South Australian Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1895), Saturday 6 July 1895, page 8


DEATH OF MR. G. E. FULTON.

DIES SUDDENLY IN THE WEST. '

The news which came to hand on Tuesday of the sudden death from heart disease of Mr. George E. Fulton was received with the deepest regret in the city, where he was so well known. No one was prepared to hear of his death, and the telegram which his relatives

received stated that he had died from heart disease at Cue, West Australia, on the previous evening. A little time back information from the West Stated that Mr. Fulton was hard at work erecting at Cue the public battery which the firm had made at Kilkenny. Mr. Fulton was anxious to push on the work as speedily as possible, and the opening of this new enterprise was awaited with considerable interest by the mining, people of the Cue district. The deceased, gentleman recently proceeded by the R.M.S. . Australia to the West, and at once went on to Cue, where he had been engaged as stated above. Mr. Fulton arrived in South Australia some sixteen years ago and secured a position in the patent department of the locomotive workshops on North-terrace when Mr. L. Grayson was foreman. He, however, was of a pushing, energetic turn of mind and was always anxious to launch out for himself. Consequently after being there for a little time he resigned his position aud was successful in obtaining from the City Corporation a contract for enclosing the squares with iron railings. After this he became kuown as the proprietor of an iron foundry and entered exten-sively into the manufacture of ornamental ironwork. Not long after this Mr. A. R. Lungley, who occupied the position of hydraulic engineer in the Government service, joined the deceased gentleman, and the firm became lenown as Messrs. G. E. Fulton & Co. About this time the Government advertised for tenders for the construction of water and drainage pipes in large quantities, and the tender of the firm mentioned was accepted. Thereupon the business was removed to Kil-kenny, where extensive and substantial premises

were erected. Mr. Fulton, who had a thorough knowledge of the ironwork trade in all its branches, secured from the old country a number of moulders, who were specially engaged for the making of the water-pipes. The firm became a limited company. Mr. S. R. Wilson, a brother to Mr. W. R. Wilson, of St. Albans, who bad just come from Broken Hill, and other gentlemen becoming interested in the business. This was at the time of the great silver boom, and the practical knowledge which Mr. Wilson brought to bear led to the firm entering extensively into the manufacture of mining plant of every description. The Broken Hill mines were good customers of the company, some of the most costly and elaborate machinery of the Proprietary mine being secured from them. The reputation of the firm spread, and orders for mining machinery came from Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland, for which latter colony the firm supplied not a little of the machinery used on stations. When the West Australian mines commenced to attract so much attention Mr. W. R. Wilson, one of the strongest sup-porters of mining in the Australian colonies, dispatched his prospectors to the Murchison, Coolgardie, and Mount Margaret districts, and the prospects of the properties secured were so bright that he requisitioned the services of his brother, Mr. S. R. Wilson, to go over and take charge of them. Con-sequently Mr. S. R. Wilson withdrew from the firm some time back. A short time ago the firm entered into a contract with the Government for the supply of a new kind of steel pipes for the reticulation of the Beetaloo water area, a work which was most successfully performed. The importance of the West Australian goldfields soon became apparent to Mr. Fulton, and he was one of the first engineers to pay a visit to the West to inspect the goldfields and ascertain the machinery that would be required there. Towards the end of 1894 Mr. Fulton made a flying visit to both Coolgardie and the Mur-chison, and later on his firm secured the con-tract for the erection of the plant named

above at Cue. This work he was engaged in at the time of his death. A correspondent writes: — 'The deceased was the second son of the late Mr. David Fulton, of Craiglee House, Dennistown, Glasgow, and had been in this colony for about 15 years. The late Hon. J. G. Ramsay, then in Scotland, induced him to select South Aus-tralia as his starting-place in colonial life, and his career in this colony has been remarkable for its enterprise and success. Starting work in the railway workshops as a patternmaker he gradually made a way for himself. First he began business as an importer of orna-mental ironwork; then he started a small foundry at Goodwood, and finally established the large and splendidly organised works at Kilkenny, where hundreds of workmen are employed. At an early period in the history of the well-known firm of G. E. Fulton & Co. Mr. A. R. Lungley became his partner, and in 1883 Mr. S. R. Wilson and other well-known gentlemen joined them, and the business was taken over by the incorporated company, G. E. Fulton & Co., Limited. This company has done an immense amount of work not only for this colony but for New South Wales, Victoria, West Australia, and even Queensland, and much of the best machi-nery at the Barrier mines was constructed at then: works at Kilkenny. The restrictions im-posed upon business operations in this colony, however, lately induced Mr. Fulton to turn his attention to the West, and having made several exhaustive tours through the goldfields there, he ultimately became associated with the British West Australian Gold Crushing Syndicate, Limited, and was engaged in erect-ing and starting their public battery at Cue when he died. The deceased was a man of singular ability, combining a natural shrewdness with indomitable energy, and a determination which never yielded. His ad-vice was eagerly sought, not only on matters in his own particular line but on all questions of commercial enterprise, and in his more private and social relations his friendship was valued. He did not admit many to a great personal intimacy, but those who were so privileged found him to be a good companion and a true friend.' By the death of Mr. Fulton South Australia loses one of its ablest and most energetic colonists. Not only was he a keen man of business and a thorough engineer, but was one who had no small share in the development of the great mining industry. He was alive to the importance to this colony of the opening up of a new field, and he made it part of his business to be kept thoroughly posted in all developments in the mining world. The deceased gentleman married a daughter of the Rev. James Henderson, the Presbyterian minister, his wife being a sister of LadyDowner, of the widow of the late Rev. J. McEwin, and of Messrs. J. and W. Henderson, solicitors, of Wavmouth-street. Mr. R.

Henderson, and Mr. B. Henderson. For a long time he resided at Davaar, on Southterrace, the residence now occupied by Sir Jenkin Coles. Shortly after the death of Mrs. Bagot, widow of the late Mr. E. M. Bagot, he purchased the handsome residence in Brougham-place, North Adelaide, and he also had a summer house at Mount Lofty, where Mrs. Fulton was living at the time of the death of her husband. The deceased, who only on Monday sent a telegram to his brotherin-law, Mr. W. Henderson, on a business matter, leaves a family consisting of four daughters and one son. Great sympathy will be felt for Mrs. Fulton in her sudden bereavement.