In 1967, a year after migrating to Australia from England, Margaret Duffy and her husband Michael got into a hire car and drove from Sydney to Thirroul.
Margaret loved D H Lawrence and wanted to see where the book Kangaroo had been set and written at Thirroul in the Illawarra.
On the way home on Appin Road they saw the Lend Lease “House and Land Packages for Sale” sign and literally on a whim bought the house at Campbellfield Avenue, Bradbury, which would be her home for the next 57 years.
Margaret Josephine Duffy was born 22 January 1942 in rural Loughborough after her pregnant mother was evacuated from wartime London.
In 1966 she married Michael Edward Duffy in Watford, and the newlyweds promptly boarded the Castelle Felice to come to Australia, arriving late that year.
Mr Duffy worked for more than 30 years at Campbelltown Council and Margaret was a homemaker. They had four children: Luke Edward (1969) Patrick John (1971), Joanna Clare (1977) and Nicholas Peter (1981).
Margaret Duffy was a pioneer of home day care for many local children and assisted many working mothers over many years.
Through her involvement in education as a volunteer and later a teacher for 25 years at Holy Family at Ingleburn, and through her Catechism and participation in the Parish of St John the Evangelist Campbelltown, she became a pillar of the Catholic Church and community of Campbelltown.
She became a single parent in 1985 and her determination and selflessness while maintaining her work in the church and community (including for many years as secretary of 1st Bradbury Scout Group in the 1980s) and raising four talented and demanding children became the stuff of legend.
She was a member of the Campbelltown and Airds Historic Society, and long time supporter and well known face at the HJ Daley Library.
A tireless supporter of education as the key to opportunity for children from more difficult socio economic backgrounds, she was honoured in 2020 by the establishment of the Margaret Duffy Law Scholarship at the Law Faculty of the University of Western Sydney.
The scholarship is awarded each year to a student of outstanding academic potential to help overcome financial hardship.
Margaret Duffy died on May 29, after a battle with cancer and is survived by her children Luke, Patrick, Joanna and Nick, and 12 grandchildren.
The Campbelltown and wider Macarthur community has lost, and mourns, one of our finest.
She represents the bedrock on which our communities are often built, and her legacy in our community, and amongst her family and friends, will be felt for many years to come.
- A funeral service will be held for Margaret Duffy at 10.30am on Tuesday, June 20 at St John’s Catholic Church, Campbelltown.
