Treading Warily into the Lives of Others

ABSTRACT Between 1947 and 1953 Australia accepted over 172,000 refugees from post-war Europe. Many of these displaced persons are now deceased and have left little record outside of their official presence in the archive. Although their life stories may live on within families, and occasionally in often unpublished memoirs, as individuals they are apt to disappear from the historian’s gaze. As an academic historian I increasingly find myself using family history methods to inform my broader historical research, reconstructing life stories of refugees and migrants, to fill the gaps and silences that exist once the archival record ends. Using examples from my research I will examine how family history methods help to provide a deeper understanding of the longer-term experiences of this migration and the policies which governed it. Furthermore, the use of family history websites for academic research is becoming increasingly popular and yet the legal and ethical constraints, to date, have received very little scholarly attention. This paper will also consider these, both from the point of view of the academic researcher, and from a personal perspective given that even those with public online family trees may not welcome our intrusion into what is ultimately, a very private space.