Australian Prime Minister John Howard is descended from convicted thieves through both his father and mother, the Daily Telegraph has reported.
But far from being seen as a slur on his character, the discovery will give the conservative 67-year-old former lawyer “street cred,” the newspaper said.
About 157,000 convicts were transportated from Britain to Australia between 1788 and 1868, a heritage formerly seen in Australia as an embarrassment but more recently embraced with a rebellious pride.
“For Australians, finding a convict ancestor is the Holy Grail, especially a First Fleet ancestor,” said Society of Australian Genealogists executive officer Heather Garnsey.
“A lot of people have a romantic notion of the convict period. I joke in Australia it's the equivalent of royalty to some extent.”
But convict ancestry only became a badge of honor in the 1980s, coinciding with the nation's bicentennial celebrations. “Previously it was a social no-no,” Garnsey said.
The maternal great-great-grandfather of Howard's father Lyall, William Tooley, was convicted of complicity in the theft of a tortoiseshell watch and transported for life on the ship the Fanny in 1816, the Daily Telegraph said.
His mother Mona's forebearer, Thomas Barker, was sentenced to transportation after being convicted on two counts of robbery, arriving on the Bengal Merchant in 1835.
The prime minister's family features in a special weekend magazine series the newspaper is running to help Australians trace their family trees — and those treasured convict genes.
(AFP)
根據「每日電訊報」報導,澳洲總理霍
華德的父系和母系祖先都是遭判刑的小偷。
報導指出,這項發現不僅無損他個人聲譽,反倒給這位律師出身的六十七歲保守派總理一種「街頭魅力」。英國約有十五萬七千名罪犯在一七八八年到一八六八年間被流放到澳洲,澳洲人曾以這項歷史背景為恥,近來卻因此產生一種叛逆的驕傲。
澳大利亞系譜學家協會專員海瑟.加恩賽表示︰「對澳洲人來說,找出被判刑的祖先就像在找尋聖杯一樣,特別是搭第一艦隊來的祖先。」
他說︰「很多人對那段罪犯時代有很
浪漫的想法,我開玩笑地說,就某個程度來說,這些罪犯就像皇室一樣。」
不過一直到一九八○年代澳洲慶祝建國兩百週年,有罪犯祖先才成為榮耀的象徵,加恩賽表示︰「在這之前這一直是社會的禁忌。」
「每日電訊報」表示,霍華德父親里歐的高曾祖父威廉.圖利,曾因與他人共謀盜取一只龜甲錶而遭到判刑,於一八一六年搭乘芬妮號,終身流放澳洲。
霍華德母親的祖先—湯瑪斯.貝克因兩宗竊盜罪被判流放,於一八三五年登上孟加拉商船。
霍華德的家族歷史連載於「每日電訊報」發行的一份週末特刊,幫助澳洲人追溯他們的家譜,以及珍貴的罪犯基因。
(法新社�翻譯︰鄭湘儀)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
Everyone has seen a piece of fruit turn brown after being cut. Have you ever wondered why that happens? It is a common phenomenon that occurs due to a chemical reaction called enzymatic browning. The appearance, flavor and nutritional value of the fruit are all affected by this reaction. Some fruits, such as apples, pears, bananas, avocados and peaches, are more prone to enzymatic browning than others. These fruits contain high levels of an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase, or PPO for short. __1__ This causes a chain of chemical reactions that ultimately transforms the phenolic compounds into
A: As well as Eid al-Fitr, Southeast Asia is celebrating the Water Festival this week. B: And this year, Thailand is expanding the celebration between April 12 and 16 for the event, officially known as the Songkran Festival, expecting to make 24.3 billion Thai baht in tourism revenue. A: Does Taiwan celebrate the Water Festival? B: Some local cities and counties do have similar activities. A: Let’s go experience the festival then. A: 除了「開齋節」外,東南亞「潑水節」本週也盛大登場! B: 泰國今年從4月12日到16日擴大「宋干節」連假,預估觀光收入可高達243億泰銖。 A: 台灣會慶祝「潑水節」嗎? B: 有些縣市會舉辦類似活動。 A: 那我們也去體驗一下吧。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)