I’m super excited about the wedding I am the photographer for this weekend. For starters it’s in Kyogle in country NSW and Kyogle weddings are always great. It’s the people, they’re fantastic. The second thing is the couple getting married. Turns out the groom is my cousin. A very, very, very distant cousin.
Our common ancestor was Johann Friedrich Fietz, the first person to come to Australia on my Father’s Mother’s side of the family. He was born in 1794 and among his children were two brothers. My family tree heads back to one of the brothers, the groom’s family tree heads to the other brother. After arriving in South Australia my ancestors headed East to the Riverina area and the groom’s ancestors headed towards Queensland. By sheer coincidence we worked out we were related and it blows me away to think that this Saturday is only going to happen because in 1849 a family boarded a boat on the other side of the world and sailed into the unknown.