Miranda Otto’s family tree surprise ... and how to trace your own history

Hollywood actress Miranda Otto visited State Library of Queensland to trace her family tree on a trip that revealed the secret of a lifetime. 

The star, best known for her role as Eowyn in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, was following her own story arc for SBS’s Who Do You Think You Are? to her birthplace, Brisbane. [Warning: spoilers ahead.]  

With the help of experts and archival material at State Library, she examined the ancestry of her father, stage and screen legend Barry Otto, who is living with Alzheimer’s disease. ‘I don’t know the stories of my dad, and now I can’t get those stories,’ she said. ‘I’m sad that I don’t know more about my dad’s life growing up ... We can be careless with our stories, I think.’ 

In 1937, Miranda's flamboyant paternal grandmother, Alice Long, married Ronald Otto, a third-generation butcher whose grandparents emigrated from Germany in the 1860s. The Otto-Long family tree presented to Miranda at State Library would later sprout a new branch when her DNA results showed an absence of German heritage and connected her to a hidden chapter of her grandmother’s story. 

Her father’s biological father was revealed to be the family’s landlord, Bob Stephens, an Irish-Scottish sawmiller who owned a car dealership at Chermside.

Behind the scenes with a family history detective     

Brisbane genealogist Sally Romano filmed the Who Do You Think You Are? scenes with Miranda at State Library and did research for the show. She delved into what she describes as ‘all of the gloriousness’ of State Library, searching newspapers on microfilm for death and funeral notices, and accessing collections documenting histories of the South Sea Islander ‘sugar slaves’ brought to Queensland between 1863 and 1904. 

Sally, a former president of the Genealogical Society of Queensland, is in awe of the breadth of the collections accessible in the State Library catalogue. On a typical visit, Sally can be found poring over records like postal directories in the John Oxley Library Heritage Collections on level 4 or engrossed in old newspapers on microfilm in the State Reference Library on level 3.  

One of her go-to tools is Trove, a free digital library that combines the archival forces of Australia’s collecting institutions. ‘Trove is fantastic, because it has thousands of newspapers online from across the country and the search functionality is really quite high,’ Sally said.  

‘However, Trove’s newspaper collection basically finished at the mid-1950s, which means libraries such as State Library of Queensland and their vast collection of more recent state-based papers become the essential newspaper repositories for our research endeavours.’ 

Where do I start with my family history research? Sally’s top tips  

‘The thrill of the chase’ is addictive for Sally, who has extensively researched her own family’s history and now helps people organise their genealogy research. Inspired by her late mother, Margot, her Share Your Life Story books contain 440 questions to ask Mum or Dad.  

Sally’s advice to beginners is to ask questions of their parents and grandparents. ‘That is absolutely step number one. It’s a good idea to voice-record their answers, too,’ she said. 

‘Ask your parents what their parents’ full names were – make sure you get the maiden names for the women in the family. Ask when and where their parents were born, when and where they were married, and, if they have passed away, ask when and where they died and were buried. Ask the same questions for each of their grandparents – and if they can go back further, get those details, too. 

‘Then start mapping that information out. People are familiar with the shaky green leaves on Ancestry.com, the hints – just assume what Mum and Dad have told you are also hints until you can verify their stories and dates. Sometimes people forget what year or month they were married, which church it was ... so you do have to check on all those details to ensure the family tree you’re building is robust and accurate.  

‘I would also say get your parents’ DNA tested. The next step is getting birth, death and marriage certificates because these statutory records are the generational links in the chain that can take your research further back.’ 

Free family history resources at State Library of Queensland 

If the compelling and complex stories unraveled on Who Do You Think You Are? have inspired you to start building your own family tree, here are some ways State Library can help. 

Guides: State Library’s website is a treasure trove of free resources. Our family history research guides can help you get started. These include Who’s Your Mob? video guides for First Nations family history researchers, and video guides for people exploring House Histories.    

Ancestry.com: State Library, Queensland public library and Indigenous Knowledge Centre members can access Ancestry Library Edition for free on site. Visitors to State Library can also use FindMyPast on site.  

Newspaper archives: Search the Trove collection of digitised newspapers online. State Library has microfilm archives of many Queensland newspapers, along with a number of other Australian newspapers. We also hold paper copies of many issues of Queensland newspapers. Members can also access contemporary newspapers online as well as British and Irish newspaper archives dating back to the 1700s.  

Ask a librarian: Queenslanders can get a librarian’s help for up to 6 extended enquiries per year. Chat online or book an appointment on the ‘Ask a librarian’ page of the State Library website. 

The Who Do You Think You Are? episode starring Miranda Otto (and State Library of Queensland) is available on SBS On Demand. 

Mum, Share Your Life Story Book by Sally Romano is available at the Library Shop.

Join State Library and check out the free family history research resources to learn how you can dig deeper into your ancestry.  

More reading 

Tracing your family tree: a step-by-step guide 

Our favourite resources: Ancestry Library Edition by Christina Ealing-Godbold 

DNA family history: making an informed decision by Cyrena Mazlin