Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Marriages could be declared void under Australian law prior to the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth.).A void marriage is regarded for all legal purposes as no marriage at all. On the other hand, a voidable marriage was considered a valid marriage until it was annulled by a judicial decree. Voidable marriages were recognised until the commencement of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth.) Under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1959(Cth.) (repealed by the FLA) there were four grounds on which a marriage could be voidable. The part of the legislation considering this was section 21(1); it said: