Tracing the 'Fuller' family in Barraba

My lads know their father's Maori side but don't know much about my side. So we went on a road trip over the last couple of days to my dad's home town of Barraba, just north of Tamworth. My grandparents were John William and Ann Jane Fuller who passed away in the early 1970's.

Sadly, all the Fullers have long gone from the area but some people still remember my Uncle Jim who was an ambulance officer for many years in Barraba.

Six Degrees of Separation:

- the elderly couple, Roy & Muriel O'Brien, living next door to my grandparent's house, not only knew Uncle Jim, but also Graham Down, who was an accountant there. Now Graham is the father of one of my best friends whom I met in secretarial college in Sydney in 1975.    

- at the ambulance station, they were too young to remember my uncle, but, on realising I was visiting from NZ, ... Broughton talked about his connection to NZ and the Boyd Disaster of 1809 (https://nzhistory.govt.nz/.../maori.../the-boyd-incident) - he is a descendant of Besty Broughton who survived the massacre.

Sad to see the effects that Covid has had on the businesses there.  But my lads, Justin and Preston were interested in this little town, which in some regards is similar to my small country town of Ruatoria on the East Coast of NZ.  We had dinner at the old Commercial Hotel and the food was fabulous!

People were kind and interested, but as I said the Fullers are long gone but my connection remains.

Lyndall Fuller