John Donoghue

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For the Welsh humorist, see John Donoghue (writer).

John Donoghue (1822-1892) was pioneering Irish Catholic settler in the British colony of New South Wales. Donoghue arrived in Sydney in 1853. He had been born in County Wicklow, Ireland. John was the nephew of the Wicklow Chief, Michael Dwyer. Both his grandfather John Dwyer and his mother Catherine Donoghue(nee Dwyer) had been imprisoned by the British in Kilmainham goal in 1802. His grandfather's and mother's only crime that they were related to the Wicklow Chief Michael Dwyer. Michael Dwyer conducted a guerilla campaign against British occupation of Ireland from 1798 to 1803.

John Donoghue had left Ireland in the 1840's, presumably to escape the Irish Famine. Donoghue traveled to Paisley in Scotland where he met and married his wife, Scottish Protestant born Mary Anne Sheppard (1824-1916). Donoghue had thirteen children and numerous descendants throughout Australia.

Donoghue constructed a huge colonial house in Bungendore, New South Wales. The house is a landmark piece of Australian colonial architecture and called The Old Stone House in Molonglo Rd, Bungendore.