Bobby Dickens, Liverpool to Australia

[KatieVS1]

My grandma had a baby adopted in Liverpool some time in the 1930s. We think his adopted name was Robert Dickens. We know he ended up in Australia (Queensland) and would love to find out more about him. Does it ring any bells for anyone?

[Ruskie]

Welcome to rootschat Katie.

Do you have any idea when he went to Australia? Did he travel alone, or with a wife and children?

[KatieVS1]

We have absolutely no idea unfortunately, that's the problem and why we're resorting to random strategies like this! Been searching for him for around 2 years.

We only know about him because I DNA matched with his daughter (who never knew him, and his name wasn't on her birth certificate). Her mother was Aboriginal, and they met in Cunnamulla in Queensland. All she was told is that her father's name was Robert Dickens, that he had a sister called Dorothy, and that he still had a Liverpool accent! Not much to go on!

[Ruskie]

What an interesting but frustrating puzzle to try to solve.

There is this, but unsure if there is anything to be determined from any results:
https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/SearchScreens/PassengerSearch.aspx

What year was his daughter, your DNA match born?

Do you and her have any other mutual DNA matches?

[Ruskie]

Taking a couple of steps back …. How do you know that “Robert Dickens” is your grandmother’s adopted son? Was Dorothy also your grandmother’s child?

[CaroleW]

Several comments/questions

His daughter never knew him so he could have just used the name Robert Dickens as an alias.  I was born & bred in Liverpool and there are many types of "Scouse" accents.   With respect to her mother - would an Aborigine be able to determine a Liverpool accent?

Did he ever actually tell her mother he was from Liverpool?

Did your grandmother live in Liverpool?  If not - how do you know he was adopted in Liverpool?

Have you looked for his birth name?  His birth would be registered in your grandmothers surname & the entry would show the same mothers maiden name

(eg)  He was born as Joseph Bloggs - mmn would be Bloggs    www.freebmd.org.uk

[KatieVS1]

His daughter was born in 1966. We've looked at all the immigration sites, passenger ships etc for different variations of his name (Dickens, Dickenson, Dickin etc). The British Library has helped me find all the Robert Dickens who were adopted in Liverpool during that decade, but none of them are him. I worked my way systematically through all the Robert Smith (my grandma's maiden name) birth certificates from Liverpool in that decade, none of them are him. Now I'm just getting boy Smiths with MMN Smith in the hope that one of them will be him!

We know he was my grandma's baby because of the DNA match with me, my sister and my aunt. We're looked at it every which way, but this is the only explanation due to the high match. The story about the sister Dorothy is anecdotal (via his daughter). Nothing concrete.

It is indeed a very frustrating puzzle!! Another anecdotal story was that he'd worked at a particular sheep station in Queensland - I found them and they looked in their records, and I had people from their Facebook page helping me look, but nobody had ever heard of him!

[KatieVS1]

Ah, I should have said, she'd told her daughter he was from Liverpool (as well as commenting on the accent). But yes, you're right, Robert Dickens could well have been an alias, which means we're looking for 'Smith' born in the thirties 

[KatieVS1]

Yes my grandma was from Liverpool. And yes I've been searching boy births in my grandma's maiden surname. She would have been unmarried at the time. I'm just working through them. He has to turn up! Then I'll have a birth date, then I can find the adoption, then I might find him on passenger ships etc. Needle in a haystack until then really.