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<\/a><\/p>\n__PRESENT<\/span><\/p>\n
Davo Neyle has relayed the sad news of the passing of Darrell.<\/p>\n
A very belated notification of the passing of Darrell Hegarty, ex OTC Training Officer, from the 70s and 80s.<\/p>\n
By coincidence, a distant in-law relative of Darrell\u2019s has started working for me recently at the Bega Repair Caf\u00e9. Yesterday he started talking about this relative that died last year and his involvement in the navy. The story sounded very familiar, and he confirmed it was in fact Darrell he was talking about, and Darrel had died in early 2025. This chap\u2019s wife is the executor of Darrell\u2019s estate. Darrell was a single man, and largely kept to himself in his later years, other than maintaining an alumni group for HMAS Perth, his ship when in the navy. When Darrell died, they couldn\u2019t access any of his computer files or his phone, so as a result, did not know who to contact to advise of Darrell\u2019s passing. I knew Darrell had moved into Bega but he hadn\u2019t told me where too. He wasn\u2019t responding to my email or text messages, and his regular Christmas message failed to arrive, so I admit, I feared the worst.<\/p>\n
Darrell had relocated and retired to Merimbula NSW in the 1990s, after discovering a cousin, that he\u2019d never really had any dealings with in his life, lived there. This woman became his only living relative. Darrell had been managing a serious heart condition and diabetes since he was in his 60s, and eventually it caught up with him, and he moved into a retirement hospital in Bega. Unfortunately, just three weeks later he fell and hit his head. I gather it was downhill from there. Darrell was 83 when he died.<\/p>\n
Darrell had requested that his ashes be scattered at sea from a naval boat. Because of his OAM, and service to HMAS Perth, it was decided to take that one step further. His ashes were interred in a teak box, which in turn was placed in the bunk space that Darrell had used when serving on the HMAS Perth. The ship has since been towed out to sea and scuttled, and now serves as a dive wreck.<\/p>\n
Many of us who were trainees under Darrell\u2019s watch remember him very fondly. We even had a touch football team at North Sydney Tech College called \u201cDarrell\u2019s Demons\u201d. I can recall many a Friday night, having a session at the Bomb Shelter, then escorting Darrell home on the train to ensure he woke up to get off at Toongabbie Station. Darrell told us there were quite a few times he found himself at the marshalling yards in Penrith after a big night out!<\/p>\n
Below is a \u2018selfie\u2019 Davo took of Darrell and myself in November 2016.<\/p>\n