- page -
http://www.cdu.edu.au/cdupress
Go Back >> List of Entries
(16 hectares), and later for 640 acres (260 hectares). Obviously, from the first months there, the family decided
it was home and wanted to make it permanent. George used his wagon to carry stores from Borroloola to the
Tableland stations until 1931. He also carried loads of copper ore from his mines as back-loading to Borroloola.
In 1933 he purchased his first vehicle, a Chevrolet 4, which he converted to a utility. This was used to sell fruit and
vegetables to the Tableland—pumpkins, bananas at two Shillings a dozen, sweet potatoes, pawpaws, tomatoes,
cabbages.
The family had originally 27 head of cattle purchased from Joe Webb, but until this time had not had much to
do with breeding cattle. At this time in their lives—in the 1930s—there was no local market for beef, no abattoir
within reasonable distance, and no sale for the cattle if they went elsewhere. However, the Darcys set about
maintaining their herd, branding with George’s GTD, still in use many years later, and breeding calves. Gradually
the numbers built up and the stock improved. Someone kindly gave them a well-bred Aberdeen Angus bull calf.
The Second World War proved the catalyst of change for George Darcy and his growing family—Elizabeth had
15 children altogether. Beef and more beef was needed to feed the troops and was the basis of Darcy prosperity.
In 1938 George leased more land, and another 1166 square kilometres in 1947. Three years later an additional
1303, making by 1960 a total of 4 000 square kilometres, was leased. George worked this with his growing sons
and daughters as stockmen, horse-breeders, saddlers, cooks and gardeners. By 1942 their cattle herd had grown
large enough to require mustering and branding on a regular basis and the first Mallapunyah stock camp went out.
In 1944 the first bullocks were sold to the butcher from Tennant Creek, who took delivery at Anthony’s Lagoon.
He gave the m a head. Over the next few years several mobs of cattle were sold alongside Creswell bullocks.
From 1954 to 1959 George sent two or three of his sons with the fat bullocks, to Mount Isa, Djarra or Yelvertoft,
which entailed 10 weeks on the stock route, watching the cattle every night. Until 1952 the family was large
enough to muster the herd, but then men had to be employed as, although George’s sons were still working, many
of his daughters had left the property to get married and have families of their own.
George was, as pioneers had to be, inventive and resourceful. His first vehicle he converted to a ‘ute’ to carry
more produce. His second he converted to a gas burner, as petrol was scarce during the war. In several places near
the homestead one can still see depressions in the ground, where snappy gum was burnt into charcoal for use in
the gas burner. The car did not go very fast, but it did go, and there was plenty of fuel for it! Once an axle snapped
when George was miles from anywhere. He used a hollow tree as a forge, and welded the axle before continuing
on his way. Money was short during the 1930s and many items were in short supply during the war. George grew
his own tobacco, pressing it with methylated spirits and treacle. Coffee was made out of dried and ground bananas
and many fruits were preserved or dried for all year use. Mallapunyah was as self-sufficient as possible.
In 1964, when George was 74, he retired to Cloncurry, where many of his daughters and their families were
living. He turned over the lease of Mallapunyah to his six sons, handing them a first-rate property built up to
several thousand head of cattle, every year sending off up to a thousand of the biggest bullocks in the Territory.
There were several bores, dams, cattle yards, and a good quantity of machinery. Within 30 years George, Elizabeth
and their children had changed wild bush to a prosperous business and the Darcy name had become synonymous
with good cattle, straight dealing and some interesting characters. Over the next seven years George welcomed his
old friends and family members to his house and table in Cloncurry, sharing many a bottle and old story together.
He died from a heart attack in October 1971, aged 82, leaving 60 direct descendants. He was buried in the old
cemetery in Cloncurry.
Family letters and photographs.
FIONA M DARCY, Vol 1.
DASHWOOD, CHARLES JAMES (1842–1919), farmer, public servant, lawyer, administrator and judicial
officer, was born on 17 July 1842 at Parkhurst, his father’s rural holding at Dashwood’s Gully, near Eyre’s Flat
(now Kangarilla) 40 kilometres south-east of Adelaide, second son of George Frederick Dashwood, naval officer,
farmer, magistrate and public servant, and his wife Sarah Rebecca, nee Loine, an orphan and Roman Catholic.
Dashwood attended the Collegiate School of St Peter in Adelaide from 1851 to 1858 when he left to go abroad
with his parents and two brothers and two sisters when his father was appointed Emigration Officer of South
Australia in London. During 1858 Dashwood and his older brother George attended the Rijksuniversiteit at Ghent
in Belgium where the younger man studied civil engineering. Dashwood returned to South Australia spending
several years on the land with his younger brother Frank at Guichen Bay in the southeast of South Australia.
In May 1865 Dashwood returned to Adelaide when he was first appointed Clerk of Local Court at Woodside
and, in September, Fourth Clerk of Local Court in Adelaide where he remained until April 1868. He was articled
in May 1868 to an Adelaide solicitor W H Bundey, (Minister Controlling the Northern Territory in 1874) and
was admitted to practice in November 1873. In 1884 Dashwood took over the practice when Bundey became
a Supreme Court judge. Later he entered into partnership with C G Varley in 1890. Dashwood’s legal career
was undistinguished, being confined to civil matters such as bankruptcy, paternity suits and salvage. He was
elected as the member for Noarlunga in the House of Assembly in 1887, resigning his scat in 1892 to become
the Government Resident (‘our GR’) in Palmerston. While in Parliament, Dashwood acquired a reputation for
forceful debate, often taking an unpopular stand on political issues, particularly those concerning the Chinese
in the Northern Territory. But Dashwood supported the movement for federation based upon white supremacy;
he had sympathy for non-Europeans in Australia uncharacteristic of his time but this prevailed only if they were to
remain the labour force and did not become entrepreneurs.