What is love? Stories of romance from our collection
By Annabelle Tonkin | 14 February 2024
This Valentine’s Day, we took a romantic stroll through Queensland’s past looking for the answer to one of life’s biggest questions – what is love?
Through State Library of Queensland’s collections, we found love in recycled envelopes, lipstick stains, ancient tales and musical compositions. Take heart and take heed – these love stories may leave you inspired!
Detail of photograph, Airman embraces his girlfriend, Brisbane, 1946, from 28118 Sunday Truth and Sunday Sun Newspaper Photographic Negatives, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Image number 28118-0001-1255.
Real life love stories
Some of the most remarkable real-life love stories must be heard to be believed. Plug in your headphones to hear firsthand stories of how people met, how they defied the odds to stay together, and how they trailblazed their own path as a couple.
Dr Lillian Cooper and Josephine Bedford in our Dangerous Women podcast
After leaving London in 1891, Dr Lilian Cooper and Josephine Bedford moved to Brisbane, where they would leave a social and cultural legacy that is still evident today. Being the first woman to be registered as a doctor in Queensland is just one of Lilian's many achievements in her life alongside Josephine. The two are buried together in Toowong Cemetary, Brisbane. Listen to their story in our Dangerous Women podcast or read more on our blog.
Josephine Bedford and Dr. Lilian Cooper ca. 1900
Suzanne & Graham
Suzanne and Graham discuss their relationship and their journey together as an Aboriginal woman and an English man in this oral history interview, within the The Story Project: Sunshine Coast oral history pilot project 2011 collection. Suzanne and Graham recall the significance of their first meeting and the growth and strength of their relationship, speaking of their respect for all cultures and of their own searches for cultural identity.
Ian & Brian
Another oral history interview within The Story Project: Sunshine Coast oral history pilot project 2011, shares the love story between Ian and Brian, who moved from Brisbane to Crystal Waters, Conondale in 1988. Their story recalls various stresses felt over the 29-year long relationship, resulting from various health issues, living in separate homes, and coming from difference backgrounds. Brian has been active in working with the AIDS Council when it was established on the Sunshine Coast and supporting men with HIV/AIDS.
Carly & Janelle
This oral history interview forms part of the LGBT Lives: oral histories 2011 project, which aimed to build and increase access to a permanent record of LGBT history in Brisbane. Across two recordings, Carly Cashin and Janelle Fox share vignettes of their love story, including how they met, time working together, their lived experiences within queer Brisbane communities, and the birth of their daughter Lucah.
Love letters
In our digital age, the art of letter writing is fast fading, and with it, declarations of love in swooping, sloping cursive. Originally intended as private correspondence, the letters of Alan, Nance, Maureen and Joe provide insight beyond the relationship between their authors, into the social, cultural and even political contexts of their time. Looking for inspiration for this year’s Valentine’s? Take notes.
Alan & Nance
When Lieutenant Alan Hooper left for New Guinea in July 1940, he was farewelled by 19-year-old Nancy (Nance) O'Neill, who had been his fiancée for just 10 days. During his deployment the couple sent many letters to each other, highlighting realities for many young couples during the Second World War.
This collection of correspondence also included photos and postcards, expressing feelings of longing, jealousy, concern, love, and hope, serving as the inspiration and material for Alan’s later publications Love, war & letters PNG 1940-1945, Kokoda, ten epic war treks retold, and Papua revisited.
Alan served in the 1st Papuan Infantry Battalion (PIB), tasked with scouting, renaissance and surveillance patrols against the Japanese, for almost 1,000 days without leave due to various crises and medical emergencies.
Alan’s letters detail his growing relationships with local people, and experiences in the PIB, while Nancy writes of her experiences at home, including her work for the American armed forces in the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF). Alan and Nance were married during a leave period in 1943, and following the war they opened Hooper’s Supermarket in Darra, west of Brisbane.
A message of love 'across the miles' between Alan and Nance. Postcard sketch sent to Nance by Alan, on 7 June 1945, from 31701, Alan Hooper and Nance Hooper correspondence, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland.
Maureen & Joe
There are four love letters in our collection, signed simply by ‘Maureen’ of 7 Wyandra Street, The Valley, addressed to U.S Serviceman Joseph Narbutowitch. The letters are dated between July-September 1943, reaching Joe, as Mauren called him, while he served on the U.S.S Mizar, a fleet supply ship supporting US and Australian forces in New Guinea.
While not much is known about this couple’s love story, it’s likely that Joe arrived in Brisbane as part of the mass deployment of American forces from December 1941, as Queensland became an important base for the allied defence against Japan. By mid-1943, there were almost 100,000 Americans located in Brisbane, which previously had a population of fewer than 350,000 people.
This influx, and the pervasive presence of the American forces, had a considerable impact on Australian culture and sparked enormous social upheaval.
Differences in pay, access to luxury items (such as nylon stockings, cigarettes and chocolate), and their attractiveness to Australian women, were some of many causes for tension between the American forces and Australians.
In Queensland, these tensions culminated in the violent two-day riot, the Battle of Brisbane, in November 1942. It is likely that Maureen, like many women who were involved with Americans, was aware her interest in Joe could prove dangerous for them both.
While we can’t be sure that Maureen was one of the 15,000 Australian women who would marry an American serviceman and migrate to the United States, these letters between her and Joe lead us to believe that in the most trying of times, they found love with each other, even if but for a moment.
