"George Tall (born 1825) and his wife, Ann (nee Hives, born 1827) arrived in Sydney on 8th April 1849 on the sailing ship Midlathian from Hampton Hill, Bedfordshire, England. They had, at that time, two children: Ann, 2 years old and George, an infant of one year.

George was a carpenter, 24 years of age and, by early 1857, was working in the Brisbane Waters (Gosford) area. His brother, John (born 1828) was a blacksmith and his wife, Elizabeth (born1834) arrived in Sydney in the ship Matacka on 22nd January 1857.

An old (1857) Business Directory of Sydney lists them as being in busi­ness together at 14 Hartnett Street Woolloomooloo, as 'Sawyers'. A later edition of the Sands Business Directory carries an advertisement stating that Geo. Tall & Co. had been established in 1859, and were 'Sawyers, Locksmiths and Bell Hangers'.

'Sawyers' made, sharpened and re-toothed saws, handsaws, crosscut saws, circular saws and Pitt saws.

'Bell Hangers' made and fitted to houses the bells that, when rung, sum­moned the servants to attend the needs of the family. Hotels also needed these mechanical bells to draw the attention of the bellboys etc, 'Locksmiths', of course were lock makers and repairers. In the early days, locksmiths were blacksmiths who made locks. The art of the blacksmith can be seen in the locks made in the 16th to 18th century. All the metal parts are forged.

From this early date over the next 59 years, until 1916, George Tall was listed in quite a number of different locations around Sydney.

George Jnr. (the infant son born 1848) grew up and married Elizabeth Gunter (born1849) and they had 10 children - six boys and four girls -three of whom became associated with the locksmithing trade.

George Jnr, by probability, carried on the business of George Tall after George Snr died in 1895 at the age of 47 - Elizabeth, his widow, lived until 1912, being 63 years of age.

In 1910 one of George Jnr and Elizabeth's sons, Charlie (born1872) was in business as Geo. Tall & Co. at 48 Hunter Street, Sydney.

Another of their sons, William (born 1877) was a locksmith at 31 Rowe Street. A third son, Stephen (born 1879) was a safe maker at 101 Flinders Street. John, George Snr's brother, was locksmithing in 1864 at 363 George Street and, in 1867 was at 306 Pitt Street.

Listings in several Business Directories are;

TALL George	14 Harriett Street	1859
TALL George	28 Park Street	1861
TALL George	14 John Street	1868
TALL George	306 Pitt Street	1869
TALL George	306-308 Pitt Street	1870
TALL George	306 Pitt Street	1873
TALL George	308 Pitt Street	1876
TALL George	48 Hunter Street	1906

At the "Metropolitan Intercolonial Exhibition", held by the Royal Ag­ricultural Society in 1873, Geo. Tall & Co. was awarded a Bronze Medal and Certificate for "Locks, Keys and Saws".

In 1879 at the "Sydney International Exhibition", held in the specially built building for the event, "The Grand Palace" in the Sydney Domain (it was destroyed by fire in 1882), Geo. Tall & Co. was awarded 1st Prize and a Certificate for "Strongroom Door Locks and Plasterers Tools etc'.

The locks that were made by George Tall, and won the awards, were presented to the Museum of Applied Arts and Sci­ences, Sydney, by George Tall in July 1893.

The 1865 'Sands & Kenny' directory carried this advertisement -

John Ellis (Ted) Fuller (born 1892) became an apprentice to William Tall in Rowe Street in 1908 and in 1910 transferred to Charlie, trading as Geo. Tall & Co., at 48 Hunter Street. The business moved to 76 Hunter Street in about 1916.

In 1922, Charlie sold the business and the business name to his em­ployee, Ted Fuller, who became the sole Proprietor on 1st July 1922.

In 1935, the Company moved further up Hunter Street to number 84 and remained there until 1957 when, due to the demolition of the build­ing to erect the new Wentworth Hotel, the business moved to 343 Sus­sex Street, near Liverpool Street.

Ted Fuller's son, Ellis Richard (born 1922) became an apprentice in 1938 straight from school and, except for army service (1942 to 1946), re­mained with the Company until his retirement in 1989.

During the War (1939-1946) the Company was declared a 'Protected Industry' being engaged in making safes which were used by the three military Services Canteens, and repairing locks and making keys for the various Services Installations.

In 1965, Geo. Tall & Co, became Geo. Tall & Co. Ply Ltd and Ellis's son, Kevin John (born 1950) became an apprentice. Again due to demoli­tion of the Sussex Street property, the Company moved to Leichhardt in July 1986.

Another of Ellis's sons, Les Mitchell (born 1964) was apprenticed in 1983.

Upon the death of John Ellis (Ted) Fuller, in February 1976, Ellis and Kevin became Directors and in July 1994, Les became the third Direc­tor.

Kevin's son, David Ellis (born 1977) joined the Company and commenced his apprenticeship in 1993. David becomes the fourth generation of Fullers in the Company. There had been three generations of Talls.

The Company boasts of its complete competency in all phases of Locksmithing and Safe Repairs. We have supplied, opened or repaired safes and strongrooms for individuals, companies and Government Departments. We have designed and made special purpose locks and feel that perhaps the most satisfying recent achievement was the de­sign and manufacture of the special security locks for the main doors and the entrance doors to both Houses of Parliament in the new Parlia­ment House, Canberra; unfortunately they are completely hidden from view, except for the keyhole!

Until recently, lock design and operation had not changed a great deal from the days when the Egyptians, Romans and Greeks first devised mechanisms to protect their valuables. However, since World War Two, many innovations have come to light, particularly the electronic controls. The Tools of Trade are no longer a Hammer and a Forge, but machines that are complicated and, at times, linked to computers."

Ellis Richard Fuller (1922 to 2003)