On Saturday 14 October 1944, Ethel Merle West married Leslie Roy Hanigan in the Methodist Church at Young with the Rev. B.E. Heawood officiating.
‘The Church had been beautifully decorated in shades of blue and pink, by members of the Methodist Girls Club, of which the bride was a member.
'The bride, who entered the Church on the arm of her father, looked charming in all over silk lace, white over satin.
'She wore the veil her mother wore on her wedding day, and a coronet of real orange blossom, and carried a Chinese silk embroidered handkerchief of almost 100 years old loaned by Mrs T. Peel, also the bridegroom’s mother’s gold watch, and a three row string of pearls loaned by Miss Joan Ross.
'Her bouquet was of white Lily of the Valley and sweet peas.’
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Her bridesmaid was her cousin Private Joyce Ballard (Australian Women’s Army Service) and the best man was William Arthur Hanigan (brother of the bridegroom), both of whom appear with the married couple in this photograph.
Merle, as she was usually known, was born in 1917 to Councillor Thomas Charles West and his wife Ethel May née Tiedemann of ‘Bellevue’, Young.
Leslie Roy Hanigan was the eldest son of Frederick James Hanigan and his wife Anna Elizabeth née Heinrich, formerly of ‘Chelston’, Tubbul.
He was born in 1909.
By the late 1930s, Leslie was running ‘Chelston’ with his brothers and their parents had moved to Edward Street, Young.
Merle had saved ration coupons to buy the material and made the wedding dress herself.
During World War II, rationing was introduced to manage shortages and control civilian consumption.
This was an effort to ensure the equitable distribution of food and clothing.
A cut in consumer spending was also supposed to increase savings, which could in turn be invested in war loans.
Rationing was enforced by the use of coupons and was limited to clothing, tea, sugar, butter, and meat, and from time to time, eggs and milk.
Between 12 June 1942 and 24 June 1948, adults were issued with 112 clothing coupons per year.
After their marriage, the couple lived at ‘Chelston’ and Leslie was listed on the electoral roll as a farmer and grazier while Merle did ‘Home Duties’.
By 1954 they were living in Wombat Street, Young.
They had three children.
Leslie died in 1989 and Merle died in 1994.
Both are buried at Orange.
The Young Historical Museum displays Merle’s wedding dress and the photo shown here.
Karen Schamberger – Young Historical Society
