'He just went away one day and never came back,' a great aunt replied when I happened to ask what happened to her paternal grandfather: William James Mallett (1862-????). I've since spent decades trying to understand his desertion in 1885 as well as what became of him. The incident also raises some significant social questions relating to the period: How did people manage to divorce and remarry in colonial Australia? Did people separate for similar reasons they do today?
There was no easy avenue for divorce in colonial society in the Nineteenth Century. However, there was in fact a legal provision for remarriage under certain circumstances. An Act of British Parliament in 1828 expanded a principle first established in 1603 allowing remarriage if one party had been absent for seven years and the other was not aware of them to be living. This effectively allowed most convicts to remarry either with permission or after the expiry of their sentences. (1) The 'seven-year rule' acted as a means by the state to facilitate marriage in a society where defacto relationships were both common and open. While men were plentiful in the colonies, the sex imbalance in colonial Australia ensured that women were in demand. As James Boyce argued in his book Van Diemen's Land '...the gender imbalance at least gave women some degree of choice.' (2)
When Mary Mallett (1864-1954) subsequently remarried Patrick Dunn under the seven-year rule in 1898, she indicated that her previous husband had been desceased since 1885. (3) While perhaps a lie of convenience, she may have never really known her first husband's fate for certain. At any rate, Mary not only married again, but she had also engaged a defacto husband in the intervening years! Mary's subsequent brood was considerable although typical for the period. (4)
But why did this marriage fail? Relationships fail for any number of reasons but undoubtedly there are several core ones, the most prominent are lack of commitment, financial challenges and infidelity - none of which are specific to any era. (5) One of the primary reasons may have also been simply a lack of compatibility—something difficult to assess if cohabitation follows rather than precedes marriage. (6) Additionally, William and Mary married very young and were perhaps unprepared for married life. (7) In colonial Australia, the 1880s proved to be a decade of general prosperity, continuing the extended economic boom that lasted between 1870 and 1890. (8) Even so, William was turned down for a land grant around the same time as he deserted. Perhaps William felt a failure and afterwards could no longer face his family? (9)
Both William and Mary were descendants of a succession of failed relationships. William's mother, Sarah Bliss Johnson, was married to a man who on one occasion assaulted her own mother and step-father! (10) William's maternal grandparents had separated early and his maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Berry (an emancipated convict), entered a defacto relationship producing several illegitimate children. His maternal grandfather Joseph Bliss alias Johnson (also an emancipated convict) suffered premature senility and wandered out from Sorell into the wilderness to perish in 1847. (11) The marriage of William's paternal grandparents failed in 1838 when his emancipated convict grandfather and namesake, was convicted of larceny a second time and sent to Port Arthur. His paternal grandmother, Jane Brickhill, who was also an emancipated convict as well as an infamous drunkard, soon after returned to prostitution. (12) His father, yet another William Mallett, afterwards spent several months in Queen's Orphanage aged seven while his younger brothers were taken into the employment and protection of the Henty family. Eventually, William's parents found each other and perhaps not unsurprisingly, reinvented themselves at the other end of the state under an assumed name. (13)
Mary's own immediate ancestry was as equally unsettled. Her father, another former convict named Cornelius Colgan, had left behind a wife, Ann, and a small family in County Down. (14) When Cornelius married again under the seven-year rule, it was to the 14-year-old (and pregnant) daughter of two bounty immigrants from County Kilkenny, Bridget Doyle. (15) Perhaps understandably this marriage also failed and likewise Mary's mother Bridget undertook a long term defacto relationship producing several more illegitimate children. (16) Mary's grandfather, Michael Doyle, mentally declined after his wife's death to breast cancer in 1882 at Forth, eventually dying three days after slitting his own throat as a resident of the Launceston Invalid Depot in 1886. (17) None of these events were unusual for the time but the multiple layers of trauma must have had some influence on both William and Mary Mallett, and in some instances perhaps, directly on the outcome of their marriage.
