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John O'Brien was the pen name for the pioneer poet Monsignor Patrick Hartigan.
While his parents came from the small Irish village of Lisseycasey in County Clare, Father Pat, as that was what most people called him, was born in Yass in southern NSW in 1878. He was the fourth of nine children. His early schooling was in the town where his father ran a carrying business. Later he studied for the priesthood and attended Manly College and St Patrick’s College in Goulburn. He wrote verse while at the seminary under the pen name of Mary Ann but the reviews from The Bulletin were less than flattering. When he was ordained to the priesthood in 1903 his first appointment was Albury. It was here that his poetry began to blossom. He applauded the writings of Banjo Paterson, Will Ogilvie and Henry Lawson as they captured the real Australia whereas he was critical of other writers whose imagery reflected more that of England than Australia.
During his time in Albury he demonstrated a strong sympathy and involvement with those of other faiths while retaining a strong love of his own. He was an ecumenist long before it was popular. In 1910 he was appointed Inspector of Schools for the Goulburn Diocese and was required to take up residence outside Albury at a small settlement called Thurgoona. One of his poems, The Day the Inspector Comes can be found in his second book, The Parish of St Mel's is living testimony to the impact the Inspector had in those days on both the students and the staff.
It was in 1911 that he invested in a second-hand eight horsepower Renault that he purchased form Sydney and it was in this car that he was to carry out an epic sick call.
A bush man from the Snowy Mountains was dying and was brought by his mates some forty miles across the mountains to Hickey's Hut near Khancoban. This Irishman was Jack Riley and he wanted to see a priest before he died. Because Father Pat had the Renault the parish priest at Albury asked him would he make the journey as without the car it would take a week to travel the hundred odd miles. Father Pat took John (Joker) Byrne with him not because he was mechanical minded said Father Pat but because he would be useful to open and shut gates. When after two days they eventually found the hut and the last rites had been administered to Riley, Father Pat by way of socializing recited The Man from Snowy River. When the other bushmen went quiet Father Pat asked if he had offended. He was then told that the man he had just given the last rites to, Jack Riley was the man who had told Banjo Paterson about one of his rides and it was this ride that Paterson used to write the poem. This event with Father Pat has been documented and an account of which can be read in a copy of the newspaper of the time.
Father Pat's knowledge and love of the motor vehicle remained with him all his life and when you read such poems as Firing on the Eight, The One Ton Truck and The Ten-twelve Shebang you will marvel at the technical know-how this man had of the motor car at a time when the horse-and-buggy was still very much in use. During his life he had nine cars; Renault, T-model 6cyl. Ford, Citroen, Vauxhall, Avis, Buick Roadster, Packard, 1934 Hudson and 1936 Hudson.
In 1916 Father Hartigan became parish priest of Berrigan and in 1917 was appointed parish priest of Narrandera. Most of Father Pat's published poems have come from when he was in Albury, Berrigan and Narrandera. He was to remain in Narrandera for some twenty seven years and it was here that he took the pen name, John O'Brien . The reason for the name underpins Father Pat's sense of fun. There was a local milkman named O'Brien and around town he had the reputation of watering-down-the-milk and Father Pat reckoned that his poetry was watered-down-verse so he took the milkman's name O'Brien.
In 1944 after twenty seven years in Narrandera, Father Pat was assigned as chaplain for the Sisters at the Convent of the Sacred Heart at Rose Bay in Sydney. He wrote prose works on the pioneering priests and these were later collected and published under the title, The Men of '38. He also published a history of Darlinghurst under the title, On Darlinghurst Hill.
He died of cancer in Lewisham hospital on the 27th December 1952 and is buried with his parents at North Rocks Cemetery.
What makes the John O'Brien poetry unique is the ability of the writer to capture the characters of the times with all their Irish-Australian mannerisms; country people living simple uncomplicated lives concerned only with their family, their faith and how to make a living. These pioneering people faced the harsh environment of the Australian bush with the courage, patience, and endurance that has become synonymous with being Australian. He wrote about the bravery of those who went to war at the behest of mother England (Ownerless), and the resilience of those left behind to carry the burden of working the land (A Soldier's Mother Half a Crown). Read his works, Around the Boree Log and The Parish of St Mel's and you will find not only the true Australian countryside
but the genuine Australian who helps out in time of trouble (Currajong) or that never-to-be-satisfied farmer in Said Hanrahan. One of his contempories, C.J. Dennis wrote about Father Pat's verse;
"They are Australian first- bush Australian; they are Irish-Australian
of course,
but they are pure Australian too; good mates, good workers
full of healthy humour
and a capacity for enjoyment that most of the
world just now seems to have lost."
The Bulletin, 29 December 1921
While his biography, John O'Brien and the Boree Log written by his nephew Father Frank Mecham, is no longer being published you should be able to get a copy from your local library.
Mecham, F 1981, John O'Brien and The Boree Log, Angus and Robertson, Sydney
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