Patrick McDonough and Catherine McCarthy from Boyle in County Rosscommon left Dublin, arriving in Sydney in 1839 on the Crusader with their five children – Bernard, John, Margaret, Catherine and Thomas.
Margaret McDonough married Captain James Barrie (Barry) in Sydney in 1844. Their son, John Barrie, was born at Penrith in 1845 and their daughter, Catherine Barrie, was born in 1847.
It’s said that whilst living in Sydney, Captain James Barrie bought land at Rawdon Island near Port Macquarie and the McDonough family came with the Barrie family to live at Rawdon Villa in 1847. Apparently Captain Barrie went to sea again in 1847 after settling the families. Nothing was heard of him, his ship or his crew again.
Margaret Barrie then brought up her children alone. John Barrie married Mary Anne Clarke in 1875. Catherine Barrie married Francis Walsh in 1868 in Kempsey. Francis was born in 1842, a son of James Walsh and Johanna Fahey.
Margaret Barrie had three hundred and fifty acres of land at Crescent Head, before the village was built. She died in 1899 at eighty-two years old and was buried at East Kempsey Cemetery.