Y >> he has gone into a police station and >> had himself naturalized as an Australian. At the time, the federal government was still based in Melbourne, so there would have been politicians around. It's likely they frequented the menses, >> right?

[00:09:09]>> And maybe he overheard conversations about what was going to happen.

[00:09:13]>> Well, and from what I've heard, it's entirely possible that he was part of those conversations. Like maybe he was friends of politicians and someone took him aside and said, "Hey, this is going to happen. Maybe you should sneak off and become an Australian."

[00:09:25]The federal government was keen to identify all German and Austrohungarian nationals.

[00:09:32]Whereas a state of [music] war exists between his majesty the king and the emperor of Austria, it is necessary that all persons who are subjects of the emperor of Austria, King of Hungary [music] and who are resident in the Commonwealth should make themselves known to the proper authorities. In Australia, anti-German and Austrian [music] sentiment reached fever pitch during World War I. People changed their names to hide [music] their nationality.

[00:09:56]Others were fired and many left destitute.

[00:10:00]5,000 were interned [music] at the Hullworthy camp on the outskirts of Sydney.

[00:10:06]To protect himself and his family, Oscar Klukan surrendered [music] his Austrian nationality to become an Australian citizen.

[00:10:15]Now, this would have been bill posted as well as published in the newspapers that all enemy subjects must hand in their firearms.

[00:10:24]>> Oh, wow. Okay.

[00:10:24]>> And in this case, failure to comply becomes an offense.

[00:10:28]>> And you imagine living in Australia now, but officially you're known as an enemy subject.

[00:10:35]There are now two different descriptions I've had of this same person. And one is the ideal waiter, and one is an enemy subject. It's hard [laughter] to it's hard to think that one person could be both of those things.

[00:10:46]>> It's quite polarizing, isn't it?

[00:10:48]>> Oscar's naturalization submission included this statutory declaration.

[00:10:53]>> I, Oscar Klukan, do solemnly and sincerely declare that my age is 27 years and I was born on the 29th day of September 1887 at Sebastiansburg in the country of Bohemia, Austria.

[00:11:11]Bohemia.

[00:11:13]Wow, he's a Bohemian.

[00:11:20]What seemed to be an innocuous date on a naturalization certificate actually provides a key to why there's this gap [music] in our family history. And it's not just Vera being prejudiced. It's actually world politics.

[00:11:34]And when you see the words enemy [music] subject, you kind of realize that's quite fullon. He would have had [music] to have hidden who he was.

[00:11:44]I'm quite excited that I have bohemian roots.

[00:11:49]And yet Oscar [music] had to cover up the fact that he had bohemian roots.

[00:11:54]Through Vera's narrow-mindedness and a world war, Oscar Clucan was forced to become a man with [music] no past.

[00:12:02]So, what were the forces that drove Oscar from his homeland?

[00:12:07]Adam will discover that politics and personal [music] tragedy led to a family torn apart.

[00:12:19]To try and find out more about his greatgrandfather, Oscar Clucan, a man who was forced to conceal his past, Adam Hills has come to the Czech Republic.

[00:12:29]In Oscar's time, this was a German-speaking [music] region of Austria called Bohemia.

[00:12:36]Adam's [music] on his way to Sebastiansburg, the place of Oscar's birth, 2 hours north of Prague.

[00:12:48]Hora Sveta Sebastiana, Oscar's hometown.

[00:13:00]>> [music] >> This is actually really sad. I don't know what the town was like in Oscar's day, but it's it's a really deserted, [music] broken down town.

[00:13:17]>> Christopher Bourne has researched [music] the German past of the towns in this region.

[00:13:22]>> Adam, this is the the town where the Clan family lived. It was a very beautiful town when Oscar lived here.

[00:13:29]>> Yeah.

[00:13:29]>> And now we call this a place where the wolves wishing you good night.

[00:13:34]>> What What does that mean? Where the wolves wishing you good night?

[00:13:37]>> It's something like the end of the world. [laughter] >> Now just a decaying truck stop before the German border. In Oscar's [music] time, Sebastiansburg was a thriving German-speaking town.

[00:13:52]Church records [music] reveal the family's prominent standing in the community.

[00:13:56]>> This is the father of Oscar.

[00:14:00]>> Right. France. So what's that word?

[00:14:03]>> Venel.

[00:14:03]>> France. France.

[00:14:05]>> He was a hundreds man which means he was a merchant.

