Season 8

In this new season, eight of Australia's most respected and recognisable faces retrace the footsteps of their ancestors across the country and around the world, as they strive to make sense of the present by connecting with their family's paths. Award-winning stand-up comedian and host of 'I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!' Julia Morris finds her great grandfather in controversial Labor Premier J.T. Lang's intimate inner circle, and she investigates whether her grandfather was involved in the Irish Republican Army.

In one of Sydney's great convict buildings, Peter Garrett discovers an ancestor at the forefront of social welfare in the colony. He'll also unearth the secret life of his grandmother who worked in a forgotten area of first Contact - the Lock Hospitals in Western Australia. More than a century later, Peter follows his grandmother to remote Bernier Island, where Indigenous Australians suspected of having venereal disease were taken by force.

Singer-songwriter Delta Goodrem has searched for the creative connection in her ancestry - some link that would explain her own abilities. Her infectious curiosity is rewarded by the intricate adventures of her great grandmother, an enigmatic woman whose life took some unexpected twists and turns. As family secrets are revealed, Delta unveils her spirited great grandmother's passions in marvellous Melbourne.

Mal Meninga goes on a deeply personal quest to discover if he's descended from an indentured labourer - brought back from the Pacific Islands to work in the Queensland cane fields - in a culture replete with racism, kidnapping and slavery. His search takes him to Tanna Island in Vanuatu. He finds his ancestor spent time in a Christian mission at Kwamera. Mal must unravel conflicting accounds of why his ancestor left. Was he tricked or was he looking for adventure and opportunity? Back in Australia, Mal's confronted by the harsh conditions endured by Islanders working in the cane fields. Faced with deportation, the South Sea Islander community rallied to challenge the White Australia Policy.

Actor Rachel Griffiths's journey into the past takes her back to the re-emergence of Judaism in 17th century England. She discovered that her eight-time grandfather was one of the best known Jewish capitalists in London - associated with the Royal Exchange, the Bank of England, and the British East India Company. But his business interests extended further afield, and Rachel learns he was engaged in the international slave trade.

Shane Jacobson's father, Ron, was born into a family of carnival workers and lived in a tent until he was 21. They know nothing of their ancestry, but Shane's convinced they come from Viking stock. His crusade will take him to Finland where Shane's great grandfather took drastic steps that echo down the Jacobson line. His journey will take Shane to a medieval church where his ancestor was forced to sit on a shaming stool to atone for her sexual crimes. His search for the truth behind his Viking roots is answered, and in a farmhouse Shane finds his extended Finnish family.

Best known for her alter ego Kath Day-Knight from the hugely popular Kath and Kim series, Jane Turner is an icon of Australian comedy. Her paternal line takes Jane back to her three-times-great grandfather, who was one of Western Australia's pioneering British settlers. Jane will uncover the desire that drove her wealthy ancestor to endure incessant misfortune. Then, uncovering her father's actions as a fighter pilot in the Korean War takes Jane inside the Demilitarised Zone on the border of North Korea.

John Newcombe's search will propel him back to a pivotal time in NSW when the penal colony was transforming into a democracy. John's paternal ancestor played an important role in the fight for freedom of the press. But behind the facade of middle-class respectability, John will discover his two-times-great grandmother was hiding her convict past. Then, exploring his maternal line, John follows his three-times great grandfather's footsteps to the Loyalty Islands, now part of New Caledonia. John's forebear was hoping to trade sandalwood, but the expedition was a disaster. At the site of a bloody ambush John learns of the cannibalistic tribe his ancestor encountered.