Journey to discovering who we are

Using modern technology and our individual DNA or genetic blueprint to trace our biological ancestry is proving popular with many Australians.

It costs a few dollars but is within the financial reach of many and represents a bit of fun for the more curious among us keen to find out more about who we are and what makes us tick.

It seems amazing that a simple sample of saliva sent in the post to a laboratory can help answer all sorts of family mysteries and take us on a new voyage of personal discovery.

Regardless of how accurate, there is something quite poignant in looking at a map of the world to see where your ancestors most likely originated and – perhaps most significantly – what ethnic groups have gone into the mix that is now you.

The mind boggles when you discover, for example, that apart from predictable percentages of British and Irish ethnic ancestry that you also carry the genes of people from Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, the Middle East, Russia, the Mediterranean, the Caucasus and southern Asia, which possibly includes ancient Australia.

And every family it seems has a different mix, a mix that in Australia at least, gets more diverse with every generation.

What’s weird is trying to consider the ethnic melting pot that human DNA testing reveals, while at the same time trying to come to grips with a national history plagued by racial intolerance.

While we can understand some anxiety caused by a clash of cultures in the past, what DNA technology has revealed is that people, who have somehow thought they were better than others based on race, have been guilty of ignorant and damaging self-righteousness.

What we now have at our fingertips is unquestionable proof that we as an animal are all only vaguely different versions of the same thing – as if there was any doubt.

There is an old sporting saying when needing a spur to confront a much more fancied opponent, perhaps dating back to military origins, that goes something like ‘they bleed just like you and me’.

It suggests that, ultimately, when it comes to a pinch, everyone is equal.

And it seems that we only need to look to our blood, saliva, hair, fingernails or any part of us for that matter to understand we’re all just an offshoot of many breeds, or, like it or not, a bunch of mongrels.