Damper in a Wok

Who was George Murphy?

During his life, George was unable to find his own birth certificate. He was aware that in some way he may have been adopted but details were hazy. As a toddler, the young George was sent by his "father" Thomas Kwong to China. There he was raised by Thomas' first wife who was unable to come to Australia. George returned as a teenager. There were attempts made during post war years to find a birth certificate in order to prove an entitlement to a rice ration but the Queensland Registry could find no birth records matching "George Kwong". All his life he thought his name was "George Thomas Kwong". 

Some years after George died the CEDTs 1 held by the Australian National Archive were indexed. While searching for "George Kwong", a researcher found a CEDT which seemed match the years that young George was in China. Except that it was in the name of "Kwong George Murphy". 2

This unlocked a whole new line of research. A birth certificate for "George Murphy" was found. No father was given but the mother George never knew was identified as Mona Annie Murphy. This connection was later confirmed by a DNA test which matched some of George's descendants with another, previously unknown descendant of Mona through one of her other children.

1 Certificate Exempting from Dictation Test. 

2 Full public access to Geroge's CEDT is available at the Australian Archive site https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/