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Esther Louisa (Gardiner) Cunningham Divorce in Detail

WIFE'S ULTIMATUM
"GO FOR YOUR LIFE"
PREFERRED SINGLE LIFE AGAIN

Tell Ted he can go for his life and get a divorce if he wants to, but, so far as I am concerned, I'm finished with him, declared Esther Louisa Cunningham when representations were made to her to return to her husband, Edward Joseph Cunningham, whom she deserted some three years ago.
Cunningham, a tall, middle-aged man, employed in the Commonwealth Lighthouse Department, told the Chief Justice, Sir Robert McMillan, this morning, when petitioning for a divorce, that he had never been able to understand his wife's attitude. He had his suspicions, of course, but could offer no reason why she left him. He said they were married at Perth in 1902, and lived very happily together at the various lighthouses where he was stationed, notably at Point Moore, Geraldton, and Breaksea Island. They lived at the last-mentioned lighthouse for 11 years, and had two children, a girl born in 1903 and since married, and a boy born in 1907. When war broke out Cunningham said he enlisted, and his wife and children resided with her parents at Leederville. She was well provided for, and they corresponded regularly with one another. When he returned to Perth in 1919, however, he discovered that his wife had left her parents home, and was working as a cook at a timber mill, somewhere in the country. Her people refused to tell him where she was, and a letter which she left behind said that he could take the children, as having lived on her own for three years she found that Single Life Suited Her. Cunningham said he placed the boy in a boarding school and took his daughter with him to Point1 Charles Lighthouse, in the Northern Territory. They returned on holiday leave in 1922. His daughter married, and he managed to secure an interview with his wife, but she still refused to return to him, and so he went North again, this time to Cape Don Lighthouse. He returned to Perth again on holiday in December last, and endeavored to get his wife to change her mind. His brother saw her, and she gave him a letter, in which she wrote that she was perfectly content to "Paddle her Own Canoe," and had not the slightest intention of ever returning to him. In reply to his Honor, Cunningham saw that he had experienced no trouble whatever with his wife, and prior to him going away to the war they always lived on the most happy terms. He knew of no reason why she should have decided to cut adrift, but, of course, had his suspicions. Frederick Cunningham, a Government employee and brother of petitioner, gave evidence that when he interviewed Mrs. Cunningham on February 12 last, in an endeavor to bring the couple together again, she replied: "Tell Ted he can go for his life and get a divorce if he wants to, but, so far as I am concerned, I'm Finished with Him." In granting a decree nisi, returnable in six months, his Honor remarked that he could not understand why respondent had left her husband. As a matter of fact, he, said, he was not called upon to ascertain the reason, and it was enough for him to say that she had no just cause or excuse for her conduct. Mr. Hubert Parker appeared for Cunningham.

WIFE'S ULTIMATUM. (1927, March 8). The Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 - 1950), p. 5 Edition: HOME (FINAL) EDITION. Retrieved June 14, 2012, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article83046467


Owner of originalhttp://nla.gov.au/
Date8 Mar 1927
File nameGardinerEstherLouisa19270308Detailed.JPG
File Size423.8k
Dimensions650 x 900
Linked toEdward Joseph Cunningham; Esther Louisa Gardiner

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