The Wedding Man

The Wal Richards Archive

St Mary’s Church, Inglewood-Rheola Road, Kingower

On his trusty bike, with his camera, the young Wal Richards began turning up to weddings in and around Maryborough in Central Victoria in the 1950s. It was a different time, perhaps more tolerant of outsiders, so his presence was seen as almost a part of the big day. What his family didn’t know was that Wal was collecting all his photos in boxes, which, when he died in the 1990s, they opened to reveal a unique collection: a “time capsule” of history and the changing styles of weddings across almost 50 years in country Victoria. The unique Wal Richards archive collection photographs was first displayed at Central Goldfields Art Museum in 2018 in an all-time successful exhibition, and now brought to Loddon for the first time. Now preserved in the collection of the Maryborough-Midlands Historical Society, these photos are a poignant and fascinating window into times past, the emotions and celebrations of young couples setting out with hope in their hearts on a life together.

EVENT: Little Photographs, an intimate concert with Archer Shepherd

St Mary’s Church Community Hall, Kingower, Sunday Oct 4, 11am-12noon