31-05-2025
Wayside Chapel welcomed couples rejected by mainstream religion
For decades, Wayside Chapel in Kings Cross, Sydney has been a haven for people rejected by mainstream religious institutions.
Its founder, the Reverend Ted Noffs, not only ministered to the marginalised, he performed marriage ceremonies for divorcees and couples of different faiths. Years before gay marriage was legalised, he even blessed same-sex relationships.
Playwright and author Alana Valentine has long been fascinated by the stories of people wed by Wayside. Indeed, her own mother, Janice, was a "Wayside bride".
"My mother was [first] married when she was 18," she tells ABC TV's Compass.
"She was pregnant with me, and then she had another child, my brother. She was divorced when I was five."
In an era when most Christian churches would've shunned Janice — as a divorced mother-of-two — the Wayside Chapel welcomed her second chance at love.
As a child, Alana was present for the big day. But it took many years before she realised the radical nature of their union, and the strength of her mother in rebelling against the prevailing social norms.
"I judged my mother for all the things that children want a mother to be, rather than really who she was," Alana reflects.
"She would come to school events late, she wasn't dressed conservatively, like the other mothers, she would wear the latest Vogue creation. When I got home from school there was not, you know, food for me to eat.
"It's only now that I look back and think, 'Wow she was fantastic.'"
Alana spent years researching and chronicling stories of the Wayside weddings, which she dramatised into a play for the Belvoir St Theatre.
For her, the Wayside Chapel's legacy is not just one of love and acceptance, but of social justice and change.
"Let's not pretend it's just these weddings in Kings Cross with a kooky pant suit-wearing minister," she says, referencing Reverend Noffs' trademark outfits.
The Sydney institution also holds a special place in Kumar Ponnusamy's heart.
His Indian Hindu father wed his white Christian mother at the chapel, which was followed by a vibrant procession including the couple's pink-hued poodle.
"Wayside was a very progressive place, it was the only place that would marry them," Mr Ponnusamy said.
Despite the chapel's support, Kumar says both sides of his family were unhappy with the union.
"Neither of my grandparents ether side went to the wedding, which was unfortunate," he says.
"I suppose it was a time where the Indian side of the family expected Dad maybe to marry someone Indian, and Mum's side of the family maybe expected her to marry someone that wasn't Indian.
This spirit of radical inclusivity is something that drew Alana Valentine to the story of Wayside and the Reverend Ted Noffs.
"I became really interested in the intersection of where the church had actually had a history in Australia with social justice movements," she says.
"We know that Ted was a great supporter of the Aboriginal Freedom Rides, we know that Ted advocated on behalf of gay people at that time when homosexuality was still illegal."
When hard drugs hit Kings Cross in the 1970s, Reverend Noffs was a key figure supporting those in need.
"Ted was all about harm reduction and prevention over punitive measures," Alana says.
"The church didn't like it, because he was preaching this more social justice message.
"They thought it should be more 'saving their souls' rather than 'saving their bodies'. [Ted] saw this as hypocritical."
For Reverend Noffs, it was "unthinkable" to reject people who didn't conform to rigid expectations.
Over the years, Reverend Noffs brought many to the chapel — not just for Sunday services, but for plays, musical performances, and conversations in the coffee house.
Ursula Zuffo was one of many locals who admired the work of Reverend Noffs.
"He loved seeing when two people were in love and he knew what we'd gone through to get there," she says.
Like Alana Valentine's mother, Ursula was a divorcee who remarried at the chapel.
Her partner Sergio — a Roman Catholic — didn't have family support.
"Sergio's parents wanted nothing to do with an Australian girl," Ursula recalls.
"They didn't wish to come to the wedding. They told him … this little Wayside Chapel was a dreadful little place and it wasn't suitable for their son to marry in.
"But we just took no notice of that carry on, and we got married. It was wonderful."
By the 1980s, Ted Noffs had married thousands of couples and continued to minister at weddings and naming ceremonies.
But at the end of the decade, he suffered a massive stroke, and his wife Margaret Noffs took over at the Wayside.
"We're not only doing it because of the vision, we're not only doing it because it's something we want to do, but we're all doing it for Ted, too," Ms Noffs said at the time.
Rev Noffs died in 1995, but his children and grandchildren have continued his vision through the Ted Noffs Foundation.
Jon Owen is now the CEO and pastor of the Wayside Chapel and, according to Alana Valentine: "The radical theology of marrying whomever you like for love is still very much on the agenda."
The playwright has come to value her personal relationship with this iconic institution.
"I'm so proud I have a connection to this part of our social history," Alana says.
"I realised I'm one of those Wayside people who value community, value connection."
For Alana, a queer person and member of the Uniting Church, the Wayside Chapel's legacy is a reminder of how far society has come.
"The freedoms and acceptance we have now, they were hard won," she says.
"And the radical change in our society is really driven by very courageous individuals.
"I think the truth of that is something we really need to remember right now."
Watch The Wayside Weddings on Compass tonight at 6:30pm on ABC TV, or stream now on iview.
