It was by chance that Leon Isackson discovered his roots with Young.
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But it was this chance discovery that also unlocked a mysterious part of the town’s history.
Leon is the author of a historical book, Brothers in Exile, that chronicles history of the White family - who founded Young - in the context what was happening in colonial Australia.
As the drummer in Johnny O’Keefe’s backing band in the sixties and a rocker from way back, Leon is perhaps not your average history writer.
But a search for the grandmother he never knew, he uncovered a fascinating side of his family and their role in the early days of Australia.
Having lost his mother when he was just 18 months old, he knew little about that side of that family.
During the search for his grandmother, a picture of his sister in 1936 with a woman captioned “Granny Musgrave” caught their attention.
It was attached to a newspaper clipping about her 100th birthday.
Sarah Musgrave was the first non-indigenous person born in Young, and the neice of the town’s founders James White.
Leon is Sarah’s great-great-grandson.
It was this discovery that led Leon to Young about 30 years ago.
That was when he walked into the Lambing Flat Folk Museum and asked the volunteer there if, on the off-chance, she had heard of a woman called Sarah Musgrave.
“So we were shocked to hear her say, ‘Oh yes the Sarah Musgrave room is right through there’,” Leon said.
“We couldn’t believe it, there was a whole room devoted to her.”
And from here the story just kept getting bigger and bigger.
He discovered that his great-great-great grandfather, John White, was one of the town's early settlers and his family played an integral role in the early history of colonial Australia.
Sarah Musgrave wrote a book, The Way Back, but Leon soon discovered that much of it was far from an accurate historical account.
Just one of those inaccuracies was Sarah’s illustrious claims about the background of her family.
They in fact did not come to Australia as wealthy merchants, but were convicts.
So in 2010, Leon began work on Brothers in Exile, using the painstakingly obtained information he had gathered about over a 40 year period.
He made his way to Young again last week, the first time he had been back to the town since the book was published last year.
“I’ve had some great feedback,” he said.
“A lot of facts and things that people didn’t really know.”
Some of that feedback has come from Young Historical society’s president Brian James.
Brian said the book helped him put together the puzzle of what was Young’s history - within the broader context of colonial Australia.
“After reading Sarah Musgrave’s book The Way Back there were a lot of questions unanswered about certain parts of her life and this book reveals the truth behind the story of James White and the White family,” he said.
“Anyone who has interest in local history would get a lot from it.”
Copies of Brothers in Exile are available at Gilbert's Bookstore.
