Summary

Card from Sylvia Boyes to Lindsay Motherwell in its envelope. It is undated but references her birthday so musthave been written in July 1969. Sylvia thanks him for the birthday present, talks about how she celebrated with her friends, how much she misses him, mentions she has sent her passport off, and asks for a wig for Christmas. She also included in the envelope a magazine cut-out of a woman for hairdressing reference, a pressed flower and a slip of paper which was a drawing to Sylvia from Betty that she has sent on to Lindsay. Lindsay had sailed ahead to London, with Sylvia to follow by plane so that they could get married.

Sylvia Boyes (a South African-born orphan) and Lindsay Motherwell (a Melbourne-born drummer) met in Cape Town, South Africa in 1967 through their theatre connections. They fell in love but due to apartheid laws were forced to leave South Africa to marry in London. They subsequently relocated permanently to Melbourne in 1970.

Physical Description

Card, envelope, magazine cut-out of a woman for hairdressing reference, a pressed flower and a slip of paper with a drawing.

Significance

Statement of Historical Significance:
This collection provides a significant opportunity to represent political and personal freedom as a motivation for migrating to Australia within the international context of both apartheid in South Africa and the end of the White Australia policy in Australia. The personal narrative is well documented and the objects provide a material way to follow the lives of both Lindsay and Sylvia, both separately and where they coincide in South Africa and onwards together to Melbourne. While this is ultimately a love story, it plays out through the collection against the backdrop of apartheid South Africa, sixties London and an increasingly multicultural Australia.

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