The Payne family reunion lunch was held at Tamworth's Longyard Hotel

Family spokesperson Jenny Janson (nee Payne), Kiama, said more than 50 people attended the lunch, with many arriving on the Friday and staying on through to Sunday, September 24.

Mrs Payne said the last reunion event had been held about eight years ago.

"My brother Gavin, who now lives in Perth, said we needed to have a get together - because he did not want to only catch up with people at funerals," Mrs Janson said.

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Family and friends living locally joined others who travelled from the Central Coast, Bateau Bay, and Muswellbrook.

Arnold Payne, who was living at Attunga, and his future wife, Justine Dolahenty, met in Muswellbrook after World War Two, and after a long-distance relationship married in 1949.

The couple eventually settled at "Brown's Spring", Attunga, and had 12 children, although one child, Robert, died aged 12 as a result of a sporting accident in 1963.

Nine of the couple's surviving children attended the September get-together weekend, along with friends and extended family.

Mrs Janson's brother, Peter, still lives in the family home at Attunga.

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