The Driscoll origins are from the area south of Ireland known as County Cork. It is unfortunate from the position of genealogical research that the vast majority of Irish Driscoll's originate, and live in, County Cork.

John Driscoll came from a Catholic family, which appears to be the common religion of the many branches of Driscoll. Driscoll's emigrated to many countries, but in particular can be found in large numbers in Australia, England, Canada and the United States.

Much of the Irish Birth, Death and Marriage records of Ireland prior to the 20th century, are not available for reasons of accidental fires, and the need for paper during harsh times. Slowly, project teams are documenting these Parish records and publishing them on the Web. Unfortunately there is still little to identify this family line and records can only be confirmed to about 1830 through names on known BDM certificates in Australia (12 July 2002).

The belong to County Cork.  At first they were concentrated in south Kerry but pressure by the O'Sullivans drove them eastwards and they settled then around Baltimore in south-west Cork.  There they remained, though pressure by the O'Mahonys and the O'Donovan's further reduced the extent of their territory.

In 1460 the chief of the sect founded the Franciscan monastery there.  Their eponymous ancestor was Eidersceoil (which means "intermediary" or "interpreter"), the surname being Ó hEidersceoil, later corrupted to Ó Drisceoil.  Eidersceoil, who was born about 910 AD, was descended from the Lughaidh Laidhe the principal progenitor for the Corca Laidhe clan.  This clan or group name was applied to that part of County Cork embraced by the diocese of Ross.  The territorial importance of the O'Driscolls waned in the seventeenth century, but many of the leading men were prominent in the army of James II in Ireland.

Cornelius O'Driscoll, the son of one of these, when a colonel in the Irish Brigade, greatly distinguished himself at the battle of Ondara in 1707.  Notwithstanding successive confiscations, members of the sect continued to live in their homeland.  More recently, births of Driscolls are occurring almost always in region of Munster and most of those in County Cork.

O'Driscoll is  a notable example of the resumption of the prefixes O and Mac to surnames from which they had been dropped during the two centuries of Gaelic depression.  Current phone directories in Ireland reveal the fact that O'Driscolls recorded outnumber the Driscolls by ten to one and in the Irish Catholic Directory there are no priests without the prefix while O'Driscolls are inserted.  A similar comparison with the mid 20th Century shows ten times as many Driscoll's as O'Driscolls.

(Source: Driscolls of Cork - http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~colin/DriscollOfCork/History.htm )

Cork (county, Republic of Ireland), largest and southernmost county of the Republic of Ireland, in Munster Province.
The Atlantic coastline of the county is broken by numerous bays and inlets, including Cork Harbour, on which is situated the county borough, Cork; Kinsale harbour; and Bantry, Clonakilty, Dunmanus, and Long Island bays. The Blackwater, Lee, and Bandon are the chief rivers of Cork.
The western part of the county is mountainous, with much boggy land; the eastern and southern parts are fertile. Agricultural products include potatoes, turnips, and oats; other industries in Cork include dairying, salmon and mackerel fishing, and mining of coal, copper, manganese, barites, sandstone, and limestone.
Area, 7459 sq km (2880 sq mi); and population in 1991 was 410,369.

Cork (city, Republic of Ireland), city in southern Republic of Ireland, county borough and seat of the county of Cork, located on the Lee River, at the head of Cork Harbour inlet. It is the second largest city in Ireland after Dublin. Cork is an important distribution center for the surrounding agricultural region, and exports cattle and other products.
Industrial establishments include breweries, distilleries, and factories for the production of chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Among the notable buildings of the city are the 19th-century Roman Catholic and Anglican cathedrals, Saint Mary's (1808) and Saint Finbar (1880), respectively; and Queen's College, Cork (1849), which has been part of the National University of Ireland since 1908.
The city dates from a religious settlement founded in AD 622 by Saint Finbar. During the 11th century the Danes made it a trading station encircled with walls.
In 1172 Cork was taken by King Henry II of England, and in 1649, during the English civil war, it fell to Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England during the Commonwealth.
The town changed hands again in 1689 when captured by John Churchill, 1st duke of Marlborough, for the English crown.
In 1920 parts of Cork were burned down by British forces after Irish nationalists raided a British military convoy.
The population in 1991 was 127,024.
From Encarta 98 Encyclopedia

Current records for the emigration to the Gold Rush are difficult to identify. This is most likely due to the timing of the early 1850's in respect to administration and government of the Port Phillip area, while being transferred from New South Wales to Victoria as it established self government. At this time there was an influx of immigrants as an outcome of the famous Potato Famine in the 1840s who were recorded under New South Wales but settled in areas such as Port Phillip and Geelong that later came under Victorian jurisdiction.

