John Francis "Jack" O'Hagan OBE (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/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

. 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. ...

. His first job in the music business was at

Allans Music Allans Music was a chain of music stores in Australia. It sold all categories of musical instruments, instrument accessories and sheet music. In 2010 it became Allans Billy Hyde, but collapsed in 2012. It collapsed again in 2018, but into volunt ...

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 books or pamphlets in English, ...

for potential customers. When radio was introduced to Australia, he was one of the first to broadcast for

3LO ABC Radio Melbourne (official callsign: 3LO) is an ABC Local Radio station in Melbourne, Australia. It began transmission on 13 October 1924, and was Melbourne's second licensed radio station after 3AR. Most Local Radio stations in Victoria sim ...

, and later on

3AW 3AW is a talkback radio station based in Melbourne. It broadcasts on 693 kHz AM. It began transmission on 22 February 1932 as Melbourne's fifth commercial radio station. The station is owned and operated by Nine Entertainment Co. Hist ...

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" 1922 (used as the theme to the ''

Dad and Dave ''On Our Selection'' (1899) is a series of stories written by Australian author Steele Rudd, the pen name of Arthur Hoey Davis, in the late 1890s, featuring the characters Dad and Dave Rudd. The original edition of the book was illustrated by ...

'' 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 The ''Dog on the Tuckerbox'' is an Australian historical monument and tourist attraction, located at Snake Gully, approximately five miles (eight kilometres) from Gundagai, New South Wales as described in the song of the same name.In another v ...

" 1938 *"

Ginger Meggs ''Ginger Meggs'', Australia's most popular and longest-running comic strip, was created in the early 1920s by Jimmy Bancks. 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 1,900 Ampol-branded stations across the country . It also ope ...

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 Grade II listed West End theatre, on 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, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm ...

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, Hon ...

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

Honours

O'Hagan was awarded the OBE 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 co ...

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 songwriters 1898 births 1987 deaths Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century Australian musicians 3AW presenters Australian musical theatre composers Australian musical theatre lyricists People from Fitzroy, Victoria Musicians from Melbourne

Early life

Compositions

Honours

See also

References

External links