[00:14:10]>> Right.

[00:14:10]>> The father of France Venel was another France.

[00:14:13]>> Of course >> it was France Kluken. And this is really interesting because it means burger. So it was a family of burgers. You know what a burger is?

[00:14:24]>> No.

[00:14:25]>> The burgers were highass citizens. The closest word to burger in English would be um gentlemen, >> right?

[00:14:32]>> They have the right to vote, right land.

[00:14:37]Three generations of burgers in the family since the 1700s.

[00:14:42]>> Three generations of German gentlemen.

[00:14:45]Adam's [music] great-grandfather Oscar Klukan was the son of France Venel Klukan and the grandson [music] of France Zava Klukan.

[00:14:55]As burgers, the [music] Klukan family had high status in Sebastiansburg, but it did not shield them from the realities of their [music] times.

[00:15:04]A closer examination of Oscar's family tree reveals a tragic history.

[00:15:10]Franenchan, the father of Oscar, married first Anna Maria Wolfart and they had a daughter, Anna Sophia, >> right?

[00:15:22]>> And then after the birth, Anna Maria Wolfart died >> 5 days after, 6 days after >> and a few weeks later, Anna Sophia died.

[00:15:31]I mean, it must have been heartbreaking to have your first child and your wife and child die within a few weeks of each other.

[00:15:40]>> Then a year later, he married Elector Anna Faser.

[00:15:47]>> I can show you two photos.

[00:15:51]>> Wow.

[00:15:52]>> Your great great grandmother.

[00:15:55]>> That's a good nose.

[00:15:58]They're nice.

[00:16:01]>> Yeah, >> they're nice.

[00:16:02]>> It's the fuzzle nose. [laughter] It's the [music] fuss nose. They had a lot of children, but the first one was born in October 1880 and died in December 1880. [music] >> Yeah.

[00:16:19]>> The second child was born in February 1882 and died 6 days later.

[00:16:25]>> Yeah.

[00:16:26]>> Wow. The third child was born 24th of February 1883 and died in August 1883.

[00:16:35]The next one was born July 84 died August 84. So that's four and including the first wife. Five children in a row all died [snorts] within a year. Some of them within a few days.

[00:16:49][music] But then even Edward born 89 died 96.

[00:16:54]And Daniel [music] born 92 died 96. Four years.

[00:16:59]>> Wow. So of the nine Kluan children, seven of [music] them died.

[00:17:08]One by one over a period of 12 years, the Klukan children succumbed to common infections of the day. Only Oscar and his older brother Carl survived.

[00:17:20]It's sad in those days, you should not love your children too much because you will lose one or more of them, >> right? Do you know what? When um [snorts] when my daughter was born, there was a bit of a hitch for a second and it was all taken care of. You know, one of those you see nurses running around and then they come in and go, "Oh, it's all fine." Afterwards, my wife said, "Oh, what would you have done if you hadn't have had that drug on hand?" And they actually said the quote was, "Oh, if this was happening 100 years ago, you would have died."

[00:17:53]Like, you know, 100 years ago, I would I probably would have been faced [music] with the same thing. Starting to get some idea of why Oscar might have left.

[00:18:06]I would imagine France Vencel would [music] have been heartbroken.

[00:18:10]And I imagine Oscar, having known that history that came before him and then seen two more siblings die, would have seen that heartbreak and probably would have wanted a better life for his children.

[00:18:24]Oscar made a choice to leave well before the outbreak of war. The ethnic Germans who stayed [music] found themselves expelled from their homes when political boundaries shifted after World War II.

[00:18:37]With this land now part of Czechoslovakia, all German cultural heritage was eradicated.

[00:18:44]Even the Sebastiansburg [music] cemetery wiped away every vestage of its German past. Not one reminder of a family that lived here for four or five generations and [music] were gentlemen of the town and they probably would have had quite prominent grave sites being that they were burgers. [snorts] gives an idea of how completely erased from history the German speakers were, not just the living people.

[00:19:13]They got rid of the people that died here as well.

[00:19:18][music] Searching for any sign of his family's legacy, Adam has found the place where Oscar was born and raised.

[00:19:27]Now just an empty block.

[00:19:31]Even though there's no house, this answers a [music] question, which is where did the clukans come from?

[00:19:43]It doesn't matter [music] whether it's Czech Republic or Germany or Bohemia or Austria.

[00:19:50]This is where the Clucans came from. So now we've got an answer.

