Marriage: Love and Law exhibition catalogue - Flipbook - Page 109
I knew I would find ‘I do’ (or ‘I don’t’, or ‘I don’t, anymore’) in some of these
comfortable, familiar series. NRS 1037 Butts of special marriage licences,
for example, along with their accompanying applications, provides ‘I dos’ of the
free people in the early decades of the Colony. Names familiar to researchers
of early NSW history jump out from the pages: ‘daughter of G. Blaxland’ and
‘daughter of late Colonel Johnston’. It’s even possible to imagine a softer side
of Reverend Marsden (the flogging parson) as he presided over the many
colonial marriages taking place at St John’s in Parramatta.
NRS 12212 Register of convicts’ applications to marry provides a counterpoint
to the marriage records of free people, offering instead the ‘I dos’ (and
government enforced ‘I cannots’) of the convict classes from the same early
colonial period. Each line entry represents a relationship subjected
to government scrutiny. In the accompanying applications, I uncovered
affidavits attesting to good and sober character, letters (some real and some
forged) providing evidence of spouses who had passed away, and pleas for
rejections to be overturned.
I also located love lost, the ‘I don’t, anymore’ of the marriage union.
NRS 13495 Divorce and matrimonial cause case papers are full of stories –
each file is an account of disunion, of the dissolution of marriage, and contains
evidence to justify the parting. In these files I looked for the union, seeking the
story of where it all began.
These series – these comfortable, known series, beloved by researchers –
were as close to ‘love’ series and ‘love’ files as might be possible. But I knew
‘I do’ existed elsewhere. I just had to find it. A lot of the time I was delving
into the unknown hoping to make a connection. Searching outside of the
Collection’s ‘love series’, our ‘love files’, meant approaching series like you
would a first date. Sure, you get a description of the series, and have a vague
idea of what to expect. But it still feels uncertain and you aren’t sure if they
are going to be what you need. You don’t know if the encounter will be like
a magical moment or absolute disappointment. But you continue to hope that
next time, they might just be the one. And sometimes you find love in the most
unlikely places.
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This was certainly the case in attempting to locate records relating to the 1981
marriage of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer. I had looked in all the obvious
places, hoping for a connection, but came up with nothing. No records,
no magic. And then I took a chance on an unknown series, venturing deep
into the archive on a hunch that maybe, this series might be the one for us.
NRS 19797 Records relating to liaison between the Governor and the United
Kingdom Parliament and Royal Family provided that magical moment.
82 NSW Supreme Court
Family book: Roger Mithieux
– Madeleine Mithieux
Paper booklet with
leatherette cover
1954
Letters from the then Premier of NSW, Neville Wran. Letters from the Governor
of NSW. Telegrams from Queen Elizabeth II. Telegrams from the happy couple.
A signed thank you from Prince Charles himself. It was everything we could
have wanted. For me, this ‘I do’ had a happy ending.
NSW State Archives,
NRS 13495 119/1962
108
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