Patrick Joseph Hartigan

Monsignor Patrick Joseph Hartigan (13 October 1878 - 27 December 1952) was an Australian poet, Roman Catholic priest, educator, and author.

Life
Born at Yass, New South Wales Patrick Joesph Hartigan studied at St. Patrick's Seminary, Manly and St Patrick's College, Goulburn.

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

Hartigan died in Lewisham, an inner suburb of Sydney in 1952.

Writing
Hartigan wrote under the pseudonym "John O'Brien." His verse celebrated the lives and mores of the outback pastoral folk he ministered as a peripatetic curate to the southern New South Wales and Riverina towns of Thurgoona, Berrigan and Narrandera, in the first two decades of the 20th century.

The refrain We'll all be rooned from his poem Said Hanrahan has entered colloquial Australian English as a jocular response to any prediction of dire consequences arising, particularly, from events outside the interlocutor's control.

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