Order in the courtship

Helen Benson, Court Registrar talks to
Gemma Buxton about civil marriages

I'm the Court Registrar, based in Tennant Creek. I've been in Tennant Creek since February this year. I perform all duties of a registrar which encompass Court of summary jurisdiction, local court and that of Marriage Celebrant.
In court the magistrates run the court as such, I do most of the local court work which means that as a registrar I have the power to issue warrants, to do examinations, summons, pre-hearing conferences. All the things that come under the Local Court Act.
I'm a marriage celebrant by appointment, by virtue of my position.

Do you think attitudes towards marriage are changing within the community, in terms of marrying in churches and having traditional weddings?
Yes I definitely do think the attitudes are becoming more relaxed. I think people are generally moving away from religious groups. I think they're asking more questions, they're not getting the answers they're looking for so they're seeking information elsewhere and that includes going to marriage celebrants and marrying at home. Where they have the ability to design their own programs, or their own ceremonies if you like.
Providing the oaths remain, they can design a ceremony to suit themselves and their situation. People can certainly change the service around. If someone comes in here and wants to get married, I can show them about twenty different services, just to give them an idea about the types of things that they can do. They can then go away and design their own so long as they check back with me to make sure that it is correct and that it can be done. It's much more personal, it is after all their day.
I think there's definitely a trend towards the more relaxed and outdoor setting type of wedding these days. There are a lot of people around the middle-age group who would, if they were going to get married, do it in a more relaxed atmosphere. It is far more personal and I think people tend to feel a bit more comfy when you've got your friends, your family, and everybody around you. You can tailor your wedding to that and I think that's much nicer.

Do you see a trend of younger people getting married?
That's a hard one! I think what they're doing is trying before they're buying as it were. I think young people have a tendency now to set up defacto relationships first. That seems to be the trend, yeah.

Do you think attitudes towards cross-cultural marriages are changing?
I'd like to think so. My personal observations are that attitudes are far more tolerant in Tennant Creek, but then I find people are far more open and friendly here generally!

What qualifications do you need to be a court registrar?
To become a registrar you have to work within the court system and study the relevant legislation. It's nothing like a law degree. You just have to work within the court systems and within the various areas of the court system, it's broken up into several areas of magistrate, Supreme Court, Front Counter, receiver of Teritory monies, Civil and Criminal registry so you basically have to work in all of those areas. This is a one-person office here so you're required to perform all of those duties, it's a constant job.
We have a magistrate who comes to Tennant Creek every five weeks. I think next year we're going back to getting a magistrate up every month, because of the sheer volume of work.