Summary

Digital image of Bertha Whibley wearing HT 53820 and Francis Eckermann on their wedding day in Essendon,1935.

The dress was made by one or more of her sisters for the occasion - an important example of a home-made garment from an economically-struggling family. Bertha was born in 1908 in Kyneton, Victoria. She was the youngest of 10 children from a very poor family. Bertha left school at the age of 14, and worked for 13 years in shoe factories, including Raymond's shoe factory (G.N. Raymond, Easy St, Collingwood), where she meet Anita Eckermann, sister to her future husband Francis George Eckermann, of German ancestry. Francis was a mechanic and a heavy vehicle transport interstate driver. He had also worked as a horseback drover, bringing cattle into Melbourne. Bertha and Francis met in 1933 and were married on 15 June 1935 in a Methodist minister's house in Moonee Ponds/Essendon/Ascot Vale.

They settled in Essendon and soon started a family, welcoming two sons and a daughter (who tragically died as an infant). In 1946 they moved to a run-down poultry farm in Forest Hill they bought with the help of other family members, processing chickens and selling eggs. The farm was sold in 1970 for subdivision. Francis died in 1982; Bertha died in 2002.

Description of Content

Young couple standing together in front of unidentified background. Male is wearing a dark coloured suit. Female is wearing a light coloured twin ensemble with top sitting over long skirt that sits at calf lenth. Female has large corsage on her top and is wearing a hat.

Physical Description

Original: black & white photographic print. It appears to have been torn out of a photo album.

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