On 10 Nov 2005, Mum’s 87th birthday, I picked up Mum and Aunty Dawn and the three of us headed out on an epic road trip around New South Wales that would include visiting places that had been a part of their childhood (and mine). Over the next 15 days we covered about 4,000Km, north as far as Ballina and south as far as Canberra.

I had been researching the family’s history for about 20 years at that point, and I had some surprises up my sleeve for them; places to show them that weren’t on their itinerary.

There were lots of stops for tea, for shopping, and to visit churches along the way. But only catholic churches, of course. We looked at others, but from the outside!!

We visited with family along the way, including some family that I had met through my family history. The girls knew they had cousins, sons of their uncle Earle, but they had never met the Hamiltons, Ian, Les and Rob. So I was very pleased to be able to introduce them.

It was Les’ wife, Margaret, that I had been corresponding with for years. We exchanged history and anecdotes about the family and shared our discoveries. I had carefully packed some treasures in the boot of the car for the expected “show and tell” when we got to Coffs Harbour, where we planned to spend three days.

And it was during that visit that we found treasure.

Over many years of family history, Margaret had amassed huge numbers of photographs relating to the Hamilton family, many of them unidentified. Over many cups of tea, Mum and Dawn examined the old and faded faces searching back through memory to identify the past generations.

Near the end of the session, Margaret pulled out a small snapshop of a bride standing alone in what appears to be the back garden. The photo was faded, yellowing, torn, dog-earred and creased. The photo below makes it look much better than it actually is (the wonder of the iPhone!).

Margaret assumed we had a copy of the photo, as it was obviously our Addie. But this is where the real story of the photo came to light, and why this is our treasure.

Ted Hamilton married Adelaide Phemister at Christ Church Cathedral in Grafton on 19 Apr 1911. Addie was 25 and Ted was 18. There’s no one left to tell the story of the wedding, but we can work a few things out from what we know. First of all, Christ Church Cathedral is anglican and a very strange choice for a girl raised in a strict catholic household. Next, Ted is recorded in the register as being “Of full age”, meaning over 21. Being of full age meant that he did not need his parents’ approval to marry. All his life he maintained that he didn’t have a birth certificate because his birth wasn’t officially registered. But that was not the case. He was simply maintaining the story he told in 1911.

We have no idea who took this photo, or how many photos were actually taken that day. What we do know is that about five years later there was a house fire, and all the photos of the wedding day were destroyed. Or so the family believed for 94 years!

There were a lot of tears shed over that tiny photo that day. And it has become one of those family treasures that must be preserved. But preserved as it was on the day it was found. Still battered and creased and faded and yellowed. Because that is part of the story of the Lost Wedding Photo.