agriculture, history of agriculture, victoria, victoria department of agriculture

A file previously held in the collection of the Supreme Court of Victoria and now in Public Record Office Victoria contains records of the annulment of the marriage of Florence Cox in 1919. As the earliest known record of a person with intersex variations in Victorian history, Cox’s story – and this record – are of unique historical significance to the LGBTIQ+ history of the State. Florence Cox (1887–1950) had a middle-class upbringing in Melbourne. In 1914 she travelled to Bengal to marry her fiancé Frank Paice and to join him in his missionary work for the Baptist church. The couple returned to Melbourne in 1918 and the following year the Supreme Court of Victoria, at Paice’s request, annulled their marriage. The Supreme Court file reveals that Paice declared he had been unable to consummate the marriage, due to ‘a malformation frigidity or other defect of the parts of generation’ of his wife. Both Paice and Cox were subject to medical examination, which established that Cox had what is recognised today as the intersex condition complete androgen insensitivity syndrome. The court determined that marital intercourse, as it was understood at the time, was impossible for Paice and Cox, and granted the request for an annulment. Paice remarried, fathered children and led a successful professional and civic life, serving a period as Mayor of Nunawading, in the middle- class eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Cox’s life was very different. It is unlikely that anyone in her life would have known what had prompted the end of the marriage, but gossip would certainly have focussed on her part in it. She never remarried and, although she remained connected to her family, her story was rarely discussed. Cox was admitted to Mont Park Mental Hospital in Melbourne’s northern suburbs in 1945, where she died five years later. The Supreme Court file preserves one of the most detailed medical descriptions of a person with intersex variations from that period. It is particularly striking that following the court case, the file was closed ‘forever’. This indicates how seriously the court took the case, and its determination to protect Cox and Paice from public scrutiny. It speaks loudly to the thinking of the time on a matter that was rarely, if ever, raised in public. In 1997, Cox’s great-nephew Ian Richardson set out to investigate the secrecy surrounding his great-aunt Florrie. Following a relentless, two-year campaign by Richardson and other descendants of Cox and Paice, the Supreme Court file was finally opened to the public. Richardson’s book, God’s Triangle, recounts his quest and brings Cox’s story out of the archives and into the light. Quoted from "A History of LGBTIQ+ Victoria in 100 Places and Objects" by Graham Willett, Angela Bailey, Timothy W. Jones and Sarah Rood.

David Gordon Collection. Full title: Addresses To HRH The Duke of Cornwall & York, His Excellency the Governor General, The Earl of Hopetoun, From the Municipalities of Victoria Address from Borough of Tarnagulla on bookmarked page.

David Gordon Collection. For the Quarter ended 30th June 1886

David Gordon Collection.

David Gordon Collection.

David Gordon Collection.

David Gordon Collection.

David Gordon Collection.

David Gordon Collection.

David Gordon Collection.

David Gordon Collection.

David Gordon Collection.

David Gordon Collection. Compiled by David Gordon. Black binder containing copies of documents and information about mining activities in Victoria (19th C to early 20th). Includes reports and copies of public notices for mining lease applications.

David Gordon Collection. David Gordon arranged for making of copies from the original and compiled this folder. Black plastic A3 display folder containing copy prints (colour photocopies) of the individual portraits of Tarnagulla Pioneers from the large framed collage hanging in the Victoria Theatre.

David Gordon Collection. Four receipts produced by R. Gray a grocer in Llanelly, Victoria. All made out to Mrs. Williams and date from 1955-56.

David Gordon Collection. A set of mining documents, maps and plans: 1. Dunolly Deep Leads - showing location and names of deep lead gold deposits in region around Dunolly including at Tarnagulla and Newbridge. Geological Survey of Victoria, Department of Minerals and Energy. Bulletin No. 62, Map No. 4 Dunolly (770 x 485 mm). 2. Poseidon Lead (Facsimile) 3. Nick O Time Lead (Facsimile) 4. Happy Go Lucky Mine prospectus and plan (colour copy) 5. Jones Creek GM Co. (Raven & Gourlay's) Waanyarra - Prospectus (colour copy) 6. Poseidon Area Plan (colour copy) and Poseidon Area map (B&W copy). 7. Cross-section diagram of Spread Eagle Reef 8. New Birthday Gold Mine - area map (colour copy) and mine cross-section ( (colour copy). 9. Cross section of Poverty Reef, by Department of Mines (B&W copy, 2 parts on A2 paper) 10. Time-Lease Graph for Watts Reef, Specimen Reef, Stony Reef, Poverty Reef (second page in detail), created by Eric WIlkinson for Ref Mining NL, 1995 11. 1859 Plan of the Gold Workings & Township of Sandy Creek, Shewing the Mining Leases, Extended Claims & Machinery by R.J. McMillan, Mining Surveyor (B&W copy) 12. Longitundinal and Transverse Vertical Sections of Poverty Reef, Sandy Creek 1859, by R.J. McMillan, Mining Surveyor (B&W copy) 13. Tarnagulla Locality Plan (B&W copy) 14. Universal Grid Reference Map (Topographic) for Laanecoorie North (2 copies) 15. Universal Grid Reference Map (Topographic) for Inglewood South 16. Poverty Reef, Plan showing shafts and early tenements, created by Eric WIlkinson for Ref Mining NL, 1995 17. Locality Map of mining leases in Tarnagulla 18. Plan and Elevation of part of Poverty Reef, Sandy Creek, showing the claims and positions of the shaft. by R.J. McMillan, Mining Surveyor (Facsimile, composed of taped together components) 19.Plan and Elevation of part of Poverty Reef, Sandy Creek, showing the claims and positions of the shaft. by R.J. McMillan, Mining Surveyor (Facsimile, composed of taped together components)

David Gordon Collection.A microfilm reel of Tarnagulla Courier (2nd Jan to 5th June 1869) and Tarnagulla & Llanelly Courier (12th June 1869 to 18.12.1869). Copied from State Library of Victoria holdings - arranged and funded by donor.