Marriage: Love and Law exhibition catalogue - Flipbook - Page 78
UNITY,
DISUNITY
NSW Governor, Sir Eric Woodward, used his
position and influence to maintain that a happy,
‘properly adjusted home’ and family life lived
through ‘Christian virtues’ was a ‘simple truth’ that
was being ‘lost’ in the ‘complexities of modern life’.
Happy family life was the aim, and divorce was
a threat to this goal (61).
While the State was heavily invested in advancing a marriage
ideal, the rates of divorce—despite it being an expensive and
onerous process—had surged in the immediate post-war years.
Opinion on divorce law reform was divided. Keeping families
together was the goal among some groups. Reformers, however,
maintained that unhappy marriages were a fact of life and
something which people should not have to endure.
61 Sir Eric Woodward
Speech notes – National
Marriage and Family Week
1962, 20 February 1962
Paper and card
1962
NSW State Archives,
NRS 4542 [12/2039]
61
78
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