Much Married: Bigamy in Australia (1816-1950s)

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Methot, Melanie

• SSHRC IG awarded 2020: I study monogamous marriage, looking at the extraordinary (bigamy prosecutions) to get at the ordinary (marriage roles and expectations). I undertake a systematic analysis of bigamy cases in Australia by drawing on historical newspapers from the Trove, the National Library of Australia's digital archive. I also draw upon longitudinal data of court cases from the Prosecution Project to analyze the prosecution of bigamy and to locate the corresponding case files in various state archives. The documents in the case files will enable me to access the histories of the "everyday" people who were defendants and offenders, as well as their families. The proposed project will deepen our understanding of the different roles marriage has played in Australian society from 1812 to the mid-twentieth century. My research will shed light on gender, class, and religious expectations, and delve into cultural, social, and economic realities surrounding the institution of marriage. The legal and cultural history of bigamy in Australia, I contend, will have implications for contemporary debates about the nature, roles, and meanings of marriage in Western societies.

• Date created

  2019-09-25

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Insight Grant
  • IG
  • SSHRC
  • Bigamy
  • Marriage
  • Law
  • Gender
  • Family
  • Archives
  • Newspapers
  • Legal History
  • Justice
  • 1800-1960
  • Australia
  • Oceania

• Type of Item

  Research Material

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-8ck7-zh93

• License

  © Methot, Melanie. All rights reserved other than by permission. This document is embargoed to those without UAlberta CCID until 2026.