It is possible that both William and Mary may have even inherited some degree of 'intergenerational trauma'. The field of epigenetics suggests that while trauma doesn't change our essential DNA, it may influence the manner in which that information is expressed. In that way it may act like a note in a margin of a book, guiding which genes are activated. Intergenerational trauma can manifest itself not only physically but emotionally contributing to mental health and also interpersonal issues. (18) It is perhaps significant to note that William and Mary's sole child together, William Thomas Mallett (1884-1956), experienced an unhappy marriage and eventually separated from his wife in the 1930s. (19) This was however forty years before the achievement of no-fault divorce in Australia and neither party remarried. (20)
In summary, there was a mechanism in colonial Australia that facilitated remarriage without the requirement for divorce. This was arguably a convenient device that allowed authorities to curb the level of long term defacto relationships apparent in the community. Furthermore, marriages in this period likely failed for many of the same reasons they do today. The capricious realities of an age preceding the implementation of the welfare state would have likely exacerbated the challenges and conflicts that naturally emerge in intimate relationships. There is also an emerging understanding that intergenerational trauma can impact emotional health outcomes; as both William and Mary shared a genealogy of dysfunctional marriages, it's possible that given suitable adverse circumstances, this factor may have contributed to the specific failure of their own marriage.
I am still left with one lingering question though: what happened to William? William appears to have settled near his father and stepmother in the Bullarto region. There is a listing for a 'Mr. W. Mallett' competing in the wood chopping event of the local annual sports carnival in 1895. (21) There is another indication that William was still alive as late as 1902 as he listed as being 39 years of age on his father's death registration. (22) It's possible he may have even reverted to his birth name, 'William James Woollcott', (23) but so far he can't be found under that name either. It appears he not only 'walked' but he also seemingly walked so far and faintly that there's virtually no trace left of him at all!
- Dr. Colin Woollcott Mallett, 8 December 2023.
Endnotes
(1) David Kent & Norma Townsend, 'Some Aspects of Colonial Marriage: A Case Study of Swing Protestors', Labour History, 1998, 74:40-53, p 42, https://www.jstor.org/stable/27516552 accessed 21 October 2023.
(2) James Boyce, Van Diemen's Land, Black Inc., Melbourne, 2009, pp 128-130.
(3) Marriage registration of Patrick and Mary Dunn, married 6 December 1898, Tasmanian Archives: Register General's Department, Registers of Marriage RGD37/1/60 904, https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/925325, accessed 5 December 2023.
(4) Mary bore seven more children to Edward James McGuire and three to her seond legal husband Patrick Dunn. For details see: Death registration of Mary Dunn, 2 September 1954, Victorian Archives: Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Melbourne District, 10123/1954.
(5) Hope Gillette, 'The Top 12 Reasons for Divorce', Psychcentral website, 25 October 2022, https://psychcentral.com/relationships/top-reasons-for-divorce#A-closer-look-at-the-reasons-for-divorce, accessed 5 December 2023.
(6) The birth date of their first and only child together implies that Mary was pregnant within two months of their wedding. We can probably safely infer then that cohabitation, let alone sexual relations were both initiated post-marriatge. See: Birth registration of William Thomas Mallett, born 29 July 1884, Victorian Archives: Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Heywood District, 17498/1884.
(7) Marriage registration of William and Mary Mallett, married 24 September 1883, Tasmanian Archives: Register General's Department, Registers of Marriage RGD37/1/42 1069, https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/898748, accessed 5 December 2023. At the time of their marriage William and Mary were aged 21 and 20.
(8) Education Services Australia, 'Australia in the 1880s', My Place for Teachers website, n.d., https://myplace.edu.au/decades_timeline/decade/1880, accessed 6 December 2023.
(9) 'Portland Local Land Board', Portland Guardian, 18 July 1884, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63343125, accessed 5 December 2023. The grant was to have been in the parish of Annya and was refused by the Portland Local Land Board.
(10) 'Assault - Grady v. Curtis', Colonial Times, 15 February 1855, p 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8779190, accessed on 5 December 2023. Sarah had married Robert Curtis in 1852 and they had two children together. See: Marriage registration of Robert Curtis and Sarah Bliss Johnson, Tasmanian Archives: Register General's Department, Register of Marriages, RGD37/1/11 204, https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/842209, accessed 5 December 2023.
