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A Wedding at Holy Trinity, Port Melbourne in 1914.

On a warm summer’s day, Sarah’s skin was sweaty and sticky. She skipped through the porch into Holy Trinity. The sunlight streamed in through the windows creating rays of soft halos. Down the aisle past the timbered seats, she sailed.
The brick church is quite elegant with timbered ceiling and etched glass windows, she thought. I’m so glad it’s this one. That iron church with a brick façade was so stark. When we lived two blocks away. That freak storm about six years ago shivered me to the bone. No wonder the damage meant it had to be rebuilt.   
In the sanctuary, she stood by Walter’s side.
Everything seemed to be rushed, she thought. No time to have a traditional wedding dress. Sunday best will have to do.
Her heart beat loudly like a whirlwind. She melted when she looked into his big blue eyes. He smiled and held her hand in his.
‘I love you’, she whispered to Walter.
He nodded and squeezed her hand tightly.
Her parents, Alicia and Richard, looked on sternly. They witnessed them.
It was hard enough telling mum, she recalled. But dad! Lucky, mum did. It was the same for them. I might never have known.
The new Vicar at the Port Melbourne parish, Reverend William McKie celebrated their union.
Besides them, the church was empty.
Then the churning around in her insides started up again.
Damn morning sickness, she thought. I wonder if I will have a girl or a boy.
Holy Trinity, Port Melbourne. Today, only the facade and a
replicate of the tower remain surrounded by modern buildings.




Jennifer Empey
Photographs by Jennifer Empey

Notes
‘A Wrecked Church’, The Standard, 26 September 1908, p. 2, Accessed 9 August 2018.
‘Among the Churches’, The Standard, 7 February 1914, p. 2, Accessed 9 August 2018.
Birth Certificate of Adelaide Catherine Alicia Lindley, born 24 September 1914, Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages Victoria, 25068/1914.
Birth Index of William James, Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages Victoria, 16501/1892.
‘Church Damaged at Port Melbourne’, The Age, 26 September 1908, p. 12, Accessed 9 August 2018.
Holy Trinity Anglican Church Port Melbourne, ‘History: 1854-2014: 160th Anniversary’, Accessed 9 August 2018.
‘Inquests’, Victoria Police Gazette, 4 September 1908, p. 4; Marriage Certificate of Walter Lindley and Sarah Catherine Lovett, married 16 February 1914, Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages Victoria, 491/1914.
Marriage Index of Richard Lovett and Alicia Cairns, Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages Victoria, 3655/1892.
‘Mr. McKie’s Welcome’, The Standard, 14 February 1914, p. 2, Accessed 9 August 2018.
Service Record of Walter Lindley, 3188, p. 3, B2455, National Archives of Australia, NAA.
Service Record of William Lovett, 84, p. 3, B2455, National Archives of Australia, NAA.
State Library Victoria, SLV, ‘Diamond Jubilee: Holy Trinity Church Port Melbourne’, 1915, Accessed 9 August 2018.
State Library Victoria, SLV, ‘Holy Trinity Church, Port Melbourne’, 1909-1913, Accessed 9 August 2018.
‘Wind and Rain’, The Argus, 26 September 1908l, p. 20, Accessed 9 August 2018.

Bibliography
HolyTrinity Anglican Church Port Melbourne, ‘History: 1854-2014: 160th Anniversary’, Accessed 9 August 2018.
Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages Victoria
Service Record of Walter Lindley, 3188, B2455, National Archives of Australia, NAA.
Service Record of William Lovett, 84, B2455, National Archives of Australia, NAA.
State Library Victoria, SLV, ‘Diamond Jubilee: Holy Trinity Church Port Melbourne’, 1915, Accessed 9 August 2018.
State Library Victoria, SLV, ‘Holy Trinity Church, Port Melbourne’, 1909-1913, Accessed 9 August 2018.
The Age
The Argus
The Standard
Victoria Police Gazette
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