John Francis O'Hagan (29 November 189815 July 1987) was an Australian singer-songwriter and radio personality.

Early life

O'Hagan was born as John Francis O'Hagan, in Fitzroy, a suburb of

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. He was the son of Pat O'Hagan, a hotelkeeper and Alice née Quinlan. He went to school at St Patrick's College and then later at

Xavier College Xavier College is a Roman Catholic, day and boarding school predominantly for boys, founded in 1872 by the Society of Jesus, with its main campus located in Kew, an eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Classes started in 1878. The ...

. His first job in the music business was at Allans Music in Melbourne – he played

sheet music Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chords of a song or instrumental musical piece. Like its analogs – printed Book, books or Pamphlet, pamphlets ...

for potential customers. When radio was introduced to Australia, he was one of the first to broadcast for 3LO, and later on 3AW.

Compositions

Between 1916 and 1961, O'Hagan wrote over 600 songs, more than 200 of which were published. Some of O'Hagan's well-known songs are: *"

Along The Road To Gundagai "Along the Road to Gundagai" is a popular song written by Jack O'Hagan in 1922 and was first recorded by Peter Dawson in 1924, O'Hagan performed his own version later that year. Gundagai is a rural town of New South Wales. The song has had a ...

" 1922 (used as the theme to the '' Dad and Dave'' radio show); first performed by

Bass-Baritone A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three ...

singer Peter Dawson in 1924 and recorded in London before selling some 40,000 to 50,000 copies in the first three months. *" Our Don Bradman" 1930 *" Dog on the Tuckerbox" 1938 *"

Ginger Meggs ''Ginger Meggs'', created in 1921 by Jimmy Bancks, is one of Australia's most popular and the longest-running comic strip. The strip follows the escapades of a red-haired prepubescent mischief-maker who lives in an inner suburban working-class ...

" 1948 *" God Bless Australia". In 1961, it was used in a film-theatre advertisement which was run during the 1960s by the then Australian petrol company,

Ampol Ampol Limited is an Australian petroleum company headquartered in Sydney, New South Wales. Ampol is the largest transport energy distributor and retailer in Australia, with more than 1,800 Ampol-branded service stations across the country . Amp ...

and sung to the tune of "

Waltzing Matilda "Waltzing Matilda" is a song developed in the Australian style of poetry and folk music called a bush ballad. It has been described as the country's "unofficial national anthem". The title was Australian slang for travelling on foot (waltzing ...

". His music and lyrics for the stage include the musical ''The Flame of Desire'', which premiered at Melbourne's

Apollo Theatre The Apollo Theatre is a listed building, Grade II listed West End theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster, in central London.

in October 1935. In the 1940s and 1950s, O'Hagan wrote many radio commercials and campfire songs. However, the combination of the rising popularity of

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

and television ended his career. Despite writing songs about the town, O'Hagan first visited

Gundagai Gundagai is a town in New South Wales, Australia. Although a small town, Gundagai is a popular topic for writers and has become a representative icon of a typical Australian country town. Located along the Murrumbidgee River and Muniong, Honeys ...

in 1956 when he was guest of honour at the centenary celebrations of the town.

Honours

O'Hagan was awarded the

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in 1973.

References

External links

* Th
Jack O'Hagan Collection
at the

National Film and Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting, and providing access to a national c ...

contains, recordings, correspondence, sheet music, scrapbooks, financial documents, artworks, scripts etc.
Music Australia Biography: Jack O'Hagan
* Listen to an excerpt o
'Along the Road to Gundagai' sung by Peter Dawson
in 1931 o
australianscreen online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ohagan, Jack APRA Award winners Australian male songwriters 1898 births 1987 deaths Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century Australian musicians 3AW presenters Australian musical theatre composers Male musical theatre composers Australian musical theatre lyricists People from Fitzroy, Victoria Musicians from Melbourne

Early life

Compositions

Honours

See also

References

External links