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About Darcy's Hotel

D'Arcy Wentworth - A History of Darcy

D'Arcy Wentworth was granted 3.73 km² of land in what is now known as Homebush, part of the Strathfield municipality. Historian Michael Jones says that "D'Arcy Wentworth is popularly credited with having called the area after his 'home in the bush', although Homebush is also a place in Kent." Here he was put in charge of the police force and in 1810 became the commissioner of a road toll from Sydney to Parramatta.

Around 1808, D'Arcy Wentworth played a significant role in the rebellion against and overthrow of William Bligh, then governor of the colony. The participants in the rebellion claimed that Bligh had suspended D'Arcy Wentworth from his role as assistant surgeon on the staff, without reason or justice.

In 1810 D'Arcy Wentworth with two others was given by Governor Lachlan Macquarie a licence to import large quantities of rum on condition that they built a hospital to cater for up to two hundred patients. The original Sydney Hospital was in the Rocks, but the one covered by the contract was in Macquarie Street. What was the original Sydney Hospital in Macquarie Street became in 1854 the Sydney branch of the Royal Mint.

D'Arcy Wentworth was one of the original shareholders and directors of the Bank of New South Wales formed at the end of 1816. It is now part of what became Westpac Banking Corporation.

D'Arcy Wentworth built his home in Homebush. By the time of his death D'Arcy Wentworth had accumulated 543.2 km² of land and had built a large family home. He died in 1827.