In 1865 the first Vaughan ancestors arrived on Australian shores. Michael and Margaret Vaughan arrived in Sydney on December 18 that year from Cork, Ireland. They bought with them their three children, Mary (aged 8), Michael (5), and Bridgett (2). The family quarantined then continued their trip via horse-drawn dray over the Blue Mountains to the small township of Obley (near Dubbo).

Here they purchased a small parcel of land called ‘The Washpen’ on the Dero