William Eric Archer Hughes-Jones was born in Yackandandah, Victoria, Australia, on 28 April 1902 the eldest son of William Thomas Hughes-Jones, a clergyman. He attended local schools, Wesley College, Melbourne, and the University of Melbourne. He became senior lecturer in anatomy at the Royal Mel

D'Arcy was a third generation Australian, born at Greendale, Ballan, Victoria, where his grandfather Thomas D'Arcy came from Killarney, Co Kerry, Ireland and settled in 1848. His father Patrick was Thomas's second son and his mother was a Macgillicuddy, a member of the chief clan in the same part of