There are not many Jewish graves at Bombala Cemetery, but the headstones of most of them stand tall despite more than 100 years of sun and frost. Somewhere here is the grave of my great-grandfather, John Coronel.
John was born in the East End of London in 1842. John, along with his parents, Abraham and Rosetta, and their five other children, made a home at 178 Bedford Square. Abraham was a manufacturer and importer of cigars, which is ironic given that John’s future son (my grandfather) would be a traveller for cigarette company W.D. & H.O. Wills. John was the eldest son, but flew the coop at the tender age of 17, setting sail as a steerage passenger on the Scottish brig HMS Echo, bound for the Sydney docks.
Land lovers
John’s stay in Sydney was fleeting because most of his life was spent in the Monaro region of New South Wales and, more particularly, in a small village of 405 souls
