Summary

Funeral booklet for the funeral service of Sylvia Motherwell, held at Christ Church, St Kilda, 30 May 2012. Sylvia moved to Australia with her Australian husband, Lindsay Motherwell, who she met in her native South Africa. Lindsay died in 2006.

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

Funeral servie booklet, on the cover is a black and white photo of Sylvia on her wedding day, with her dates of birth and death 3rd July 1939 - 26th May 2012, and the date of the funeral itself, 30 May 2012 at 12:30pm. Printed in the booklet is the order of service, and on the back are details of the wake. Included inside is a pamphlet with information about Christ Church St Kilda.

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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