[00:19:55]And mom gave me the fog watch to take on the journey.

[00:20:02]to take back to Oscar's home.

[00:20:05][music] Of all the things I thought I'd get emotional about, a patch of [music] empty land was the least.

[00:20:28]but seems to have the most significance.

[00:20:38][music] Adam knows that when Oscar immigrated to Australia, his brother Carl stayed behind in Sebastiansburg.

[00:20:43][music] What became of him? If he survived the war, had he been forced to flee from his home? If he had a family, where are they today? Assuming that the clens [music] had to leave, let's have a look in the German phone book [music] in three clans in all of Germany. Wow, it really is a rare name. I've always dreaded the day that I was going to have to use my German again.

[00:21:26]Uh hello Adam English.

[00:21:43]>> Yeah. Uh, is is Zina gross >> clenfa?

[00:22:07]>> Uh, [sighs] uh, hello Adam.

[00:22:14]English >> a little bit. [sighs and gasps] >> I'm looking for someone whose greatgrandfather is KL Kluen.

[00:22:24]>> Yes, my my greatgrandfather was K. Clen.

[00:22:30]>> Wow.

[00:22:31]>> Wow.

[00:22:32]>> I I think I think we're related.

[00:22:35]>> Yeah.

[00:22:35]>> I think the phrase is uh Kishenzi.

[00:22:41]>> Yeah. I I would delight it if you would visit me in Rosenberg. It's okay for you.

[00:22:46]>> Yes, I will come and find you. Thank you.

[00:22:48]>> Yeah. Okay, >> Dad.

[00:22:50]>> Byebye.

[00:22:50]>> Dashan to be tomorrow.

[00:22:53]>> Wow.

[00:22:54]I have a relative in Germany.

[00:23:05]Rothenberg, Germany is 5 hours from Sebastiansburg. [music] Adam is searching for news of Carl, the last family link that remained in Oscar's life.

[00:23:17]>> Did he stay in contact with Carl >> knowing that the government was censoring letters and that Vera didn't want Oscar to have much contact with people back home? It's even more tragic to think that the family was split up and then Oscar and Carl didn't have any connection either.

[00:23:35]War ended, but did Ver's interference keep the brothers from making contact for the rest [music] of their lives?

[00:23:44]>> Hello. Hello. [music] [music] answers.

[00:23:55]>> We know all of Oscar's story up to 1907, which is when he went to Australia.

[00:24:00]>> What I don't know is what happened to Carl after Oscar left.

[00:24:13]>> So Carl stayed in Bohemia until 1945.

[00:24:19]>> Yes.

[00:24:19]>> Right.

[00:24:20]>> Yes. Yes. I have some photos from him.

[00:24:24]Wow, what a handsome man. [laughter] >> A post office man, >> right? And that's him in his >> uniform.

[00:24:33]>> Postal uniform.

[00:24:34]>> Yeah.

[00:24:36]>> He had a wife.

[00:24:37]>> Yeah.

[00:24:38]>> And three sons. They was divorced.

[00:24:40]>> Yeah.

[00:24:41]>> Carl have no contact to his sons or to his ex-wife.

[00:24:46]>> So both of the both of the Kukans ended up cut off from their family. Both Carl and Oscar.

[00:24:58]to Oscar Nazis.

[00:25:11]>> Was he successful? Do we know?

[00:25:13]>> Yes.

[00:25:14]>> Two surviving letters [music] show that despite everything, the brother's bond could not be broken. written from Carl to Oscar. These were sent in [music] secret via Oscar's nextdoor neighbor in order to bypass Vera.

[00:25:27]>> I cannot describe my happiness at receiving your friendly letter. Perhaps you can imagine my excitement. I thank you with all my heart for giving me a stranger news of my dear brother from whom I've had no word for so many years.

[00:25:40]So 1953, >> that's about 46 years since he had seen him. That's amazing. M >> dear brother, wife and children, it is winter here now and I am not leaving but it is very bad in the cities. A lot was destroyed by the war here which we refugees experience in being driven from our homes. It is different if one is married but I am so alone.

[00:26:10]Please, you are my dear brother. It warms my heart to know that I have another soul on this earth [music] to whom I can write and who understands me with his heart on earth.

[00:26:22]Your brother Carl.

[00:26:27]>> Wow. M >> that kind of confirms what we thought that the two brothers were very close >> and that they went through a lot together and they were all that each other had left in the world and that's all you know of Carl.

