John O'Brien (poet)
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Monsignor Patrick Joseph Hartigan (13 October 1878 – 27 December 1952) was an Australian Roman Catholic priest, educator, author and poet, writing under the name John O'Brien.
Life[edit]
Born at Yass, New South Wales Patrick Joseph Hartigan studied at St Patrick's Seminary, Manly and St Patrick's College, Goulburn.[1] [2]
His poetry was very popular in Australia and was well received in Ireland and the United States.
Hartigan died in Lewisham, an inner suburb of Sydney, in 1952.
Works[edit]
Hartigan wrote under the pseudonym "John O'Brien." His verse celebrated the lives and mores of the outback pastoral folk he ministered to as a peripatetic curate in the southern New South Wales and Riverina towns of Thurgoona, Berrigan and Narrandera, in the first two decades of the 20th century.[3][4]
The refrain We'll all be rooned from his poem Said Hanrahan has entered colloquial Australian English as a jocular response to any prediction of dire consequences arising, particularly, from events outside the interlocutor's control.[5]
He also wrote a number of articles on early Irish priests in Australia, later collected in The Men of '38 and Other Pioneer Priests.[6]
Legacy[edit]
His most popular book of poetry was filmed in 1925 as Around the Boree Log.
A John O'Brien Festival is held annually in Narrandera.[7]
References[edit]
- ^ Australian National University, "Patrick Joseph Hartigan", Australian Dictionary of Biography Online, 12 May 2011
- ^ "Monsignor P.J. Hartigan's reminiscences". Narandera Argus and Riverina Advertiser. 26 May 1952. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
- ^ F.A. Mecham, "John O'Brien" and the Boree Log (Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1981).
- ^ Franklin, James (2019). "Catholic rural virtue in Australia: ideal and reality" (PDF). Journal of the Australian Catholic Historical Society. 40: 39–61. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
- ^ O’Dwyer, Tim. "We'll All Be Rooned, said Hanrahan". Lawyers Conveyancing. Archived from the original on 10 April 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2009. Echos of the well-known poem about Irish-Catholic-bush-pessimist Hanrahan* came out of the Australian Capital Territory
- ^ The Men of '38 and Other Pioneer Priests, by "John O'Brien" ed. T.J. Linane and F.A. Mecham, with a foreword by His Eminence Cardinal James Freeman, Kilmore Publishing, Lowden VIC, 1975.
- ^ "John O'Brien Festival". Narrandera Shire Council. 2011. Archived from the original on 28 October 2009. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
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External links[edit]
- The Life and Poetry of John O'Brien - brief biography, timeline and 25 poems
- Brief biography and selection of Hartigan's bush poetry
- John O'Brien's Poetry - brief biography and three poems
- Narrandera's John O'Brien Festival
- ADB article
- Works by John O'Brien at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
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