McDonald, Peter F.2017-05-292017-05-291972b1014215http://hdl.handle.net/1885/117075This thesis is a longitudinal, demographic study of first marriage in Australia. It traces the development of marriage patterns in a society from their beginning. Although the European settlement of Australia commenced in 1788, by 1850, the population had risen to only one quarter of a million. After 1850, with the discovery of gold, the population grew rapidly and the children of the immigrants of the 1850's provided the first, large Australian-born generation. Fortunately, detailed and accurate statistics of population, births, deaths and marriages also extend back to the 1850's.1 venMarriage AustraliaAustralia Population197210.25911/5d723c944474f2017-05-26