Overseas stranger finds Australian family filmed in 1960s mystery video
A British TV director has harnessed the power of talkback radio to find an Australian family who appeared in forgotten footage filmed in the 1960s.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this story contains the name and images of a person who has died, used with family permission.
The video shows a classic scene from suburban Melbourne in 1965: a redbrick house, kids playing in the driveway under the watchful eye of two adults and their older children, flanked by grandma on the garden path.
The owner of the footage, Karen Walsh, was immediately struck by the video.
But she didn't have a clue who the family was.
It was shot by her father, Arthur Howes, who visited Australia in 1965 when he was considering emigrating with his young family.
Arthur Howes (second from left) with his family in England. (Supplied: Karen Walsh)
Mr Howes never took the plunge of permanently relocating, but he returned home from his adventure with moving pictures of Melbourne, Sydney and Perth to show his kids.
Now a TV director in the UK, Ms Walsh recently tackled the task of sorting through her father's old film reels.
The clip of a group of strangers was less than a minute long, but it was too precious for the cutting room floor.
"It is an absolutely charming little piece of video," she said.
"I just feel like I'm the curator of the footage. I don't feel I own it.
"I think the footage really belongs to the family who were being filmed."
Bristol local Karen Walsh started the international search. (Supplied: Karen Walsh)
Needle in a haystack
The only lead Ms Walsh had to work with was the fact the 8mm film was shot in Melbourne.
Ms Walsh knew the reach of a talkback station, having worked in radio previously.
So she tried her luck and emailed 774 ABC Melbourne.
"It would be great to find out who these people are," she said.
The 774 Breakfast show broadcast Ms Walsh's call-out, and directed listeners to watch the footage online.
Amateur sleuths on socials noted the common brick design of the house, and distinctive green-striped garage door.
Volkswagen Club of Victoria historian Chris Scane identified the green van in the driveway as a standard split-window 1962 Kombi manufactured in Clayton, Victoria.
"We'll be chasing all our members to dig in their files and see if they can find this car," he said.
Some speculated two boys pictured leaping off the letterbox in the video were wearing Xavier College uniforms, but the school's archivist checked the records and ruled it out.
The van's number plates were a promising clue, but privacy laws prevented VicRoads from shedding any light on its owners.
'It was just mind-boggling'
By a stroke of luck, a medical student in Sydney helped solve the mystery.
Zac de Boeck called the talkback line to share that the video showed three generations of his family. (Supplied)
Zac de Boeck, a Palawa man, was scrolling social media when his mother sent him the ABC Melbourne reel to see if he too could recognise the faces.
Mr de Boeck immediately identified five people in the video.
So he called the talkback line.
The ABC has since confirmed the video from 1965 captures three generations of Mr de Boeck's family: his nan, great-uncle, great-grandparents and great-great-grandmother.
In the 1960s they lived in the Melbourne suburb of Mitcham.
The younger children playing in the film are believed to be extended family.
"As I opened the video, I initially pegged my great-grandmother, Dorothy Vanner," he said.
Dorothy, a Palawa woman, died 10 years ago, and would have turned 101 this year.
In the clip, Dorothy and her husband Ron Vanner are in their 40s, flanked by their two children.
"When I was born, great-grandma was 70, so in my brain, I only know her as an old lady," Mr de Boeck said.
"Seeing her only 10 years older than I am now, it was just mind-boggling."
Zac de Boeck, as a child, with Dorothy Vanner. (Supplied: Zac de Boeck)
A glimpse of the past
Mr de Boeck's nan, Kathryn Holland, is the older girl on the driveway in the clip, standing near her parents.
She doesn't remember the film being taken, or the visitor behind the camera, Arthur Howes.
But the clip offered her a rare chance to see her late mother, father and grandmother.
"I've got lots of photos, but I haven't seen them on film. It was quite a surprise," she said.
"I look so young!"
Kathryn Holland (right), pictured with Dorothy Zanner (left), Zac's mother Donna Bradbury and Zac as a baby, says she has plenty of family photographs but she has never seen moving pictures from her childhood. (Supplied: Zac de Boeck)
Mrs Holland was astonished by the lengths a stranger took to track her down.
"I just think she's extra special, going to all this trouble to find out who it belongs to," Mrs Holland said of Karen Walsh.
"It's fabulous."
Ms Walsh confessed she never expected her plan to work.
"I had no faith," she said.
"You know, I was so close to putting the film in the bin when I was going through the footage.
"Something made me stop and go, 'You know what, let's just see if we can find who this is.'"
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