What happened to Augusta Blight, nee Meissner? (Australia)

Question

Was my great grandfather a bigamist? In 1865 Richard Blight married Augusta Meissner at Wistow, near Mt Barker, South Australia. They went to Wallaroo, where Richard worked in the mines. The district they lived in was called "Sunnyside". They had one or two children whose names I haven't discovered. The marriage did not go well and the couple went their separate ways. In 1878, Richard married again and had many children, one of whom was my grandmother.

However, I haven't found any record that he divorced Augusta, or that she died. Was Richard a bigamist? What happened to the children of Richard and Augusta? Did they keep the surname Blight or revert to Meissner?

Any clues to where Augusta went after leaving Wallaroo would be much appreciated.

Comments

I've ransacked all the usual online sources. If there's any more information it will be somewhere that's not available to the rest of us, such as family records.

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The original John Bernie in my tree left NSW and remarried in SA claiming he was a widower. It was easy to do.

Answer 1

Any help? From Findmypast 

Fredericka Augusta Henrietta
Last name	Meisnerr
Gender	Female
Status	Child (under 16 years of age)
Birth year	1855
Death year	1863
Death date	02 Feb 1863
Age at death	8y
Residence	Callington
Place	Callington
District	Strathalbyn
State	South Australia
Country	Australia
Registration number	16/60
Informant	Father
Informant's first name(s)	George Henry
Informant's last name	Meisnerr
Notes	Spelling variations between Certificate entries and signatures
Record set	South Australia Deaths 1842-1972
Category	Life Events (BDMs)
Subcategory	Civil Deaths & Burials
Collections from	Australasia

Comments

There are a couple more child deaths with father George Henry and they are als at Callington, SA

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Good try, but these are Augusta's siblings. Frederika Henriette was born 1855 and died 1863 Two other children died in 1863 - Fredericke Caroline Mary and Gustav. You've got to wonder what happened for them to lose three children in the same year, also why they called two children Frederika?

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When I took a quick look at the profile there were no siblings under her name, so I thought you had no sources for them.

Answer 2

All I could find was a marriage

1865 62/493 BLIGHT Richard MIZNER Augusta Mount Barker

at

https://www.genealogysa.org.au/resources/online-databases.html

Comments

Correct.

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Blight v. Blight-Wife desertion.

Mrs Blight-Had not heard from her hus

band in compliance with the order made for

maintenance.

1869 'LOCAL COURT—PORT WALLAROO.', The Wallaroo Times and Mining Journal (Port Wallaroo, SA : 1865 - 1881), 6 January, p. 3. , viewed 06 Dec 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110480744

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Augusta Blight, aged 23,with two children,
applied for rations. Her father and mother,
with whom she had been living, had removed
to the North. She had been deserted by her
husband, who is supposed to be in New South
Wales. One ration allowed to the end of
the quarter, on condition that she lay an
information against her husband.
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110359689