A 125 year family history
After the passing of his father John C Dunn in 1950, Jack continued this expansion. In 1953 being a man of vision and with a keen business sense he entered the funeral industry in partnership with Mr Ossie Faulkner. The firm purchased Armitage & Armitage Funeral Directors in St John Street. Some three years later Mr Faulkner retired, the firm moved to the Brisbane Street site and became known as J A Dunn Funeral Directors.
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In 1883 an Irish immigrant, John Dunn in partnership with his friend Wilfred Williams established a stone masonry business, Dunn & Williams, in a yard where Launceston’s Town Clock now stands. In 1893 this partnership was dissolved allowing Mr Dunn’s sons Thomas, John C, & William to join the firm, renaming it J Dunn Monumental Masons. This same year the firm established itself in Brisbane Street, firstly in a yard on the corner of the Kingsway and later, in 1909 at 209 Brisbane Street, where the family funeral business still operates from today. In 1904 Carr Villa Memorial Park opened as a cemetery. J Dunn Monumental Masons having the honour of erecting the first headstone, that of Mr John Doran. The monument still stands and was a gift from Mr Dunn to the Doran family. It was erected by Jim George, who commenced work with the firm at the age of twelve and remained until retirement some 60 years later. |