(11) Joseph Bliss married Elizabeth Berry in 1826 and they had three children together. By 1839 she was having children to another ex-convict, Michael Grady. Refer to: Marriage registration of Joseph Bliss and Elizabeth Berry, married 9 January 1826, Tasmanian Archives: Register General's Department, Register of Marriages, RGD36/1/1 961, https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/817943, accessed 5 December 2023 & Baptism of Betsy Grady, 14 August 1842, Tasmanian Archives, Parish Registers, County of Buckingham, 1329/489, https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/1088665, accessed 5 December 2023 and three more over the next several years. Joseph's mental health seems to have declined around this time and he was incarcerated for a time in the New Norfolk Lunatic Asylum in 1846 suffering from 'chronic disease of the brain' despite not yet being fifty: Accounts and Papers Vol. XI: Convict Discipline, Great Britain, Parliament, House of Lords, Oxford University, 1849, https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Accounts_and_Papers/ahBcAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0, accessed 5 December 2023. Joseph went missing in 1847 and human remains were found in the bush at Carlton, near Sorell, 15 years later. They were suspected to have belonged to him. See: 'Country Intelligence', Advertiser, 14 January 1862, p 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article264620476, accessed 5 December 2023.
(12) Colin Woollcott Mallett, 'A Convict Cold Case: William Mallett (1797-1852)', The Write Side of History blog, 12 October 2023, https://thewrite5ideofhistory.blogspot.com/2023/10/a-convict-cold-case-william-mallett.html, accessed 5 December 2023.
(13) Colin Woollcott Mallett, 'The Boy Who Lived: William Mallett (1830-1902)', The Write Side of History blog, 9 November 2023, https://thewrite5ideofhistory.blogspot.com/2023/11/the-boy-who-lived-william-mallett-1830.html, accessed 5 December 2023. William's parents, William Mallett and Sarah Bliss Johnson lived in the Circular Head area as 'William and Ada Sarah Woollcott'. Part of the reason may have been because her legal husband Robert Curtis refused to "vanish".
(14) Convict indent of Cornelius Colgan, Tasmanian Archives: Convict Department; Indents of Male Convicts, CON14/1/40, pp 120-121, https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON14-1-40$init=CON14-1-40P119, accessed 5 December 2023. Details of his first family are provided across two digitised pages.
(15) Bridget was married at Northdown, Port Sorell in her parents' home and her age was given as 14; while Cornelius was listed as an 'Adult', he was actually around 40 years of age. See: Marriage registration of Cornelius Colgan and Bridget Doyle, married 29 June 1862, Tasmanian Archives: Register General's Department, Register of Marriages, RGD37/1/21 587, https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/867053, accessed 5 December 2023. Bridget's true age is calculated from that given on her family's immigration record (6 years old in 1854). See: Immigration record of Michael and Mary Doyle and family, Tasmanian Archives: Descriptive List of Immigrants, CB7/12/1/1, https://stors.tas.gov.au/CB7-12-1-1P84J2K, accessed 5 December 2023. Their first son Michael Colgan was born less than four months after the marriage. See: Birth registration of Michael Colgan, born 23 September 1862, Tasmanian Archives: Register General's Department, Register of Births, RGD33/1/40 1417, https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/1013667, accessed 5 December 2023.
(16) Bridget and James Jeremiah O'Keefe had several children together, begining with Helen Ann Lousie O'Keefe. See: Birth registration of Helen Ann Louisa O'Keefe, born 6 June 1880, Tasmanian Archives: Register General's Department, Register of Births, RGD33/1/58 2549, https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/1034375 accessed on 5 December 2023.
(17) Refer to: Death registration of Mary Doyle, died 9 September 1882, Tasmanian Archives: Register General's Department, Register of Deaths, RGD35/1/10, 1246, https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/1230836, accessed 5 December 2023; Death registration of Michael Doyle, 22 March 1886, Tasmanian Archives: Register General's Department, Register of Deaths, RGD35/1/55, 132, https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/1169232, accessed 5 December 2023.
(18) Sara Johnson, 'Understanding epigenetics: how trauma is passed on through our family members', Arkansas Advocate website, 5 July 2023, https://arkansasadvocate.com/2023/07/05/understanding-epigenetics-how-trauma-is-passed-on-through-our-family-members/#:~:text=Modern%20research%20suggests%20the%20trauma,and%20the%20effects%20of%20trauma, accessed 5 December 2023.
