WHAT is it like, growing up as a person of mixed race?
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Bendigo woman Sally Gill and her daughters, Tess and Aurie, will be sharing their experiences on national television tonight.
The three women feature in this week's episode of SBS current affairs program Insight.
In doing so, they call out racism and seek to build understanding and tolerance.
Growing up mixed race: Sally's story
SALLY Gill is from a longstanding, well-known Bendigo family.
"Back in the day, if I was walking down the street, people would say, 'You must be a Duguid'," the 54-year-old said.
"Old ladies, particularly, would stop me... they had known my grandmother. They'd always be like, 'She was such a beautiful lady.'
"The reason she was well-known is because they were literally the only black family in town."
Ms Gill's experiences as a woman of colour form part of this week's episode of the SBS program, Insight.
The episode is about growing up as a person of mixed race.
Ms Gill's family has African heritage. Part of its story dates back to an African-American man by the name of Jacob Wood, who came to Australia during the gold rush.
"He actually jumped ship - literally jumped off the boat, made his way to the Victorian coast, and then made his way to the Castlemaine / Chewton area," Ms Gill said.
"That's where he met his wife, who was an Irish lady.
"They had a daughter. She married another African-American man, who also jumped ship."
Ms Gill's great-grandmother - a "very dark lady" - had three partners in her lifetime.
"My grandmother was the result of partnership number one, who was also an African fellow," Ms Gill said.
Her grandmother married a Scotsman, Jock Duguid.
"My dad was their youngest child," she said.
Ms Gill was raised by her mother - a blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman of English descent.
"My father and my mother separated when I was a baby," Ms Gill said.
"For me, there was kind of this disconnection between the past and knowing the culture around that, and what I was presented with."
She and her elder sister were darker, but the rest of the family - including her stepfather - were white.
"We knew, obviously, we were of another culture, but we didn't really know anything about the culture," Ms Gill said.
She had been searching for answers for most of her life.
"I knew it was important that we have strong family traditions - things that keep us together," Ms Gill said.
She has three children: Tess, who has fair hair, blue eyes and fair skin; Eli, who shares similar colouring to his mother; and Aurie, who has dark hair, green eyes, "and her skin's not as white as Tess's".
"They got asked a lot of questions growing up," Ms Gill said.
"People often would make assumptions about whose child was whose."
Ms Gill's husband is not a person of colour.
Family members with darker features faced questions about where they were from.
"People just assume, actually a lot, that I'm Aboriginal," Ms Gill said.
She said some people acted on their assumptions. Others were part of her life for some time before their beliefs became apparent.
"You might know people for years, and then they'll say something like, 'Oh, but... Tess isn't your daughter,' or they might say, 'Oh, but you are Aboriginal, right?'"
Ms Gill said the Insight episode gave her opportunity to reflect.
"I think race is a really important thing to talk about," she said.
She believed there would be more people of mixed race as time went on.
"As we go forward we need to be more accepting," Ms Gill said.
Experience - and social media - taught her racism was rife.
Ms Gill urged central Victorians not to assume they knew someone's story based on appearances.
Instead, she encouraged talking to them and getting to know them.
Insight screens at 8.30pm today on SBS.
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