Marriage: Love and Law exhibition catalogue - Flipbook - Page 16
LAWFUL MARRIAGE,
STABILITY OF THE COLONY
The Colony of NSW had been established with the arrival of the
First Fleet in 1788. When Lachlan Macquarie arrived two decades
later as the fifth Governor of NSW, the future of the Colony was
considered to be at risk of moral degeneration. Cohabitation—
the practice of living together in an unmarried state—was deemed
‘highly injurious to the interests of Society’, and Macquarie sought
to rectify this by encouraging lawful marriage.
10 Governor Lachlan Macquarie
Proclamation promoting
marriage and deploring
cohabitation,
24 February 1810
Printed broadside
1810
State Library of NSW, Safe 1 / 87
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