We'll all be rooned!

For my 2021 St Patrick's Day post I am thinking about my Irish Catholic ancestors who lived in the Australian bush and sharing a poem by John O'Brien.  John O'Brien was the pseudonym for Catholic priest, Patrick Joseph Hartigan.

O'Brien's poems have a special meaning for me as my Grandmother, Mary Tierney, gave me when I was quite young a book of O'Brien's poems, Around the Boree Log, that she had owned. I treasure this book today as I have fond memories of reading these poems with Nanna Curry. I especially loved performing the poem I have chosen for today as I enjoyed putting emphasis on the  word "rooned" that is repeated throughout.

For people living in the bush as my Irish ancestors did the social aspect of Sunday Mass was most important. It gave them a chance to talk about the effects of Australia's harsh elements on their farming activities. I can imagine my ancestors gathered on Sundays in Dungog, Cobar, Cowra, Canowindra, Burraga and Bathurst taking part in conversations similar to those related in this poem.

You can hear a recitation of the poem, Said Hanrahan, from a recording on Youtube

The poem was first published in The Catholic Press (Sydney, NSW : 1895 - 1942), 31 July, p. 19. which is available here on Trove: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article106072280. It was republished throughout the 1920s in many Australian newspapers and was published in O'Brien's collection Around the Boree Log in 1921. 

Following are all 21 verses of the poem.

SAID HANRAHAN by John O'Brien

"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
  In accents most forlorn,
Outside the church, ere Mass began,
  One frosty Sunday morn.


The congregation stood about,
  Coat-collars to the ears,
And talked of stock, and crops, and drought,
  As it had done for years.


"It's looking crook," said Daniel Croke;
  "Bedad, it's cruke, me lad,
For never since the banks went broke
  Has seasons been so bad."


"It's dry, all right," said young O'Neil,
  With which astute remark
He squatted down upon his heel
  And chewed a piece of bark.


And so around the chorus ran
  "It's keepin' dry, no doubt."
"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
  "Before the year is out."


"The crops are done; ye'll have your work
  To save one bag of grain;
From here way out to Back-o'-Bourke
  They're singin' out for rain.


"They're singin' out for rain," he said,
  "And all the tanks are dry."
The congregation scratched its head,
  And gazed around the sky.


"There won't be grass, in any case,
  Enough to feed an ass;
There's not a blade on Casey's place
  As I came down to Mass."


"If rain don't come this month," said Dan,
  And cleared his throat to speak -
"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
  "If rain don't come this week."


A heavy silence seemed to steal
  On all at this remark;
And each man squatted on his heel,
  And chewed a piece of bark.


"We want an inch of rain, we do,"
  O'Neil observed at last;
But Croke "maintained" we wanted two
  To put the danger past.


"If we don't get three inches, man,
  Or four to break this drought,
We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
  "Before the year is out."


In God's good time down came the rain;
  And all the afternoon
On iron roof and window-pane
  It drummed a homely tune.


And through the night it pattered still,
  And lightsome, gladsome elves
On dripping spout and window-sill
  Kept talking to themselves.


It pelted, pelted all day long,
  A-singing at its work,
Till every heart took up the song
  Way out to Back-o'-Bourke.


And every creek a banker ran,
  And dams filled overtop;
"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
  "If this rain doesn't stop."


And stop it did, in God's good time;
  And spring came in to fold
A mantle o'er the hills sublime
  Of green and pink and gold.


And days went by on dancing feet,
  With harvest-hopes immense,
And laughing eyes beheld the wheat
  Nid-nodding o'er the fence.


And, oh, the smiles on every face,
  As happy lad and lass
Through grass knee-deep on Casey's place
  Went riding down to Mass.


While round the church in clothes genteel
  Discoursed the men of mark,
And each man squatted on his heel,
  And chewed his piece of bark.


"There'll be bush-fires for sure, me man,
  There will, without a doubt;
We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
  "Before the year is out."

From Around the Boree Log and Other Verses, 1921

Trove Tuesday - Our Debt to Ireland

The Leprechauns are on my side tonight. 

I was just trawling thorugh Trove to see what new stories I could discover on my Irish ancestors when I found an aarticle I just had to share on this St Patrick's Day Trove Tuesday.

My Great-Aunt, Eliza Tierney, had in 1907, as a 12 year old, submitted an article to The Catholic Press in Sydney entitled "Our debt to Ireland". In the article she talks of the trials faced by early Irish priests in Australia. As she lived in Queensland I don't know if I ever met Aunt Lizzie who died when I was an infant.

Could that be Lizzie standing at the gate of the Tierney home in Mackay Street dungog?

I was thrilled to discover and read her article on St Patrick's Day. I don't know that 12 year olds today would write in a similar vein.

1905 'Our Debt to Ireland.', The Catholic Press (Sydney, NSW : 1895 - 1942), 14 September, p. 32, viewed 17 March, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article104903289

And here is the transcribed text of the article:

Our Debt to Ireland.

Mackay street, Dungog.

Dear Playmate,— I think we can justly boast of what Ireland has done for Australia. Was it not they who fought so heroically to plant the Catholic faith in Australia ? Only think
what the early Irish priests had to.endure ! The first Irish priest to land in Australia was Father James Harold,who, being deemed a rebel, was seized at the altar whilst celebratingMass,and after a short term of imprisonment transported to Australia in 1800. Some time later the Rev. James Dixon arrived; the principal charge against him was that he wore the badge inscribed 'Erin-go-Bragh. ' Those priests were doomed to the last degree of human misery,and only partially allowed to exercise their ministry. Father Dixon, an Irish priest, was the first to offer Mass in the Southern continent. He spent five years out here, and then returned to Ireland. After that Father Therry arrived, and his heroic labours entitle him to a prominent place in Australian history. It was he who secured the ,site on which St. Mary's Cathodral now stands, When Dr. Ullathorne set sail for tho home countries in 1830, one of the special commissions entrusted to him was to obtain a community of religious workers. Five Sisters of Charity embarked for Australia, and this was the beginning of the Sisterhood in this land, What a contrast between now and then? Here we are in this prosperous twentieth century with churches, schools, and convents in almost every town: aud do we not owe the blessings of the True Faith and Catholic education to our, Irish predecessors ?— I remain, your new play mate, LIZZIE TIERNEY.(Aged 12 years.)