The Secret DNA of Us review: 4 Australian towns take ancestry tests

We’ve all heard the stories around DNA tests. Family secrets revealed, pasts thrown into question – or just thrown out entirely – and surprising connections made. But what if you could DNA test an entire town? That’s the premise behind The Secret DNA of Us, a new SBS series where host Marc Fennell and his team head out to rural Australia to rummage through the locals’ genetic material and see what they can find.

Each hour-long episode focuses on a regional town: Bairnsdale, Surry Hills, Geelong, and Bathurst. Fennell promises ‘family mysteries, surprises from history’ as each town, or a cross-section thereof, submits their DNA for testing.

The Secret DNA of Us: Bairnsdale

First up is Bairnsdale, known for its fishing, meat pies, laidback attitude, and waves of migration a century or more ago that hopefully will serve up some long-lost royalty or Gandhi’s distant cousin or the fact that some old guy fathered half the town.

Thankfully this is SBS, so the more lurid possibilities are largely overlooked (the surprise relations are distant cousins at best). What this does do is take the viewer through the whole process, starting with the locals explaining what they’re hoping to uncover and why they’re giving up their DNA.

Some are simply interested in knowing more about their community, others want to confirm or deny a family legend, and for some this is a chance to connect with a past they’ve never fully known.

It’s both personal and an examination of their collective heritage, and through that a telling of the story of Australia – or at least, the part of Australia that’s been shaped by time and successive waves of migration.

One of the many interesting things this series brings up is how the process it uncovers is an ongoing one: do a follow-up series in a century’s time and you’ll find a picture with even more layers added.

The Secret DNA of Us: local history

That’s the future: this is all about looking into the past. While Fennell handles telling people they’re secretly related to Stalin (this may not actually happen), journalist Rae Johnston is doing research into the local community, digging into the archives to uncover the history of the place to provide context to what the DNA tests reveal.

Watch The Secret DNA of Us trailer.

There’s also ancestry expert Brad Argent, who does the DNA analysis alongside going over people’s family history to uncover connections and origins. As he warns in episode one, some people are going to find that the family history they’ve grown up with might not match what their DNA has to say.

Some of the differences are obvious from the start. Bairnsdale has a large number of residents who’ve been there for generations; Surry Hills (only those two episodes were available for preview) has undergone a lot of change in recent times and the residents there reflect that. With that history comes assumptions – and that’s where the show aims to shake things up.

Aside from the community as a whole, there’s a wide range of personal stories here. Some people are looking to find missing fathers, fill in gaps in their family tree, or explain the behaviour of relatives who may have had secrets of their own.

Others (and we’re looking at you, Bairnsdale) are convinced they have links to royalty. Are Princess Diana and Henry the First’s relatives hanging out by the Gippsland Lakes? Does retired nurse June have links to Indian royalty? Tune in and find out.

The Secret DNA of Us: results

The result is a series that’s a mix of history lesson, sociological study and gossip session. Fennell, who’s proven to be a warm and likable presence whatever the subject matter, gets the chance to hit it off with all manner of down-to-earth and possibly overly optimistic locals, while Rae and Brad provide technical support when they’ve dug up some family history gold.

Stories are confirmed, people are surprised, long-lost relatives are found and the whole thing comes off as a celebration of a history that in many ways is still alive today. At one stage Fennell says ‘We’re all ordinary people, but hiding in our past is an extraordinary story’. The Secret DNA of Us is a charming and thought-provoking examination of that story.

Plus episode three is going to be looking at my home town of Geelong – depending on who they tested, I’m expecting an absolute shocker.

The Secret DNA of Us premieres on 17 April 2025 at 7.30pm on SBS and SBS On Demand.

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