Vacy
Vacy, 9 km north of Paterson, and located 184 km north of Sydney and 27 km north of Maitland, appears a very small collection of residences on the roadside in the middle of nowhere. To the west is Mt George (452 m), to the north is Mt Breckin and looming over the town to the south is Mt Johnstone (341 m).
Vacy came into existence around 1828 as a private township established by the Cory family. John Cory Sr came out from England with his sons Edward and John Jr in 1823 and they soon received grants in the area. John Jr owned Cory Vale and John Sr owned Vacy. By 1839 both grants were in the hands of another son, Gilbert, who arrived later and became the town’s real patriarch.
It remained in the family until the land was subdivided and sold in 1927. Vacy was, by the 1870s, an active town with cattle sale yards and a steady flow of livestock through the main street. Tobacco and arrowroot were grown here and processed in local factories.
