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Goldfields Stories: The cycling wedding photographer
Wal Richards loved weddings. Given a box brownie camera as a young man in 1946, he started cycling on his blue and white bike to weddings in Maryborough and surrounding towns. Uninvited, he would position himself up close to the action and record events in his candid and unorthodox style.
Wal’s physical and mental disabilities meant that he was an easy person to underestimate and many people assumed that he didn’t have film in his camera. But in 1996, when Wal passed away, his family found more than 20,000 unsorted wedding photographs stored in shoe boxes in his house.
The collection was donated to the Maryborough-Midlands Historical Society. In 1998 the Central Goldfields Regional Art Gallery held an exhibition of Wal’s work. His striking photos and remarkable story generated broad interest and was written up in Time Magazine.
Whilst only a small portion of the weddings in Wal’s photographs have been identified so far, the collection is a remarkable and unusual social history of Maryborough spanning almost half a century.
The collection is housed at the Maryborough-Midlands Historical Society, which is located in the Worsley Cottage Complex.
Film - Malcolm McKinnon, 'Wal's Wedding Pictures', 2011, Maryborough-Midlands Historical Society
Courtesy of Malcolm McKinnon and Maryborough-Midlands Historical Society
Film - Malcolm McKinnon, 'Wal's Wedding Pictures', 2011, Maryborough-Midlands Historical Society
Betty Osborn: Wal Richards was an unusual man.
He could not read or write. But he was desperately interested in weddings. And so, over the years, he would get on his bike, take his box Brownie, and later a newer camera, and pedal around to every wedding practically, that was on in Maryborough, and maybe Avoca or Dunolly.
Wal was a very unorthodox photographer. He could take you getting out of the car, getting into the car, signing the register, standing before the priest at the altar. He didn't know any bounds really, and so people got used to Wal, and most people didn't object to him taking photographs at their weddings.
Lorna Eyers: I was Lorna Morse and I got married on 11 August 1962, down at the Church of England. And Wal came to our wedding and took the photos. We didn't think they'd come out because he used to shake, and... sometimes we wondered if he had film in the camera. But he did.
Bill Dial, my father's friend, was supposed to come to the wedding, and he ended up in the hospital. So after we got married, we went up to see him, and Wal followed us and took our photo.
He used to be everywhere. Even get in the car, you know, when we were going to drive off, he'd get in the front seat and take our photo.
Margaret Severino: Ray and I were married in St Augustine's Church, Maryborough, on 14 June 1969 at 2:30. We didn't know when Wal would come, but the photographers were always very lenient, and if they gave him a chance to take some photos, he wouldn't get in their way anymore.
Ray Severino: We got so used to it, seeing him at every wedding, that you didn't take too much notice of what he was doing.
When Wal would take a photo, you wouldn't pose for it. You wouldn't know when he was going to pop up and snap. You might even be talking or you might be doing something else. You were very relaxed.
Margaret: Well, he used to 'mile, mile'. He couldn't say 'smile'. It was 'mile'.
Ray: (Chuckles) He was part of the scenery actually. Well and truly part of the scenery.
[music]
♪ Ooh, he's been taking photographs
♪ 50 years of wedding days in this small country town
♪ Ooh, he's been taking photographs
♪ A treasured history of other people's special day.
Betty: This is a most unusual gift that Wal has left us. How many people would go around for 50 years photographing everyone's wedding?
Why he did it, we're not sure, but he was mesmerised by the beauty, I think, of the brides themselves. But he's left a wonderful legacy for us.
[music]
♪ Wal Richards
♪ He had something going on
♪ A private collection bizarre and beautiful
♪ Kept secret from all the locals
♪ Maybe no one was interested at all
♪ Ooh, he's been taking photographs...
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Courtesy of Malcolm McKinnon and Maryborough-Midlands Historical Society
In this video Maryborough residents recollect Wal Richard’s ubiquitous presence at local weddings and reflect on the value of his legacy.
For almost fifty years, Wal Richards was a compulsive photographer of weddings in Maryborough and the surrounding district. People accepted Wal as an unusual but likeable character, although many thought that his photographs were merely a fantasy. In fact, he took over 20,000 images providing us with a remarkable social history collection.
Photograph - Wal Richards, 'Unknown Bride', Maryborough-Midlands Historical Society
Courtesy of Maryborough-Midlands Historical Society
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Courtesy of Maryborough-Midlands Historical Society
Photograph - Wal Richards, 'Double Exposed Bride', Maryborough-Midlands Historical Society
Courtesy of Maryborough-Midlands Historical Society
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Two examples of Wal Richard’s double exposure photographs.
Photograph - Wal Richards, 'Double Exposed Bride and Groom', Maryborough-Midlands Historical Society
Courtesy of Maryborough-Midlands Historical Society
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Photograph - Wal Richards, 'Bride and Groom with the Photographer’s Shadow', Maryborough-Midlands Historical Society
Courtesy of Maryborough-Midlands Historical Society
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In this photograph, one of over 20,000 images of weddings in the Maryborough district, we can see the shadow of Wal Richards in the act of taking the photograph.
Photograph - Wal Richards, 'Unknown Bride and Groom', Maryborough-Midlands Historical Society
Courtesy of Maryborough-Midlands Historical Society
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Photograph - Wal Richards, 'Lorna Eyers in Wedding Dress', 1962, Maryborough-Midlands Historical Society
Courtesy of Maryborough-Midlands Historical Society
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Photograph - Wal Richards, 'Margaret Severino in Her Wedding Dress', 1969, Maryborough Midlands Historical Society
Courtesy of Maryborough Midlands Historical Society
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Photograph - Wal Richards, 'Unknown Bridesmaids', Maryborough Midlands Historical Society
Courtesy of Maryborough Midlands Historical Society
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Victorian Collections acknowledges the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
peoples as the first inhabitants of the nation and the traditional custodians of the lands
where we live, learn and work.
