Monsignor Monsignor (; it, monsignore ) is an honorific form of address or title for certain male clergy members, usually members of the Roman Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" ...

Patrick Joseph Hartigan (13 October 1878 – 27 December 1952) was an Australian

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

, educator, author and poet, writing under the name John O'Brien.

Biography

Born at

Yass, New South Wales Yass () is a town in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia in Yass Valley Council. The name appears to have been derived from an Aboriginal word, "Yarrh" (or "Yharr"), said to mean 'running water'. Yass is located 280 km ...

Patrick Joseph Hartigan studied at

St Patrick's Seminary, Manly St Patrick's Seminary, Manly is a heritage-listed former residence of the Archbishop of Sydney and Roman Catholic Church seminary at 151 Darley Road, Manly, Northern Beaches Council, New South Wales, Australia. The property was also known as ...

and

St Patrick's College, Goulburn (If you do something, do it well) , status = Closed , established = , closed = 2000 (merged into Trinity Catholic College, Goulburn) , city = Goulburn , state = New South Wales , country = Australia , campus = , coo ...

His poetry was very popular in Australia and was well received in Ireland and the United States. Hartigan died in

Lewisham Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified in the London Plan as one ...

, an inner suburb of Sydney in 1952.

Works

Hartigan wrote under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individu ...

"John O'Brien." His verse celebrated the lives and

mores Mores (, sometimes ; , plural form of singular , meaning "manner, custom, usage, or habit") are social norms that are widely observed within a particular society or culture. Mores determine what is considered morally acceptable or unacceptable ...

of the

outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompass a ...

pastoral folk he ministered to as a peripatetic

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy ...

in the southern New South Wales and

Riverina The Riverina is an agricultural region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, warm to hot climate and an ample supply of water for irrigation ...

towns of Thurgoona, Berrigan and

Narrandera Narrandera ( ) until around 1949 also spelled "Narandera", is a town located in the Riverina region of southern New South Wales, Australia. The town lies on the junction of the Newell and Sturt highways, adjacent to the Murrumbidgee River, and ...

, in the first two decades of the 20th century. The refrain ''We'll all be rooned'' from his poem '' Said Hanrahan'' has entered

colloquial Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom normally employed in conve ...

Australian English Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language and ''de facto'' national language; while Australia has no official language, Eng ...

as a jocular response to any prediction of dire consequences arising, particularly, from events outside the interlocutor's control. ''Echos of the well-known poem about Irish-Catholic-bush-pessimist Hanrahan* came out of the Australian Capital Territory'' He also wrote a number of articles on early Irish priests in Australia, later collected in ''The Men of '38 and Other Pioneer Priests''.''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.

Legacy

His most popular book of poetry was filmed in 1925 as ''

Around the Boree Log ''Around the Boree Log'' is a 1925 Australian silent film by Phil K. Walsh adapted from the poems of "John O'Brien" ( Patrick Joseph Hartigan). It tells stories of a priest's life around the 1870s in the Goulburn area.Andrew Pike and Ross Coope ...

''. A John O'Brien Festival is held annually in Narrandera.

References

External links

The Life and Poetry of John O'Brien
- brief biography, timeline and 25 poems

and selection of Hartigan's bush poetry
John O'Brien's Poetry
- brief biography and three poems
Narrandera's John O'Brien Festival
* 1878 births 1952 deaths Australian poets 20th-century Australian Roman Catholic priests Catholic poets People from New South Wales People from the Riverina Irish-Australian culture {{Australia-writer-stub