Joined together - Week 12: 52 Ancestors

 

Bob, Freda & Margaret in 1949

As one of the first baby boomers (born in 1947), I was a product of a post-war marriage.  My parents had re-met (long story) during one of my dad's army leave's in 1943-44.  He had been fighting the Japanese on the Kokoda Track with the 2nd/14th Australian Infantry Battalion.

Many marriages were performed in Australia in 1946, as they probably were in the UK and America, Canada and New Zealand as allied troops returned from Bougainville (where my dad completed his service) and overseas and were slowly demobilised.

This resulted in a huge enrollment in school classes by 1952.

Bob & Freda Tucker 23 March 1946

Many weddings were austere in those early post-war years with a shortage of materials and wedding frippery.  I imagine many brides with a talent for dressmaking refashioned their mother's wedding dress if it had been saved.  My mother wore a frock and hat she could wear again. 

My sister and I followed in her footsteps - my sister in 1975 and me in 1983 and 2006.  Neither of us could see ourselves in white with a veil.

Apart from my mother's biological and foster mothers, I have no photos of any of my other ancestor's weddings.  This does seem a bit strange.  I wonder if there were no cameras at the wedding or the photos were sadly thrown out.  I shall likely never know.