# Dally Messenger III

Dally Messenger III (born 4 February 1938), is an Australian developer and media spokesperson of the fledgling civil celebrant program founded by Australian Attorney-General, Lionel Murphy. He has also been credited with contributions as an author. After leaving the Roman Catholic priesthood in 1968, Messenger became a public critic of the Catholic Church. Messenger has written for The Australian and Nation Review. Messenger was founder and editor of the magazine Dance Australia. His books cover topics including rugby league, children of separated parents, early Melbourne radio, how to design celebrant ceremonies, and the history of celebrancy.

## Family background

Dally Raymond Messenger is the grandson of Dally Messenger, a rugby player. Charles Amos Messenger, his great-grandfather, was a sculling champion in Victoria who established the first boatshed on Sydney Harbour at Balmain.

## Early life and education

Born in Sydney in February 1938, Dally Messenger III is the son of Dally Messenger Junior and Dorothy (née Davidson). His upbringing took place in Sydney, with most of his school years spent in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains at St Bernard's College. He completed his final year of secondary schooling at Marist Brothers, Parramatta. Subsequently, he worked in banking and wholesale for several years before entering a seminary at the age of twenty-one, beginning his studies for the Catholic priesthood at St Columba's College, Springwood, NSW, and later completing them at St Patrick's College, Manly.
Messenger earned his degree (Sacrae Theologiae Baccalaureus (STB)) in 1964, along with teaching qualifications in 1965, before being ordained a priest in 1966. During the post-Vatican II era of upheaval in the Catholic Church, Messenger was an activist. Regarding celibacy of the clergy, Messenger's argument was that, as the right to marry was inalienable ("nullo modo emancipari possit"), the law that forbade clergy in the Latin rite to marry was invalid.
Messenger was involved in the establishment of the New Earth Credit Union aimed at supporting former clergy through low-interest loans.$^{:229–230}$ Following his departure from the priesthood, Messenger relocated to Melbourne, where he dedicated six years (1969-1975) to teaching at the Presbyterian Haileybury College. During this period, he married and became the father of three daughters. In 1976, Messenger achieved a post-graduate diploma in Librarianship (teacher-librarian) from the Melbourne State College.

## Career

Messenger served as the founding editor and publisher of Dance Australia Magazine, established in 1980. Messenger's contributions to the magazine earned two national arts awards. The first, awarded for "Services to Dance," was presented during the inaugural National Dance Awards at the Sydney Opera House in May 1997. The second was an Australian Dance Award for "Outstanding Achievement in Dance Education" in 2008, presented at the Arts Centre in Melbourne on June 15.$^{:2008Awards}$

### Civil celebrant

Messenger has been involved in the civil celebrant program, initially within Australia and subsequently in other English-speaking countries. On 26 January 1970, Messenger was the first individual to apply for the position of a Civil Marriage Celebrant under the provisions outlined in the Commonwealth Marriage Act of Australia of 1961. In the 1970s, he was an advocate for civil marriage reform, supporting the Whitlam Government's Attorney-General Lionel Murphy who, on 26 July 1973, by appointing Lois D'Arcy, had introduced civil marriage celebrants into the Australian cultural scene. Messenger was appointed as a Civil Marriage Celebrant by Murphy in February 1974. Murphy appointed him first secretary of the Association of Civil Marriage Celebrants of Australia (ACMCA).
Messenger was a founder and inaugural president of Funeral Celebrants Association of Australia. In January 1994 he was elected the foundation president of the Australian Federation of Civil Celebrants Inc who, on 26 May 1996, honoured him with Life Membership.
Messenger was prosecuted for violating Victorian consumer law, accused of attempting to manipulate the fees charged by civil celebrants for funeral services. Messenger contended that his intention was not to fix fees but to pressure funeral directors into raising the fixed fees established through long-standing collaboration among themselves. In 2007, he pleaded guilty to attempting to induce individuals to contravene section 45(2)(a)(ii) of the Competition Code of Victoria and was fined $46,000, in addition to covering his own legal costs amounting to $20,000. Messenger and his supporters persist in asserting that the Australian public is poorly served by a system that grants funeral directors significant control over the conditions and compensation of celebrants.
Messenger was an early advocate for the legalisation of same-sex marriages. As early as 1979, he introduced commitment ceremonies for same-sex couples.$^{:pp.143ff}$
In the 1990s Dally Messenger was active in spreading the civil celebrancy movement to New Zealand and the UK, countries where it was less well established. He was invited to New Zealand as guest keynote speaker at three annual conventions in the 1990s and in 2000. These were in Christchurch, organised by celebrant Frank Crean on 27 June 1998; in Hamilton, organised by celebrant Yvonne Foreman on 23 July 1999 and in Auckland, organised by celebrant Sherryl Wilson on 27 July 2001.
In 2000-2002, Messenger was the key training instructor in establishing civil celebrancy in the US. He gave the launching address to the newly formed Celebrant USA Foundation in New Jersey on 5 June 2002 at the Montclair Library.
In 1995 he established the International College of Celebrancy. Messenger has often been a critic of bureaucrats in the Australian Attorney-General's department who tried to reduce the training requirements for persons appointed as celebrants.
Messenger lives in Melbourne with his wife since 2005, Remi Barclay Messenger(née Barclay, a.k.a. Bosseau).

### Honours

On 8 May 2014, Messenger was made a Life Member of the Celebrants and Celebrations Network (CCN) in recognition of his services to celebrants. The citation with this life membership calls Messenger "The Don of Celebrancy" and refers to "his unique contribution to the development of civil celebrancy in the Western World."

## Books

* Ceremonies for Today, 1979.
* Ceremonies and Celebrations, 2003.
* Messenger, Dally, So Mum and Dad have Separated, Listen & Learn, Melbourne, 1981
1980 ISBN 0 9596 13625 ISBN 978-0-992-5343-1-8.
* Being a Chum was Fun Listen & Learn Melbourne, Victoria Australia, 1979 ISBN 0 9596136 1 7 ISBN 978-0-9925343-0-1.
* >Messenger, Dally, The Master..., Angus & Robertson, Sydney 1982, ISBN 0 207 14731 0
* The Master: The Life and Times of Dally Messenger, Australia's First Sporting Superstar, 2007.
* Murphy's Law and the Pursuit of Happiness