John O'Brien was the pen name of Father Patrick Hartigan, born in Yass, New South Wales, in 1878. He was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in 1903 and in 1917 became parish priest for Narrandera, a position he held for twenty-seven years. His first volume of verse, Around the Boree Log, was published in 1921 and included the well-known poems 'Said Hanrahan', 'The Old Bush School' and 'Tangmalangaloo'. His second collection, The Parish of St Mel's, was published posthumously in 1954. John O'Brien died in 1952.
![Cover of Focaloir Gaoidhilge-Sax-Bhearla; Or, an Irish-English Dictionary [by J. O'Brien]](https://images.bookhype.com/covers/ba/10/915748a8-326d-400c-a4b9-48880c3301ab/9780341971566-ece09f9b6069452cd8d688-medium-cropped.jpg)
