The bones in Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's closets were bared in a genealogy made by Mormons. The two books written by the Church of the Latter Day Saints disclosed that three of Rudd's ancestors were thieves.

The Mormons presented the two volumes to the prime minister Thursday morning, confirming his roots as a "true Aussie pedigree."

The white population of Australia were crooks banished by the British empire. Among them were Mary Wade, Catherine Lahey and Thomas Rudd.

Wade was Rudd's paternal fifth great-grandmother. Because of poverty she swept London's streets and begged for food. In 1788 she and an older girl hoodwinked an eight-year old girl to enter a toilet where they took her dress and undergarments and later fled. She was tried for the misdemeanor and sentenced to be hang, but her sentence was commuted to banishment in New South Wales at the age of 12.

Lahey made counterfeit coins to pay for her weekly rent of one shilling and sixpence. She was sent to Sydney in 1800.

Thomas Rudd, the prime minister's paternal fourth great-grandfather, was made to serve his seven-year sentence in Australia in 1801 for stealing a bag of sugar.

The tracing of rouges among their ancestors has ceased to be a cause of shame among Australians. Having convict relatives has somewhat became the equivalent of blue blood in Australia.

Heather Garnsey, executive director of the Society of Australian Genealogists, explained to the U.K. Telegraph, "For Australians, finding a convict ancestor is the Holy Grail, especially a First Fleet ancestor."

Rudd's predecessor, John Howard, also had criminal ancestors, including a maternal second great-grandfather who was sentenced for being an accessory to the theft of a tortoiseshell watch.