[00:26:46]>> Yes.

[00:26:47]>> There were no more letters.

[00:26:51]>> I can't imagine not having any contact with my brother for 47 years.

[00:26:56]not knowing where he is, how he is.

[00:27:02]>> Carl Clukan died [music] in 1956, just 3 years after he had reestablished contact with his brother Oscar.

[00:27:10]Oscar died in Australia [music] that same year.

[00:27:14]>> In a weird way, it's almost a happy ending for Carl and Oscar. Bittersweet ending.

[00:27:20]>> It's kind of wonderful that they reconnected, but it's heartbreaking [music] that it took that long for it to happen.

[00:27:26]It makes you [music] realize that every little thing can have a knock-on effect.

[00:27:31]And something as big as a war and something as [music] tiny as one person's prejudice can actually have quite a huge [music] effect to a family history.

[00:27:43]But it wasn't just Oscar's Austrian [music] roots that he had been cut off from. What of the other family that Vera had forbidden [music] any contact with the Maltese side? Unearthing their story will take Adam back over 500 years to a time of bloody sea battles and to an ancestor living an incredible double life.

[00:28:10]Back in Australia, Adam turns to his maternal [music] grandmother's side of the story.

[00:28:18]All he knows is that Mary Vasalo [music] came from a Maltese background that caused her to be shunned by her mother-in-law Vera who remarked [music] that she was quite dark. To come from a family that was probably quite [music] strongly Maltese with all the positive connotations that that brings with it, the family and loving and vibrant and [music] energetic and then within one sentence she's quite dark, isn't she?

[00:28:45]Everything about who she was was dismissed.

[00:28:49][music] If there was racism within the family, how were Maltese immigrants regarded by the rest of Australia?

[00:29:01]Setting out to trace this part of his heritage, Adam is [music] beginning with a Vasalo relative.

[00:29:07]>> Hello.

[00:29:08]>> Mary Carowana knew Adam's grandparents and great-grandparents.

[00:29:12]>> We kind of saw each other at that show.

[00:29:14]I did at the end mall.

[00:29:15]>> That's right.

[00:29:15]>> And I was surrounded by a group of Maltes people.

[00:29:17]>> That's right.

[00:29:18]>> What's the collective term for a group of Maltese people?

[00:29:23][laughter] >> This is your great grandmother, Rosena, and greatgrandfather Joseph.

[00:29:31]>> It's a strapping mustache, isn't it?

[00:29:33]>> He came to Australia in 1912.

[00:29:36]>> Yeah.

[00:29:36]>> And then after 2 years, he rode to his wife in Morta and then she came out on the boat. After nine months, another baby was born. That was Mary.

[00:29:46]>> Oh, wow. That's my grandmother.

[00:29:49]>> They didn't mess around waste any time after 2 years, did they?

[00:29:52]>> No. No. There was no televisions in those [laughter] days.

[00:29:57]>> Adam's [music] grandmother, Mary Valo, was the daughter of Jeppe Joseph Vasalo and Rosena Borg. What was life like for a newly arrived immigrant from Malta?

[00:30:09]They weren't very well educated [music] and they just have to be laborers.

[00:30:12]>> Right.

[00:30:13]>> On the wars there was a lot of positions for laborers and that's where they went.

[00:30:17]They'd settle in Wula Maloo. It was like a Maltese community >> like Little Malta.

[00:30:22]>> Yes.

[00:30:27]Many Maltese families shared houses in Walu and like Joseph [music] Valo the men found employment in the backbreaking work on the warves.

[00:30:37]Dock workers [music] would arrive each day and present themselves in a lineup.

[00:30:41]Only the strongest [music] and hardest workers would be chosen and the rest turned away.

[00:30:47]The old warehouses still [music] exist now converted to an upmarket hotel and apartments.

[00:30:53]Where ships [music] once unloaded cargo and new immigrants, luxury boats are mowled. Good.

[00:31:00]>> Good day, Adam. How was [music] >> historian Barry York has studied the early Maltese immigrants. The passenger list from Joe Vasalo's ship shows that [music] although the Maltes were British subjects, it counted for nothing.

[00:31:14]>> There we go.

[00:31:15]>> Yes. First of all, they categorize people according to their apparent color.

[00:31:20]>> Right.

[00:31:21]>> The Maltese are listed as Italian. They were actually British subjects by birth.

