One Question, Three Continents, One Family

Opera House and Harbour Bridge at sunset

Mike and I spent the last few days in Sydney, and I keep thinking about how we got here.

As a genealogist and family historian, my goal is never just names and dates. It is discovering the stories that connect families across generations and build relationships.

Two years ago, I reached out to a DNA match while trying to solve a mystery: Why did my great-aunt die in a country I could not connect her to?

Ancestry confirmed that Mandy and I shared my paternal grandmother’s line. Mandy turned out to be the granddaughter of my great-aunt, and she filled in the missing pieces.

Two sisters left England and built lives on opposite sides of the world. 


Lisle Sisters (left to right): Jean, Pippen, Mary, Olga, and Betty
Mary immigrated to North America and Olga immigrated to Australia

My grandmother immigrated to Canada in 1949 and later to the United States. Her sister sailed for Australia in 1961 as one of the Ten Pound Poms, British immigrants who came to Australia through a government-assisted immigration program. Mandy’s mother, an older daughter of my great-aunt, remained in England when her mother and younger siblings immigrated to Australia. Over three decades later, my great-aunt followed her youngest daughter to Sweden, where she died. Suddenly, the country made sense.

Our view over Darling Harbour during our stay in Sydney

Through Mandy, I also connected with her first cousins in Sydney, descendants of my great-aunt’s children who immigrated to Australia. On Sunday, Mike and I had the privilege of meeting some of our Aussie cousins for the first time.

Mike, Kim, Angela, Pete, Roxie, and Adrian

This is what family history does. One message to a stranger became a grandmother’s story recovered, family mysteries solved, cousins gathered around the same table, and a family spread across three continents that no longer feels so far apart.

Mrs. Macquaries Seat

View during lunch at The Glenmore

Bronte Beach and the elevated pool they pump the sea water into

Bondi Beach

    Macquaries Lighthouse

Opera House and Harbour Bridge from Macquaries Point

Harbour Bridge at sunset

Opera House from Circular Quay

Macquarie's Point

Thank you, Angela, Pete, Adrian, and Roxie, for a wonderful day! Sydney is a beautiful, vibrant city, and now it holds something even more meaningful for us.

City view from Milsons Point

We will be back! 

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