Photograph of two envelopes and an excerpt from a letter to Joe Narbutowitch, from Maureen, dated 7 June 1945, from 29344, Personal Correspondence to US Serviceman, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland.
Interested in more love letters? Read the love stories of Jim and Minnie, Charles and Gwyn, and Thomas and Jenet.
Love songs: stories told through music
Let yourself be swept away by the sound of love, selected from our considerable music collection, which includes sheet music, recordings, scores and performance sets.
Photos of love: pictures worth a thousand words
When it comes to love, photos really can be worth a thousand words, conveying a depth of intimacy, connection, and feeling that often words cannot. These photographs provide a first-hand glimpse into the love stories of ordinary, everyday people.
For more photos of love, explore curated albums on our Flickr site, with themes of Wonderful Weddings, Kisses, Hugs and Holding Hands, Here comes the bride, plus many more which provide a glimpse into the 1.5 million photographic resources we have in our collections.
While there is an element of timeless romanticism to black and white photography, we found ourselves giddy with the modern photography of Yen Nguyen, and their photography series the Universal language of love.
Yen captured the image and memories of eighteen couples from Chinchilla, sharing their love stories as art of the The Queensland Small Towns Documentary Project.The project aims to explore the diverse stories, characters and everyday lives of people in Queensland outback towns through documentary photography, movies and multimedia shows. Explore the photographs here.
Love as inspiration: the ultimate muse
For centuries, poets, artists, musicians and writers have been influenced by love. Our collections include a diverse range of materials, including paintings, sculptures, poems, plays, and music which share love stories in unique ways. We hope these works leave you feeling inspired!
Many a maestro has tried to capture the feeling of love within a musical score.
[Score] Romance / composed by A. H. Wilhelmy.
For both violin and piano, dedicated to Mrs A.B. Shaw.
Aspects of love
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s music based on the novel ‘Aspects of love’ by David Garnett.
Love is just around the corner words and music by Leo Robin & Lewis E. Gensler.
From the Paramount Picture "Here is my heart", starring Bing Crosby and Kitty Carlisle.
Love letters / Judy Barrass [and] Jock Brown
Love letters / Judy Barrass [and] Jock Brown is an artist book providing a glimpse into the lifelong love story between Jock Brown, and his wife Corinne (Cora) Thurgood.
Jock and Cora spent a lifetime together, raising their two sons, living in a small fibro cottage a few blocks from Noosa Junction, as firm fixtures in the arts and intellectual scene of their community. Later in life, Cora’s memory began to fade. To keep track of her medications, Jock created calendars on the insides of used envelopes from bills and notices, drawing a heart around each date as he gave her the medication for that day. He called these his ‘love letters’, as they reminded him daily of the loved they shared.
Described by artist Judy Barrass as “a labour of love, a daily affirmation, a story written in numbers and symbols”, this unique piece in our Artists’ Books Collection reveals a love story of devotion amidst the detritus of everyday, ordinary life.
Photo detail of Love letters / Judy Barrass [and] Jock Brown.
Troilus and Criseyde
“ But at the laste, as every thing hath ende,
She took hir leve, and nedes wolde wende. “
(3.615, in Troilus and Criseyde / Ed. by Arundell Del Re. ; Illus. by Eric Gill)
Geoffrey Chaucer, the father of English poetry and literature, is known for his invention of the iambic pentameter, and contribution to the establishment of Middle English. His poetic re-telling of the tragic love story between Troilus and Criseyde is considered by many critics to be his finest work, ultimately dealing with the question of what human love is and means.
Written in the mid-1380's, Chaucer’s version is credited as the origin of the idiom 'all good things must come to an end' and would be a seminal reference for future significant works, including Shakespeare’s play Troilus and Cressida.
Set amidst the Trojan War, the story is told across five books in the form of a long poem, firmly rooted in the courtly love tradition, following Trojan prince Troilus falling in love with and being betrayed by a lady called Criseyde.
This edition is number 105 of 225 limited copies, published in 1927 with illustrations provided by Eric Gill, held as part of our History and Art of the Book Collection.
Did we sweep you off your feet?
These stories provide a glimpse into the wide-ranging ways love manifests in our lives, where the ordinary can become extraordinary.
We hope these stories inspire you to recognise the love stories in your own life this Valentine’s Day, and that you find yourself inspired to explore more of the remarkable stories from our collections.
L-R, Illustrated front cover from The Queenslander, September 4, 1930, Garnet Agnew, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Image 702692-19300904-s001; Illustrated front cover from The Queenslander, March 29, 1928, Garnet Agnew, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Image 702692-19280329-s001.
Love stories you can borrow
Looking to take love home with you? Take out one of these non-fiction romances from our collections.
Love transcends death : poems for my beloved Karl / Gertrude Langer
Art, love and life : Ethel Carrick and E Phillips Fox / Angela Goddard.
Dearest Munx : the letters of Christina Stead and William J. Blake / edited by Margaret Harris.
Ghost wife : a memoir of love and defiance / Michelle Dicinoski.
Modern love : the lives of John & Sunday Reed / Lesley Harding & Kendrah Morgan.
Interior of Townsville library, ca. 1948 Walters Studio, John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland. Negative number: 184898
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