Patrick John (Paddy) O'Brien (12 January 1937, Wodonga, Victoria – 1998, Perth, Western Australia), was an Australian political scientist and author, teaching in the political science department of the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany and various other facilitie ...

(UWA) from 1969 until his death. He was a vocal critic of

WA Inc WA Inc was a political scandal in Western Australia. In the 1980s, the state government, which was led for much of the period by premier Brian Burke, engaged in business dealings with several prominent businessmen, including Alan Bond, Laurie ...

corruption and the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms t ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...

(WA) in the 1980s, was embroiled in a university controversy, and was elected to the 1998 Australian Commonwealth Government's People's Constitutional Convention shortly before he died, in the same year''Obituary for UWA lecturer in politics.''O'Brien, Patrick, 1937-1998. UWA leader, 24 Aug. 1998, p. 15,

Biography

O'Brien's parents were John Cornelius O'Brien and Monica Augusta Coore. He was educated at St Mary's Primary School, Ringwood, St John's Marist Brothers School,

Hawthorn Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to: Plants * '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae * ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...

and St Kevin's Christian Brothers College, Toorak. He graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1967 (BA with combined honours in history and political science).Sacks M A (ed) ''The WAY 79 Who is Who: synoptic biographies of Western Australians ''Crawley Publishers, Western Australia, 1980. (Patrick O'Brien monograph on p.291) In 1961, he married Valerie Joy Prowse, with whom he had one son and two daughters. Prior to embarking on his academic career at the University of Western Australia (UWA) in 1969, he had worked as a press and radio journalist for four years and gained eight years' experience of teaching in primary, secondary and senior technical education. At UWA, he became an associate professor in political science "with a particular focus on twentieth century totalitarianism and was best known publicly for his involvement in two high-profile campaigns, as a leading critic of the Western Australian Burke Labor government ... and as a vocal direct-election republican". After his death, UWA established a Patrick O'Brien Foundation "in honour of his outstanding contribution to issues of public policy and political debate in Australia" with funds donated by colleagues, friends and admirers.

Bibliography

*(Ed.) O'Brien, P and Webb, M ''The Executive State—WA Inc & The Constitution'' Constitutional Press, Perth (1991): *O'Brien, P ''The Saviours: An Intellectual History of the Left in Australia'' Drummond, Victoria, Australia 1977. *O'Brien, P ''Constitutional Conflict in Australia'' *O'Brien, P ''The Liberals: Factions, Feuds and Fancies'' Viking, Melbourne, 1985. *(Ed.) O'Brien, P ''The Burke Ambush: Corporatism and Society in Western Australia'' Apollo Press, Perth, WA, 1986. *O'Brien, P ''Burke's Shambles: Parliamentary Contempt in the Wild West'' Burke Press, Melbourne, 1987. *O'Brien, P ''The People's Case: Democratic and Antidemocratic Ideas in Australia's Constitutional Debate'' Australian Scholarly Publications, Collingwood, Vic, Australia, 1995.

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* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:OBrien, Patrick 1937 births 1998 deaths University of Melbourne alumni Australian political scientists University of Western Australia faculty 20th-century political scientists

Biography

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