[00:31:27]Even though they're classified as white, the Maltese came to be classified as semi-white. Wow. Back then there was this kind of racial obsessiveness through the application of the dictation test that could be administered in any European language. A few years after Joalo's arrival here, that dictation test was actually used against a boatload of maltes. They're tested in the Dutch language, so it's all very legal and lawful.

[00:31:59]>> Uh and they fail, of course. This is virtually legalized racism. You could arrive in this country having learned off by heart every poem by Banjo Patterson, but if you couldn't answer a dictation test in Dutch, you weren't allowed in.

[00:32:13]A language test that [music] was almost impossible to pass was a cornerstone of the white Australia policy.

[00:32:20]Initially devised to deal with the perceived [music] threat of Chinese immigrants, it was arbitrarily used to restrict the entry of other races regarded [music] as undesirable.

[00:32:31]Luckily, the test was not applied to Joe Vasalo's ship. Nevertheless, the welcome he got was anything but warm. The Australian Workers Union talked about the black menace. They talked about the uh colored job jumpers. Uh the dirty diseased maltes.

[00:32:50]I've got a newspaper report here. Two months after Joalo arrived. Maltes as immigrants not wanted in New South Wales. Wow. Welcome to the country.

[00:33:02][laughter] >> Australian workmen events repugnance at working with them. Wow. He's here for 2 months and pretty much been told they're not wanted. They shouldn't be here. No one wants to work with them. And by the way, Malta, please don't send anymore.

[00:33:22][music] to hear the slurs, the the awful things that were said about the Maltese. I felt my my hackles rise. [music] I think it's the first time I've realized that the immigration policies of Australia actually had a direct effect upon my ancestors and could [music] have had a direct effect upon me. If they chosen to test the immigrants on that boat in a bizarre language, then Joseph may not have been allowed into Australia. His family wouldn't have made it here.

[00:33:51]>> [music] >> So, what was it that made Joseph leave his homeland forever in search of a [music] new life? Things must have been tough for an entire family to up and leave.

[00:34:07]Adam is heading to the island of Malta [music] on the trail of his greatgrandparents, Joseph and Rosina Vasalo, who had left there for good 100 years earlier.

[00:34:22]Malta had been under British command since [music] 1800.

[00:34:26]Strategically located in the middle of the Mediterranean, controlling Malta meant controlling [music] access to the newly built Sewers Canal and the shipping route to the east.

[00:34:37]It was the largest British [music] naval base outside of Britain, providing jobs and security.

[00:34:44]>> Morning.

[00:34:44]>> Hi. Good To find out [music] how all this affected his greatgrandparents, Adam has sought out Maltese historian Carmel Vasalo.

[00:34:51]>> Are we related?

[00:34:52]>> Well, probably. [laughter] >> There's probably some connection somewhere, I imagine.

[00:34:56]>> Right. Okay.

[00:34:58]>> At the beginning of the 20th century, there's incredible amount of expenditure in public works. The Brits really start investing in earnest here. Lots of jobs for everybody. So much so that they had to get people in from Spain and Italy.

[00:35:13]Once the projects are completed, then there's a massive depression here.

[00:35:17]>> So, am I right in saying that in about 1910ish, 1912, when Jeppe left, there was enormous unemployment?

[00:35:24]>> Yes, very much.

[00:35:25]>> And a real downtime in Malta >> being desperate. They did desperate things. And fair to Australia at that time was about £16, which was a lot of money. So, he would have had to either uh borrow money from from family or perhaps even from outside the family.

[00:35:41]And if he did that uh then he would have had to leave his family behind as kind of bond.

[00:35:48]>> Wow. So he took out a loan. Yes. It puts a different slant on it to think that um you know at first we thought oh no it was beautiful. He said you stay here.

[00:35:57]I'll go to Australia. I'll pave the way is a lot different to I'm going to go you stay here cuz you're the security on the loan. From what we know that was 2 years. So in the space of that two years that means that that Jeppe had not only paid back the loan >> Exactly.

[00:36:12]>> but then he'd raised enough money to start a life >> and then bring his wife and children out.

[00:36:17]>> Exactly. Exactly.

[00:36:17]>> But were the Vasalos always struggling laborers?

[00:36:21]>> Vasal is a very interesting name. In all probability it derives from someone of some standing, perhaps even noble. Oh, the downside is that it might also be one of that person's slaves because typically slaves who are freed would take the name of the master.

