Such Was Life: Wedding Belles

Teenage Clara Saunders was the. First woman to be married in Coolgardie. The event was so unique that hundreds of miners came to witness the occasion and the party lasted for two days. Her story, and a remarkable collection of brides and bridal parties from the 1890s through to WW2 held by the Eastern Goldfields Historical Society, provided the starting point for this look at the fashions and customs of the times. That such elaborate gowns were possible given the isolation, difficult working conditions and expenses involved is a testament to all involved. Given those issues imaginative solutions had to be found and the long bridal trains that feature in so many photographs were, in fact, household curtains that were taken down, used for the ceremony, and then hastily re-hung.