Yes, I hope so too....
There's often confusion reigning in our household when anyone phones me re family history and OH answers the phone. If they say "I have a quick question for JM about a NSW marriage in the 1800s".... My OH says "Are you sure, because there's actually no quick answer available on that topic .... can you ask a different question on a different topic instead " .....
The 1857 article covers MOST of the history to 1 March 1856, but overlooks mentioning that Gov Macquarie actually urged the NSW chaplains of the time (1810-1821) to promote marriage, to improve the morals of the colony and etc ...... so there's many instances where our 21st century eyes would perhaps cry out "bigamy" ..... thus overlooking the "beyond the seas" issues that effectively ended many marriages, one party left behind (so mostly affecting convicted persons transported to the penal colonies...)
I am going to pop a link here in this thread that I have cited often at RChat, it also have lots of information, and is fully referenced ....
http://www.aifs.gov.au/institute/seminars/finlay.htmlThe Sub-headings include :
Australia: bigamy and the presumption of death: a 'people's divorce'
Divorce comes to Colonial Australia
May I note that the NSW Supreme Court Judge mentioned in the 1857 cutting, (Sir Alfred Stephen) is considered to be the chap who drafted much of the NSW legislation that formed the NSW Divorce laws of the late 19thC and much of the 20thC ..... eg "Matrimonial Causes Act Amendment Act (1879 No 24a)"
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/num_act/mcaaa1879n24325.pdfhttp://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/stephen-sir-alfred-1291Now to continue my longstanding hunt (of many decades) for a newspaper article about the history of the NSW Registrar General and the various changes to the regulations, practices and laws re CIVIL marriage registration in NSW 1856 -1895.
As for the light reading and the closed book examination, with multiple choice of course ... I leave that to others to pose the question themselves ....
Cheers, JM