Likewise many Irish emigrants were either as victims of Transportation through the early 1800's or as family of convicts, who eventually became settlers after serving their time or being pardoned by the Governor of the day.  Records for many of these settlers are incomplete, or remain as hand-written journal entries awaiting transcription to databases.

In Ireland itself, many disasters have taken their toll on records held by the Irish government and other public bodies, in particular fires, whether accidental, or where there have been major shortages of materials and public records became fuel for survival.

The Driscoll lineage in Bendigo, Australia, at the time of writing, appears to have two possible sources.
The first is possibly a John Driscoll who was registered in HRM Navy (England) and jumped ship in early 1854 at Port Phillip to search for Gold in the "Golden Triangle" (in the previous year a gold rush had occurred in New South Wales, and over in California since 1850).
The more likely (and less romantic) source is via a journey as yet not determined where John Driscoll arrived in Bendigo during 1853 and commenced to work at the Goldfields.
(Source: Police Gazette, Deserters List January 1854 from the AIGS centre at Blackburn, Victoria.)

The alternative origin of Driscoll's to Bendigo was that John Driscoll traveled not directly from Ireland but came from another Goldfields either in New South Wales (and therefore moved south to Victoria about 1853) or direct from overseas such as the California Goldfields where Gold was discovered about 1850.

After emigrating to the Bendigo Gold Fields in the 1850's, John Driscoll set up home close to the city in various locations in the heart of Bendigo.  His children lived within Bendigo city as they raised their own families.
John progressively bought and sold properties in Bendigo from the earliest known title records for a payment of a measly £20.0.0 for a vacant piece of land in Charleston Street.  He subsequently bought and sold at Back Creek Road, Bendigo Flat Road, Macrae Street, Arnold Street and Honeysuckle Street.  His death notice indicates he was living at Garsed Street where his family continued on for many years.

Cornelius Francis lived at Neale Street, Bendigo where Thomas was born.  He later moved to Sternberg St, Bendigo and remained there until his death at an early age of 45.  He is buried in Bendigo Cemetery with his wife Elizabeth.  

Thomas Joseph Driscoll set up house in Johnston Street on the corner of George Street, in Collingwood.  This was sold in the 1950's and the site was bulldozed and now operates as a Petrol Station and Garage.  The family moved to Westgarth Street, Westgarth until it was auctioned in the early 1970's after the death of Thomas.

Bernard Phillip Driscoll and his family moved as their business interests changed.  When he married in 1955 they lived at Stanhope Street, Malvern near the corner of Dixon Street.  They lived around the South East suburbs until building their first home  in Hillview Crescent, Rowville in 1971.  After a short stay they returned to the inner South East suburbs.
In 1992, they moved to Homebush Drive in Junortoun 9 km East of Bendigo centre which Bernard had been building since 1988.
He remained until his death and chose to be buried with his ancestors and is resting in Bendigo in a newer area of the cemetery.

Brett set up his family home in North Street Richmond from 1990, after living in various locations around the South-East of Melbourne.

Other Driscoll's settled in New South Wales and South Australia.  Outside my own Driscoll family tree, are many other Driscoll's in Australia.  The White Pages in Melbourne has grown from a list of about a dozen in 1960's phone book to almost two columns in 2007.

(refer to "Driscoll's of Australia" http://home.iprimus.com.au/wjod/DoA/ )

Other family branches of Jackson (Maternal) and Drewes reveal similar parentage to the mid 1800's, but with the family background being of a struggling working class, there is little history left behind.