Secrets of the family tree
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ|September 2020
Do-it-yourself DNA tests are a popular hobby. For some the results are predictable, for others they’re a revelation. Genevieve Gannon meets historian Rose Overberg, who followed clues from her own test to find her biological father, and now helps others do the same.
Genevieve Gannon
Secrets of the family tree

We all carry inside us people who came before, wrote American author Liam Callanan. And in every new family line, glimpses of the older can be seen. A grandfather’s lopsided smile reappears in a grandson. Three generations of women have the same violet-flecked eyes. For historian Rose Overberg, it’s chestnut-colored hair and distinctive height that she shares with her mother. “A lot of people say I look like Mum,” she says.

But while Rose has freckles and brown eyes, her mother has olive-toned skin and green eyes, and there are other features that can’t be accounted for. “Nobody in my family has my eyebrows,” she says.

For most of her life, Rose didn’t know who gave her those attributes, and she never thought much of it until she tried to find out and was blocked at every turn. Rose was conceived with the help of donor sperm in 1975, when the now-thriving fertility business was just a cottage industry without regulation or proper record keeping. Years later, when she tried to find out about her donor, she was shocked to learn that all evidence of her conception had disappeared.

And Rose was not alone. By the time the Victorian government made record-keeping mandatory in 1988, thousands of donor-conceived babies had been born. Many have files, but a significant number have not.

This story is from the September 2020 edition of Australian Women’s Weekly NZ.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the September 2020 edition of Australian Women’s Weekly NZ.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM AUSTRALIAN WOMEN’S WEEKLY NZView All
Cooking for one
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

Cooking for one

Looking for a tasty weeknight dinner? Our quick and easy meat-free curry is full of flavour.

time-read
1 min  |
March 2024
Two-minute exercise
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

Two-minute exercise

No time? Short on energy? Two minutes might be all it takes to change your life.

time-read
4 mins  |
March 2024
New threads
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

New threads

In 1993 Elaine George made history as Australia's first Indigenous cover star. Thirty years later she's back in front of the camera with her daughter, Taylor, to showcase First Nations designers and artists.

time-read
3 mins  |
March 2024
Terms of endearment
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

Terms of endearment

While the phrases our mums once used don't date so well, other life lessons stay the distance.

time-read
2 mins  |
March 2024
Sisters of Maya
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

Sisters of Maya

In the Yucatán jungles of Mexico, lives are changing for the better, thanks to a trailblazing farm where women dare to dream.

time-read
3 mins  |
March 2024
Unseen ABBA
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

Unseen ABBA

Swedish foursome ABBA have released a book of joyful photos from their glorious career, including some even they hadn't seen before.

time-read
4 mins  |
March 2024
Inside the BILLIONAIRE BOHEMIAN CLUB
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

Inside the BILLIONAIRE BOHEMIAN CLUB

Welcome to the most secretive club on Earth, where world leaders, movie stars and business tycoons kick up their heels behind locked gates in the bucolic Californian countryside.

time-read
7 mins  |
March 2024
ROBERT IRWAN 'I wish could ask Dad for advice'
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

ROBERT IRWAN 'I wish could ask Dad for advice'

As the son of Steve Irwin, he's spent his entire life in the public domain, continuing to spread his father's message. Now, aged 20, Robert has found love, and is striking out in a new direction.

time-read
8 mins  |
March 2024
LANI D ANIELS Warrior woman
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

LANI D ANIELS Warrior woman

The world champion boxer from a tiny Northland village opens up about the childhood tragedy that led her to drink and drugs, and the sport that saved her life.

time-read
9 mins  |
March 2024
KING CHARLES III Royal lears & missing Mummy
Australian Women’s Weekly NZ

KING CHARLES III Royal lears & missing Mummy

In an old-fashioned world of restraint and formality, young King Charles craved his mother's affection and suffered at school, reveals Ingrid Seward in her new biography, My Mother and I.

time-read
10 mins  |
March 2024