When Dorothy Nicholls married Max Samuel on January 25, 1969, a church full of friends and family heard them exchange their vows.
But there was someone else who listened to the congregation on Saturday evening – a sound recordist who recorded their entire wedding service on a vinyl record.
Now, 56 years and 10,000 kilometers later, that record has come around the circle and he has reduced his way to the Samuel family in South Australia.
The daughter of Max and Dorothy, Heidi Samuel, who lives in Tailem Bend, had no idea that her deceased parents had recorded their wedding service until she saw a Facebook message.
The entire wedding service of Max and Dorothy Samuel was admitted to Vinyl. ((Lever: Heidi Samuel))
The post came from a stranger, Barney Tompkins, who lives in southwestern Australia.
Barney had found the vinyl uptake of Max and Dorothy’s weddings in a Vinnies on shop during the holiday in Darwin.
Fascinated by his discovery, Barney took the record back to WA and started his search to find the family of the couple whose vows in vinyl were etched.
“It aroused my interest, because in the day, long before video cameras were available, it must have been a fairly special attempt to have their service recorded for them,”
he said.
Max and Dorothy Samuel on their wedding day in January 1969. ((Lever: Heidi Samuel))
Social Media Connection
Thanks to the power of social media, Barney was able to give the record back to his rightful owner.
A friend shared his original post in Adelaide, then a friend of them shared it, and so on, until it was finally shared on a local resident page and reached Heidi.
When she saw the names of the couple that Barney was looking – Dorothy K. Nicholls and Max S. Samuel – Heidi contacted him and claimed the record on behalf of her deceased parents.
Barney Tompkins used social media to detect relatives of the couple. ((ABC South West: Jacqueline Lynch))
Barney, who has a self -described passion for vinyl sheets, including curiosities such as the wedding recording of the Samuels, admitted Heidi that he had not listened to it.
“It seemed a bit rude for some reason,”
he said.
“I don’t know if it is me alone, but it didn’t seem quite right.”
However, when Heidi gave him her blessing to play the record, he gave it a twist.
“It was just very, very nice to hear the emotion in their voice, the nerves in their voices,” said Barney.
“You can hear the children cry in the municipality.“
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However, getting the vinyl to South Australia was some challenges.
“Sending records during the Australian summer is always a bit risky … but this one is so special, I would hate something that would happen during transport,” said Barney.
Heidi hears the vows of parents
As soon as the weather had cooled, Barney finally sent the record to the east.
Heidi said that the hearing of her parents who say their wedding vows was deeply emotional.
“The nervousness and emotion in the voices of my parents, it was very, very moving,”
she said.
Heidi Samuel listened to the record for the first time this week. ((ABC South West: Jacqueline Lynch))
“Sometimes you see your parents as a different kind of person, not actually as a young person, you know, with nerves and excitement and such.
“Because they were no longer around, it made it even more special.“
Heidi said she was planning to play the recording for her extensive family.
“We will share it with my aunts. Both the sisters of my mother and dad still live, so we will share it with them,” she said.
The wedding record of Max and Dorothy Samuel. ((Lever: Barney Tompkins))
The Darwin ‘Mystery’
The recording of wedding ceremonies on vinyl sheets was the most popular in the sixties and seventies, before the rise of video cameras.
But they were not commonplace, so Barney was excited when he found the vinyl of the Samuels.
However, there remains a mystery about how and why the record ended up in Darwin.
What is known is that the recording was made in the Strathalbyn Lutheran Church, about 55 km southeast of Adelaide, where the Samuels married on Saturday, January 25, 1969 at 6 p.m.
What happened with the record afterwards, and the next 56 years remains a mystery for Heidi.
“How it ended up in Darwin, of all places, I have no idea,”
she said.
“But it is wonderful that it was Barney who thought it was.”
The record is a complete audio recording of the wedding service of 1969. ((ABC South West: Jacqueline Lynch))
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