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Dec. 7th, 2015 06:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
emma_in_dreamhttp://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/postcolonial-blog/2015/dec/04/marriage-equality-in-australia-is-a-final-step-in-a-long-march-from-1788
I found this article about the control of marriage in Australia interesting. My ancestor, John Nichols, ‘married’ two women in Australia (in addition to the wife he left behind when he was transported to Australia).* I imagine that neither of his Australian wives had a great deal of say in the matter as they landed before the ‘Female Factory’ was built. This meant that convict women could be selected for marriage or household service by any free men and there other option was to sleep rough, available to every man in the colony. Unless you were selected by a complete psychopath, I imagine that being the property of one man alone would be a much better deal.
Note: He selected one and she was sent off to Norfolk Island for bad behaviour. He then selected another and they had like eleven children and populated half of Victoria. It wasn’t much of a punishment to send people to the other side of the world and then to give them massive swathes of land stolen from the native population.
I always think of this when I read *The Moon is a Harsh Mistress*. I love that Heinlein tried to present a society with completely different marriage structures, but as an Australian I find it implausible. There was a place on Earth where there was a massive shortage of women as those sent there were convicts. Oddly, this did not lead to a female-centered marriage pattern but to men doubling down on privilege and those at the top of the structure grabbing the few available women.
I found this article about the control of marriage in Australia interesting. My ancestor, John Nichols, ‘married’ two women in Australia (in addition to the wife he left behind when he was transported to Australia).* I imagine that neither of his Australian wives had a great deal of say in the matter as they landed before the ‘Female Factory’ was built. This meant that convict women could be selected for marriage or household service by any free men and there other option was to sleep rough, available to every man in the colony. Unless you were selected by a complete psychopath, I imagine that being the property of one man alone would be a much better deal.
Note: He selected one and she was sent off to Norfolk Island for bad behaviour. He then selected another and they had like eleven children and populated half of Victoria. It wasn’t much of a punishment to send people to the other side of the world and then to give them massive swathes of land stolen from the native population.
I always think of this when I read *The Moon is a Harsh Mistress*. I love that Heinlein tried to present a society with completely different marriage structures, but as an Australian I find it implausible. There was a place on Earth where there was a massive shortage of women as those sent there were convicts. Oddly, this did not lead to a female-centered marriage pattern but to men doubling down on privilege and those at the top of the structure grabbing the few available women.