[00:36:38]>> So, my question is, how do I find out if it's nobility or slavery?

[00:36:42]>> You should probably talk to a medievalist, somebody who can trace back your family's kind of origins and set up a family tree of sorts.

[00:36:49]>> Oh, I like the word medievalist. I like where this is going.

[00:37:05]>> [music] >> Carmel has directed Adam to the village of Sigui in the south of Malta to settle the [music] question about the Vasalo family's social status.

[00:37:17]Waiting at the Sigui Parish [music] Church is Professor Stanley Fiorini, who is indeed a medievalist. Wow.

[00:37:24]>> It's a magnificent church, isn't it?

[00:37:25]>> It's amazing.

[00:37:27]>> I think it's fair to say this is the most beautiful church I've ever seen in my life. I'm here to find out whether my ancestors, the Vasalos >> Mhm.

[00:37:36]>> uh were slaves or were nobles who own slaves.

[00:37:41]>> Coming to Saji is a very good place to start looking at your roots because the Vasalo family is very prominent in this village.

[00:37:49]>> Oh. Uh using these church records, we've been able to construct a family tree which is this one.

[00:37:54]>> We can start looking at it together.

[00:37:56]>> Should we start here?

[00:37:58]>> Somewhere here.

[00:37:59]>> Okay.

[00:38:00]>> That's your daughter. There's yourself.

[00:38:03]>> Yeah.

[00:38:05]>> My parents, your grandparents.

[00:38:08]>> Yeah.

[00:38:08]>> Okay.

[00:38:09]>> Here. Joseeppe Vasalo.

[00:38:12]>> So that's my greatgrandfather. That's my great greatgrandfather.

[00:38:16]>> Mhm. The next one is Petro Paulo Vasalo 1845 mid-9th century.

[00:38:21]>> I'm seeing a lot of extra rolls there. I reckon this might go on for a while [laughter] and 1737 up the ladder. And the next one now here is a marriage in 164. 1567. The next one up is 1530. We've gone from my daughter's birth in 2010 to a marriage in 1530.

[00:38:47]>> Indeed.

[00:38:48]>> How much further back does this thing go?

[00:38:50]>> Here we have Giovanni.

[00:38:53]>> Mhm.

[00:38:53]>> Uh and his father was Mateo.

[00:38:56]>> Mateo >> who was born in 1463. [music] >> It's quite a long way back.

[00:39:01]>> Yes.

[00:39:01]>> Mateo Vasalo. Your 11 times greatgrandfather.

[00:39:09]And who was Mateo Vasalo?

[00:39:12]>> Mateo Vasalo was an important person and he held important offices.

[00:39:16]>> Right.

[00:39:18]>> And here we have the coat of arms of the Vasalos.

[00:39:22]>> Wow. We have a code of arms.

[00:39:24]>> Yes, >> that's a good looking coat of arms.

[00:39:26]That's a lion. That's got to be good.

[00:39:28]>> Now you asked me a question. Are the Vasalos derived from slaves or from more respectable peoples?

[00:39:36]All these marriages are recorded in the church. If there were any slaves among them, they would have shown up.

[00:39:44]>> Right. So I'm not descended from slaves.

[00:39:48]But if we go back to 1463, possibly descended from quite an important Maltese family.

[00:39:54]>> Absolutely.

[00:39:57]>> Matteo Vasalo was indeed an important person. He held the position of notary public, [music] an official who performed services similar to a lawyer.

[00:40:07]By 1488, he was a judge at the criminal court.

[00:40:16]Malta's notarial archives houses an extraordinary piece of history relating to Adam's [music] ancestor.

[00:40:22]>> Thank you, sir. Pleasure.

[00:40:26]Here we have uh a document which is 500 years old.

[00:40:31]half a millennium.

[00:40:32]>> Wow. Right.

[00:40:35]>> And as you can see, it's an inventor bonorum, a catalog of the goods, >> right, >> of notary Matio Vasalo drawn up in 1511.

[00:40:47]>> What?

[00:40:47]>> It's written in Latin. So what I'll do is I have transcribed this of course.

[00:40:56]catalog or inventory of the mobile and immobile property of the late esteemed notary Mateo Vasaldo and the Lady Franchia found at the time of the death of the late couple firstly in silver aquilas coin stamped with an eagle 17 oz of weight two gold dabloons of Tripoli a pair of Moorish bracelets >> you noted before that there were um dloons of Tripoli that's in North Africa Libya nowadays Yeah.

