Mr Darmody, who was a publican and fishing enthusiast, was last spotted at 3:30pm on Saturday near the Kennedy River in Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park, which is approximately 211 miles north west of Cairns.
He also owned the Peninsular Hotel in the rural town of Laura, which is approximately 47 miles away from the National Park where he was last seen.
Bart Harrison and John Peiti, who are friends of Mr Darmody, were nearby at the time of the incident.
Mr Harrison, from Cooktown, told The Cairns Post: “A lad came up on the road shouting ‘he’s gone, he’s gone’ and my mate [Mr Peiti] ran down the bank, and said the water was all stirred up and dirty, you could see something bad happened.
