Alice Tietkens help/interpretations

[sparrett]

Quote-
Emily Dinah Voake left her a good sum of money because the story was that Alice and Charlie ran away from Fowler's Bay to get married -end Quote

Well, 2 or 3 children were born to the couple before the 1906 marriage so quite possible they left the OAKES  because number one was on the way.


My thoughts on the permission matter and not knowledge based

The wording.

 'Aborigines Act'
 No marriage of a female aboriginal with any person other than an aboriginal shall be celebrated without the permission, in writing, of the Chief Protector.


This law is not about age of either party. It applies regardless of age.

Perhaps this couple had furnished the consent document and it is  considered as separate to marriage certification document.

Therefore from the striking through of the section relating to minors we infer-- both off age.

It is noteworthy that the 2 prenuptial births were registered in the surname GURNEY indicating they were a couple which in itself was an offence according to the Act.

There may be others here who have a better understanding of the ramifications than me.

Sue

 

[ambrat666]

Yes, those were also my sentiments regarding why they left when they did but I still wonder why they would run to a state that seems to have even stricter laws relating to Indigenous and European relationships. I once thought it was to reside with relatives on Charlies side, but I now think it may have just been to follow work as I believe he worked on telegraph poles. I believe I found a document saying he was residing at Cape Arid around the time of his marriage.

I may have been unclear regarding my thoughts surround the significance of the act. I understand it doesn't concern age. I had the impression that for Alice, it may have been crossed out regardless because 'half caste' people were considered wards of the state and therefore would not require her parents permission, just the 'Chief Protector', but I now realise if that were the case it would probably just be the protectors details instead of the subjects parents.

My thinking now is that if they had to apply to the protector, that application/correspondence may contain details about her supposed birthdate or birthplace. I think they may have had to do this regardless of age in Western Australia.

I believe they may have avoided populated areas as the government still had policies in place that meant their children could be taken from them. However I believe most of them were eventually put into school around the Coorabie area.