[00:41:25]>> Uh the moors are the Arabs of North Africa. So this confirms that there was trade connections between Basal and and North African places.

[00:41:35]>> Wow.

[00:41:37]>> See it seems like he was based here and he had little >> Yes.

[00:41:40]>> Bits of trade going on everywhere.

[00:41:42]>> Yes.

[00:41:43]>> Also a piece of land near Halafi, the house of Castanza Sabat, part of a house in Rabbat. Wow. So this is an enormous inventory. He was a very rich man. By today's standard, he would be a multi-millionaire.

[00:41:59]>> Was he was he a nice guy as well and like [laughter] see, oh wow, I hope I hope he was rich because he was a good person, not because he screwed everybody else over.

[00:42:12]>> The inventory also lists the debt of Noble Michael Fzon and Salvatore Mamo owing about 15 ounces for the price of sheep. He had people indebted to him >> right >> in the class of nobility. The house of Mik Falon still exists in Abdina and I recommend a visit. It's a beautiful uh house which is now a museum.

[00:42:35]>> Maybe I can get that 15 ounces back.

[00:42:37]>> Maybe. Maybe.

[00:42:40]>> That is one really really welloff guy.

[00:42:44]But he also clearly had a knack for making money. One of the world's first entrepreneurs [music] perhaps.

[00:42:54]Matteo [music] Vasalo lived in the ancient walled city of Mina.

[00:43:01]In his time, Mina was the capital and administrative center of Malta.

[00:43:11]It's a long shot, but Adam has brought Matteo's inventory with him to Palazzo Falzon, hoping to collect his ancestral debt.

[00:43:20]Fz on. I've come for me ounces.

[00:43:23]Been 500 years, mate. You can run, but you can't hide.

[00:43:30]>> Hello.

[00:43:30]>> Oh, hello. My name's Adam. I've come to visit if that's okay.

[00:43:36]>> Hello, Adam.

[00:43:37]>> Hello, it's Franchesca. Welcome to Palaz.

[00:43:39]>> Franchesca Balzan is the museum's curator at Palazzo Falzon.

[00:43:44]>> This is This is quite beautiful. Well, it is one of the last surviving examples of a medieval home in Malta. So, this is the sort of home that Mateon lived in.

[00:43:55]>> Wow. And he would have um I'm assuming he might have even visited here.

[00:44:00]>> Perhaps he might have.

[00:44:01]>> Looking for his money.

[00:44:02]>> Perhaps. [laughter] You won't hold me to that. I hope >> I might.

[00:44:09]>> The museum holds many medieval artifacts, including a large array of weapons.

[00:44:15]Wow. Matteo lived in dangerous times.

[00:44:18]The Christian world was at war with the Ottoman Empire and Malta being between Europe [music] and Africa was a strategic target.

[00:44:26]Because Mina was under constant threat of sea attack from Muslim invaders, its citizens lived behind heavily [music] fortified walls that enclosed the city.

[00:44:36]>> Mina had to be always on the lookout for a possible attack. Right.

[00:44:44]From these walls, you can actually make out much of the coast of Malta, especially the area where an invasion would occur.

[00:44:53]It was so important to maintain the fortifications of the town. This was a list which listed all the men who were had to participate in the maintenance of the fortifications. And in 1485 when Mateo Vasalo was actually mentioned, you can see his name here. There was actually ditch digging duties and he was obliged to present himself there every second Tuesday of the month to help out in these duties. [laughter] >> That's a lovely thought of Matteo out there digging a ditch.

[00:45:25]>> Unless of course he paid off somebody to actually do this work for him.

[00:45:29]>> That sounds more like the Dello way.

[00:45:32]Adam's attention is drawn to an item on the inventory he has overlooked. It paints Matteo in an entirely different light.

[00:45:41]>> Here it says that Kaye Abella owed money to Mateo Vasalo for the sale of a share in a Corsairing vessel. Do you know what a Corsairing vessel is?

[00:45:52]>> Not entirely.

[00:45:53]>> Right. Do you know about piracy?

[00:45:56]>> Yes.

[00:45:56]>> It seems that Mateo Vasal was involved in this as well.

[00:46:06]Wow, that is a plot twist.

[00:46:13]>> Absolutely.

[00:46:15]>> Matteo was a pirate.

[00:46:18]I think that's the best news ever. It's better than owning a slave. It's better than being a slave.