(19) William T. Mallett married Eleanor Bedelia Ann Parry at Lottah, Tasmania. See: Marriage of William and Bedelia Mallett, 24 June 1908, Tasmanian Archives: Register General's Department, Registers of Marriage 22/1126 1908. While initially listing one household, the Tasmanian Post Office records lists two residences for 'W. T. Mallett' at Lottah between 1923 and 1937. Afterwards his wife is listed as aliving in Launceston. Refer to: H. Wise and Co., The Tasmanian Post Office Director, Kelly and Co., London, 1891-1948, https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/Library/SD_ILS-981598, accessed 5 December 2023.
(20) While in 1959 the federal Matrimonial Causes Bill defined 14 grounds for divorce, it wasn't until the Family Law Act 1975 that 'no fault divorce' was introduced in Australia. Farz Edraki & Keri Phillips, 'How Australia introduced no fault divorce - and why our family law system is under review again', ABC News website, 11 February 2020, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-11/history-no-fault-divorce-and-family-law-in-australia/11931556, accessed 5 December 2023.
(21) 'Bullarto Sports', Kyneton Observer, 21 March 1895, p 4, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article240956760, accessed 5 December 2023. It's most likely the younger William, considering the event was wood chopping and and given the relative ages of father and son.
(22) Victorian Archives: Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Bullarto District, 12891/1902. The current ages of WJM and his sisters are all listed otherwise they would be recorded as 'deceased'.
(23) Birth registration of William James Woollcott, born 9 June 1862, Tasmanian Archives: Register General's Department, Registers of Births, RGD33/1/40 760, https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/1013013, accessed 5 December 2023.
Bibliography
Primary Sources:
Accounts and Papers Vol. XI: Convict Discipline, Great Britain, Parliament, House of Lords, Oxford University, 1849, https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Accounts_and_Papers/ahBcAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0
Advertiser (Hobart, 1861-1865)
Colonial Times (Hobart, 1861-1865)
H. Wise and Co., Tasmanian Post Office Directory, Kelly & Co., London, 1891-1947.
Kyneton Observer (Victoria, 1856-1900)
Portland Guardian (Victoria, 1876-1953)
Tasmanian Archives: Convict Department, Indents of Male Convicts, CON14/1/40
Tasmanian Archives: Descriptive List of Immigrants, CB7/12/1/1
Tasmanian Archives: Parish Registers, County of Buckingam
Tasmanian Archives: Register General's Department, Registers of Births
Tasmanian Archives: Register General's Department, Registers of Deaths
Tasmanian Archives: Register General's Department, Registers of Marriage
Victorian Archives: Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages
Secondary Sources:
Boyce, James, Van Diemen's Land, Black Inc., Melbourne, 2009.
Kent, David & Townsend, Norma, 'Some Aspects of Colonial Marriage: A Case Study of Swing Protestors, Labour History, 1998, 74:40-53.
Online Sources:
Edraki, Farz & Phillips, Keri, 'How Australia introduced no fault divorce - and why our family law system is under review again', ABC News website, 11 February 2020, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-11/history-no-fault-divorce-and-family-law-in-australia/11931556.
Education Services Australia, 'Australia in the 1880s', My Place for Teachers website, n.d., https://myplace.edu.au/decades_timeline/decade/1880
Johnson, Sara, 'Understanding epigenetics: how trauma is passed on through our family members', Arkansas Advocate website, 5 July 2023, https://arkansasadvocate.com/2023/07/05/understanding-epigenetics-how-trauma-is-passed-on-through-our-family-members/#:~:text=Modern%20research%20suggests%20the%20trauma,and%20the%20effects%20of%20trauma.
Mallett, Colin Woollcott, 'A Convict Cold Case: William Mallett (1797-1852)', The Write Side of History blog, 12 October 2023, https://thewrite5ideofhistory.blogspot.com/2023/10/a-convict-cold-case-william-mallett.html.
Mallett, Colin Woollcott, 'The Boy Who Lived: William Mallett (1830-1902)', The Write Side of History blog, 9 November 2023, https://thewrite5ideofhistory.blogspot.com/2023/11/the-boy-who-lived-william-mallett-1830.html.
