Four Mullans from Blossom Hill

For about twenty-five years Val Mullan in Queensland and Dave Mullan in New Zealand have corresponded about the possibility of putting together some kind of record of the four Mullan siblings who emigrated from Blossom Hill in Co. Tyrone to the other end of the world. This collaboration initially was limited to the gathering of information for a Family Tree and was prompted in New Zealand by WA Mullan who was the last direct descendant of four brothers and sisters who left Northern Ireland for better lives in the Antipodes.
A gathering of more than fifty interested family members—including the redoubtable WA Mullan in his nineties—in Redcliffe in May 2001 created a lot of interest. Pamphlets were offered and family stories shared. But the event did not produce a lot of new information. And the concentrated work needed to pull together all the material that was available could not be done at that time.
A decade and a half later, with shared online drafting and editing, there has been enough time to collate some kind of coherent story with such facts and impressions as are still available. Most of what has been discovered has been Val’s work and her prodigious output of notes has continued and the writing has progressed. In early 2106 when Dave had already gained some experience of online publishing, we began to bring together our various notes. A major family resource was becoming available for future researchers, students, and interested family members.
Obviously this process could go on for years. But we judged it better to put together some kind of document now with what we know rather than to keep fossicking around for stories which may or may not still come through from family members.
So this account focuses on the four Mullans who left Blossom Hill and the first generation after them. We believe that their stories can be assembled by other people. We are happy to record what we can for now about the four brothers and sisters who were born at Blossom Hill.
So our story begins at that modest property. It goes on to introduce other relations who preceded our four out to Australia and New Zealand and whose lives became intermingled with the four. Then, as best we can, we tell the story of each of the four in order of their age
Samuel Hood. and his sister Rebecca Campbell emigrated to Queensland. They both had several surviving children and there is now a large community of Mullans and Campbells in Australia. Jennie Chittick and Crawford Mullan both moved to New Zealand but their small families did not result in a large continuing family in that country.