[00:46:25]It's even better than being a noble. I don't care that he was rich. He was a pirate. I come from a pirate.

[00:46:34]>> It casts a completely different light on that inventory. With one word, with the word piracy, it's gone from he must have been a great businessman to, "Oh, he stole it all. Of course he did. You idiots. How else is he going to get all that stuff?"

[00:46:50]To be a notary and a judge by day and then a pirate in his spare time, that is a hell of a double life.

[00:46:59]Matteo made his fortune on plundered goods, but one particular commodity would prove especially lucrative.

[00:47:15]The port town of Burugu is where Corsairing [music] vessels sought harbor in the 16th century and it's where Adam has come seeking information [music] on his ancestor Matteo Versalo's connection to piracy.

[00:47:30]>> The curator of the Malta [music] Maritime Museum, Liam Gouchi, can reveal the stark realities of Matteo's business.

[00:47:36]>> So, first question, what exactly is Corsairing? Your ancestor was in hold in state swan said looting attacking everything and anything that pertained to the Ottomans right and stealing their ships >> and enslaving them.

[00:47:52]>> So he would have been involved in slavery.

[00:47:55]>> Yes.

[00:47:57]>> Wow. But legally.

[00:47:59]>> Legally.

[00:48:00]>> Yes.

[00:48:00]>> That was the most the most lucrative business that there was. For example, if you get an important person on board captured, you're going to get a huge rent to for them. Wow. So that that's technically closer to modernday piracy.

[00:48:14]>> Yes. Very close. Very close. [music] >> Matteo was a financer of piracy. One of an exclusive set called Armatori. They were the dandies of the [music] medieval world, owning the boats and crews and controlling every detail of this legalized [music] trade.

[00:48:32]>> This is the hunting ground for a conversation. In 1510, >> Malta was the largest slave market in the Christian world. Enemy subjects were kidnapped from vessels all across the Mediterranean.

[00:48:45]Slaves were traded, kept for hard labor, or used to man the oes of the ships.

[00:48:50]Many dying, chained to their oes.

[00:48:52]Corsairing battles were so frequent, ships decks were painted red to hide the blood.

[00:48:59]Now, in Matteo's inventory, he had a ship with armaments. Araments were the tools of the trade. With them, you are going to fight. You're going to have a successful journey.

[00:49:10]This is a crossbow. Finally, >> right?

[00:49:15]>> And this was an easy weapon to learn how to use. You didn't need archers. A simple soldier could fire this.

[00:49:24]So, you'll put this on.

[00:49:28]Then you got the archer's head, right?

[00:49:33]>> [music] >> and stick that in.

[00:49:40]We're not ready.

[00:49:41]>> You'd hardly even know I was wearing it.

[00:49:43]>> This is a light chain made, >> right? Oh, good.

[00:49:46]>> A summer chain mail, if you will.

[00:49:50]>> Then you got your [music] shield.

[00:49:52]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:49:53]>> Now you put your hood in there, of course, >> and you pull it back.

[00:50:04]Right.

[00:50:06]Motor's all up. Enemy in the sights.

[00:50:12]Sweet.

[00:50:14]Oh, I got him, too.

[00:50:16][laughter] There's a tourist cruise over there. I'm not saying we should board them. I'm just saying. Sleeves.

[00:50:26][laughter] I think one of my ideal outcomes with this journey would be pirates. I just love the romance [music] of it all.

[00:50:36]And I now realize, of course, I'm related to pirates. I've got one leg.

[00:50:47]The reality of it is clearly something completely different. Matteo Vasalo, my 11 times great-grandfather, sponsored legal piracy.

[00:50:58]He paid people to go off and loot and plunder and come back with slaves. And he made a fortune out of selling people.

[00:51:08]I have absolutely no moral high ground.

[00:51:11]>> In 1798, Corsairing was abolished in Malta. The great wealth Matteo had made [music] from it did not survive down the generations. You can't feel remorse for the loss of a fortune that was built on slave trade. But it is a long way down to have come in the world to being so desperate that you have to leave the country.

[00:51:33]Two of my great-grandparents, Jeppe Valo and Oscar Clen [music] risked everything to sail to the other side of the world to give it a shot.

[00:51:47]Just makes me really humble. My people before me put themselves on the line and went through [music] some really dark times.

[00:51:56]So I think remembering [music] where you came from makes you a little bit grateful.