Photo of the grave at St Mary Magdalene cemetery from Ancestry online.

EDGAR was born in June 1825 at Waltham Abbey, Epping Forest District, Essex, England and baptised at Dr Williams Library in London, England of Baptist faith. His father’s name was Thomas Fuller who married Elizabeth Marie Edwards. Edgar married Mary Anne Faithfull in May 1850. She was born in 1825 at Camberwell, the Borough of Southwark, Greater London. Edgar and Elizabeth arrived from Adelaide as steerage passengers into New South Wales in October 1850 on the ship “Jane Morrison”. In March 1855 Edgar obtained a Hawkers & Peddler’s Licence at Strawberry Hill. This area was part of a 70-acre land grant to John Palmer in 1794 and close to Sydney. In January 1856 Edgar signed  a petition to elect James Martin Esq to represent the city of Sydney in the new Parliament, and in July 1860, now living at Castlereagh he signed a petition under the Municipal Act in Penrith not to make his locality into a municipality. In 1879, Edgar now living at Colyton asked for the first quarterly list of horse and cattle brands. In June 1880 in the “Appointments for Teacher at Colyton Public School”, his Excellency the Governor, with the advice of the Executive Council was pleased to appoint Mr Edgar Fuller to the offices specified such appointments to take effect. He obtained a position as a teacher at Colyton Public School after a Teachers Character Reference from James Young & John Guild of St Marys. He was the first principal of the school and headmaster but between that time he was removed from Colyton to a teaching position at Dural Public school at an annual salary of £102 a year that was later cancelled and he returned to Colyton public school. It is said that he ran a private school for several years before the Government School system began and at that time he would send the boys out into the bush to gather wood that he would sell as a private means of income, even though the parents of the boys were paying him to educate their sons. In 1883 he stated that he was 58 years old and he was out of service from 1st May 1860 to 13th April, 1861. In a letter  to the Postmaster General in July 1883 from Edgar saying, “On behalf of the people of this district, I beg to ask if you will be pleased to consider the advisability of establishing a Post Office here, this request is for Colyton”. In the will of James Davis in March 1889 of Mount Druitt, farm labourer deceased, the executors of the will were William Emert of Mount Druitt, fruit-grower and Edgar Fuller of the same place, Schoolmaster. Also in April the Minister had approved the recommendation that Edgar be allowed to retire from the service on 30th June 1889 and by August that year Edgar retired from the School and received a pension of £72 a year granted under the Civil Service Act of 1884, and teacher J D Miller takes his place coming from Burrill Public school. His wife Mary Anne died at the age of 68 in July 1893. The Nepean Times obituary reads “Another old resident, Mrs Fuller (Nee: Faithfull) was the wife of the schoolmaster at the Colyton Public School. She  was very much loved and respected all over the district and had been ailing for a very long time, suffering mainly from senile decay.  Edgar died in June 1916 and lived to the ripe old age of 91 years and is buried with Mary in the churchyard of St Mary Magdalene church, St Marys. Photo of the grave at St Mary Magdalene cemetery from Ancestry online.

Sources: NSW State Archives website, Deceased Estates Index 1880-1958, Sydney Morning Herald, NSW Government Gazette, NSW School Teachers’ rolls 1869-1908 Volume 1, Ancestry family information, Nepean Times, Trove, NSW Unassisted Immigrant Passenger Lists, 1826-1922 for Fuller – Series 1291, Reports of vessels arrived (or Shipping reports) Reel 1277-1850 Jan 01-1850 Dec 29, NSW, Public Service Lists 1858-1960, registration of the Brands Act of 1856, Sydney, 18th June, 1880 – Department of Public Instruction, History of Mt Druitt NSW, The Nation Archives Post Office Files – Dated 1883 Filed B 79/12-Received 3rd July 1883, NSW Civil Service Colyton – Educational Dept. Teacher Public School. Classification  3a  1885. NSW Australia, Public Service Lists, 1858-1960.