The wedding of Nora Augusta Maud Robinson with Alexander Kirkman Finlay, of Glenormiston, was solemnised in St James' Church, Sydney, on Wednesday, 7 August 1878 by the Rev. Canon Allwood, assisted by Rev. Hough. The bride was the second daughter of the governor of New South Wales, Sir Hercules Robinson, GCMG, and his wife. The groom, owner of Glenormiston, a large station in Victoria, was the second son of Alexander Struthers Finlay, of Castle Toward, Argyleshire, Scotland.
As this was only the second vice-regal wedding to take place in the colony, it generated enormous public interest. The crowd, estimated at between 8,000 and 10,000, thronged the streets outside the church and a large body of police had trouble preserving order. The wedding was attended by the most important members of Sydney society at the time - leaders, administrators, officials, legislators, naval officers, lawyers and aristocrats, many of whom had Scottish connections. There was extensive coverage in the press around the country, including in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Queanbeyan Age, the South Australian Register, the Australian Town and Country Journal, The Argus, The Wagga Wagga Daily Advertiser and the Riverine Herald.
Wedding service
The first carriages to arrive at the church brought Lady Robinson, Mrs. St. John, Captain St. John, A.D.C., and H. S. Lyttleton, private secretary. The following carriage contained the bridegroom and Captain Standish (chief-commissioner of police in Victoria) as best man. The carriage containing the bride, her father, (the governor) and the bridesmaids (Miss Nereda Robinson and Miss Neva St. John) came immediately afterwards. The people cheered the arrival of each carriage.
The service was performed by Canon Allwood, who was assisted by Rev. Hough. Inside St James', the church was decorated with plants and flowers, which had come from the Botanic Gardens, including "palms, tree ferns, crotons, dracoenas, dieffenbachia, and pandanas, and immediately in front was a number of richest orchids and ferns. Among the former were vandas, graccelebium, and a Graeceum sesquapedale and superpetam, which will at once be recognised by florists as among the richest we have here ..."
The Robinson-Finlay bridal party arrived at the church shortly before 1 o'clock. The bridegroom was accompanied by his best man, Captain Standish, Chief Commissioner of Police in Victoria, and the bride entered the church leaning on the arm of her father, the governor of New South Wales. The service was accompanied by music provided by a choir and the organ and the bridal couple departing to the music of a wedding march. The bells of the nearby St Mary's Cathedral were rung (St James' had no bells at the time).
Wedding breakfast and honeymoon
The wedding breakfast took place at Government House where the toast to the bride and groom was given by Sir Alfred Stephen, followed by other toasts.
The carriage containing the couple left Government House at about four o'clock, the travelling costume of the bride being a princess dress of dark-brown silk trimmed with blue, with bonnet and parasol of the same material." They spent their honeymoon at Eurimbla, Botany, at a house lent to them.
Wedding party
The wedding party consisted of the bride and bride groom, the bridesmaids—Miss Nereda Robinson and Miss Neva St. John—the governor, the Lady Robinson, Captain St. John, A.D.C., Mrs St. John, and H. Littleton, private secretary; Sir John Hay and Lady Hay, Sir George W. Allen and Lady Allen, Sir Alfred and Lady Stephen, Sir George and Lady Innes, Sir William and Lady Manning, Commodore Hoskins, R.N., and several officers of HMS Wolverine. Commodore Hoskins had married Dorothea Ann Eliza Robinson, daughter of Sir George Stamp Robinson, 7th Baronet (1797–1873). Miss Deas-Thompson was still a parishioner of St James' in 1900.
Attire
The bride wore a train of the rich old English brocatelle over white ottoman silk, trimmed with flounces of Brussels lace and crepe-leece. Her head dress comprised a very long soft tulle veil, and a wreath composed of orange blossoms, intermixed with flowers in compliment to the Scottish bridegroom: heather and myrtle.
Public reaction
There was intense public interest in the event, the second vice-regal wedding in the history of the colony. Its predecessor was the marriage of Sir Edward Deas Thomson, C.B., K.C.M.G., with the daughter of Governor Sir Richard Bourke. The press reported that eight to ten thousand onlookers "...thronged King street from Macquarie Street to Elizabeth Street, and gave a large body of police great trouble to preserve order ... the crushing and screaming were almost continuous".