William and his wife Catherine Hayes came out to Port Phillip on the Enmore. They 
left Cork, Ireland on 22 June 1841 and arrived 4th October 1841. They were 
listed as Wiliam and Mary Fannin, farm servants. William was 28 and could read but 
not write and Catherine was 24 and could neither read or write. They are both listed 
as Roman Catholic. The fares or bounties were 19 pounds each and they came as 
assisted passengers.They were imported by a James Cain,as were all the passengers on 
the passenger list. The above information comes from the ship's passenger list. The 
following information is from conversations between family members in 2002 at Bulla 
on the 150th anniversary of the familys' arrival at Bulla.
William know as "Big Bill" spent the first 6 mths or so working at Werribee and this 
could have been to repay the fare. It is believed that they moved to land at Bulla 
and may have settled there before actually purchasing the property in 1844. The land 
was purchased from the NSW Govt as the State of Victoria did not exist then. When 
gold was discovered at Bendigo in 1851 Big Bill set up a business taking goods across 
to the goldfields, at 100 pounds a ton. It is thought he would have used bullock 
teams as the tracks were extremely rough. A round trip taking up to three months. The 
first day would take them to Monegetta.Big Bill did 4-5 trips in a year and Catherine 
kept the farm going. Big Bill purchased land at Emu Flat( the other side of the 
Sunbury Rd from the Bulla land) and Monegetta and Kilmore,. He also owned(can't find 
any record of ownership may have been squatters rights) land in Spring St Melbourne. 
About 10 years after Bill and Catherine came out from Ireland about 17 of the 
extended family came out from Tipperary. Bill was not very welcoming and let them 
stay in the cattle sheds at Bulla. Apparently he did however let them stay for three 
months at the Spring Street land before a group of them went north some to Queensland 
and some to New South Wales.

We require assistance, if you are reading this and you can help, we are looking for 
connections to the following families, Fanning from Lisaroon prior to 1731 , Darmody 
from Thurles, Hayes from Thurles and Ruth from Clane, Kildare prior to 1805. If you 
can help please contact us fanningaust@gmail.com.

Thank you to my first cousin for all of the research she has done on the Fanning side 
also thank you to my third cousin for all of the research she has done on the Ruth 
side.