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John and Helen Haynes on their wedding day in 1962. John, a Protesta...

Kaye Ambrose with her father on her wedding day in 1966. She married...

Marrying Out, ABC Radio Series: Siobhan McHugh

Airing on 11 and 18 October @ 2pm
Hindsight, ABC Radio National

Just two generations ago, before multiculturalism became the norm, Australia was polarised between two main groups: Protestants and Catholics. Religion was code for identity, with tensions fuelled by historical grievances. ‘Catholic’ meant Irish, and to an English Protestant Establishment, that meant trouble.

Until the 1960s, some job vacancy advertisements read ‘Catholics Need Not Apply’. Irish Catholics were an underclass – Australia’s first ethnic minority. When a Catholic married a Protestant, conflict and family fatwas often ensued. Catholics are no longer the underdogs in Australia, but bigotry and prejudice remain, directed against a new ‘other’.

Siobhan McHugh, award-winning writer and recalcitrant Irish Catholic, has spent three years gathering compelling personal stories of mixed marriage from the 1920s to the 1960s. With original music by Tom Fitzgerald, this moving series illuminates a neglected and crucial aspect of recent Australian history. Siobhan is a lecture in Journalism at the University of Wollongong.

PODCAST and TRANSCRIPT available on www.abc.net.au/rn/hindsight

PART 1 – NOT IN FRONT OF THE ALTAR - 11 OCTOBER 2pm

In the sectarian atmosphere of pre-multicultural Australia, to marry across the Protestant/Catholic divide was to consort with the enemy for many families. Mixed marriage couples describe how they bridged the gap, despite conflict with family and church authorities.

PART 2 – BETWEEN TWO WORLDS – 18 OCTOBER 2pm

Children who grew up in a mixed marriage recall a hybrid world of divided loyalties.

Read Siobhan McHugh’s History Australia article about mixed marriage at http://publications.epress.monash.edu/toc/ha/6/2