An award-winning film and TV actress from Australia has traced her roots back to Dumbarton.

Marta Dusseldorp, best known in the UK for her part in the BBC1 Australian melodrama A Place to Call Home, made an emotional visit to the town for the Aussie version of Who Do You Think You Are?

During research for the programme, broadcast in Australia last night, a remarkable story of a record-breaking family of doctors was highlighted.

Eight sons of Dr John Robertson of Dumbarton all followed their father into medicine over 20 years starting in the 1880s.

The amazing family of doctors even merited a mention in the 1989 Guinness Book of Records.

One of Dr Robertson's sons, Frederick Gordon Robertson, who began his medical training at Glasgow in 1901 and who later emigrated to Australia, was Marta's great grandfather.

Marta’s quest to discover her family ancestry for Who Do You Think You Are Australia, took her to Europe and eventually to Dumbarton where she visited Benview, the home of Dr John Robertson, her great, great grandfather.

The building, in Strathleven Place, is now a resource centre.

Dr Robertson and his wife Elizabeth had 15 children, 10 of them boys. Eight of the boys went to the University of Glasgow to study medicine between 1888 right up to the start of the First World War.

Marta said: “When I embarked on Who Do You Think You Are Australia, I knew medicine was in the blood of my immediate family and I did wonder would we uncover more doctors.

"But never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined the extent of the connection to medicine going back some 150 years.

“I suppose it is lucky that there were so many doctors in the one family, otherwise I doubt if my direct ancestor Frederick Gordon would have left Scotland looking for work in Australia.”

The actress added: “It is amazing to think I walked the same grounds as my great-great-grandfather, great-grandfather and his siblings.

"I feel very privileged to have gone on this journey of discovery and I hope to return to Scotland with my children, sister and brothers to learn more about our Scottish roots in the future.”

Marta was helped in her research by university archivist Moira Rankin, who said: “It is always a privilege to share stories from the university archives. This one was special, not just because we were being filmed for Australian television, but because Marta’s family have been in medicine since the 1860s.

“Her great-grandfather and his seven brothers are even in the Guinness Book of Records.

"It’s a remarkable story and it was great to have Marta with us to visit the campus and see his records.”

Viewers in the UK cannot access the programme which is available only in Australia.