Albert Victor Fuller

Albert (Bert) was born in the spring of 1906 in Christchurch, New Zealand. He was the third child and second son in his family.

In 1926 he was likely nearing the end of his apprenticeship with P.D. Duncan in St Asaph Street. His elder brother had also completed an apprenticeship there a couple of years earlier.

His brother had gone away for a week to Auckland with a mate, but ended up in Sydney – sending his friend back to tell his mother he had found work in Victoria and wouldn’t be returning to Christchurch. After that episode, I imagine there may have been a bit pressure from his parents that Bert should secure a steady job in Christchurch.

In 1926 he was twenty years old. Not yet old enough to appear on an electoral roll, but he will have been living at home with his parents in Riccarton. He played xylophone and saxophone in dance hall bands and was a keen photographer.