Darchy of Australia

An illustrated history of the Darchy family, early settlers in the Western Riverina area of colonial Australia. The mysterious history of the patriarch Thomas Darchy, his voyage to Australia, his marriage to Susan Byrne from another pioneering family, and their early years in Australia are described. Included is a description of an early droving trip and stories of his descendants. Also a number of conjectures on his origins.

Born in Sydney in 1940 to Vada and Warwick Johnston, Nancy was totally deafened by meningitis when six years old. She obtained a B.Sc at the University of NSW (the first totally deaf Australian woman to gain a degree), followed by a M.Rur.Sc in Animal Genetics at the University of New England, Armidale NSW. After a stint overseas she worked for 12 years in the Biochemistry Dept at St. Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney.

She married Englishman Geoffrey Kendall Hoffmann in 1973. They lived for ten years in Bowen, North Qld on board their converted Broome pearling lugger,  together with their small daughter; taking time off from running a slipway to circumnavigate Australia in 1980-81. Following Geoff’s death from melanoma in 1983, Nancy and Nicole moved to Townsville and then Brisbane where Nancy worked as a Senior Medical Research Scientist in several succeeding faculties at the University of Queensland. She moved to Christchurch, New Zealand in 2000 and is now married to David Murray Gibb.

In 2016 Nancy & Dave made a caravan tour of eastern Australia, visting as many places associated with the early Darchys as possible. Nancy kept a blog at https://darchyblog.wordpress.com/

A keen genealogist, since her retirement she has published several illustrated travel and family history books. In 2009 she made a memorable visit to ‘Oxley’ with cousins Darchy Catt and Arthur Rowlatt. It followed a month of very welcome rain so everything was lush and green, the saltbush was blooming and it was very, very muddy! It is planned to add photos from that visit to the blog.

DR. PATRICIA ANN PRENDERGAST (1934-2013)

Ann, as she preferred to be known, was born in Hay, NSW. She is Nancy’s third cousin through the Prendergasts. She obtained a Doctorate in 1968 for a study on the History of the London Missionary Society in British New Guinea. A well-known Catholic historian, she published a number of treatises over the following years. Ann also researched the early Byrnes and Prendergasts; some of her work is incorporated in this book.

In 1985 she was on study leave under the auspices of the Kuring-gai College of Advanced Education (now known as the UTS, Sydney University of Technology). She wrote at the time: “I first came across the name d’Archy when I was putting together a history of my family who settled in what is now called the Western Riverina in the early 1850s. My GGG Aunt Margaret married as her second husband Francis, son of Thomas d’Archy squatter of Oxley station, Hay and his wife Susan Byrne.”

On first contacting James d’Archy, she told him she was researching her own family and came across his d’Archy family which appeared much more interesting (!). Among other family members she also contacted Nancy’s Aunt Betty d’Archy, who was a little bemused by all the new information and shared it with her niece Nancy …. and so began the latter’s interest in genealogy.