{{Short description|Australian historian}} {{for|the biochemist|Patrick H. O'Farrell}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2016}} {{Use Australian English|date=November 2016}} {{Infobox academic | name = Patrick O'Farrell | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Patrick James O'Farrell | birth_date = {{Birth date|1933|09|17|df=y}} | birth_place = Greymouth, New Zealand | death_date = {{Death date and age|2003|12|25|1933|09|17|df=y}} | death_place = | known_for = | spouse = {{marriage|Deirdre Genevieve MacShane|1956}} | children = 5 | relatives = | awards = | alma_mater = Australian National University | thesis_title = H.E. Holland and the labour movement in Australia and New Zealand: with special emphasis on the activity of militant socialists | thesis_url = http://hdl.handle.net/1885/15445 | thesis_year = 1960 | doctoral_advisor = | influences = <!--must be referenced from a third-party source--> | era = | discipline = History | sub_discipline = | workplaces = University of New South Wales | doctoral_students = <!--only those with WP articles--> | notable_students = | main_interests = Labour history<br>Irish history<br>Catholic Church in Australia | notable_works = | notable_ideas = | influenced = <!--must be referenced from a third-party source--> | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | footnotes = }} '''Patrick James O'Farrell''' (17 September 1933 &ndash; 25 December 2003<ref name="uniken">{{cite web|publisher=University of New South Wales|url=http://www.unsw.edu.au/news/pad/uniken/uniken0304/page15.html|title=Patrick O'Farrell Historian 1933 – 2003|access-date=2 August 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090930205525/http://www.unsw.edu.au/news/pad/uniken/uniken0304/page15.html|archive-date=30 September 2009|df=dmy-all}}</ref>) was a historian known for his histories of Roman Catholicism in Australia, Irish history and Irish Australian history.

==Early life and family== O'Farrell was born on 17 September 1933, in Greymouth, New Zealand,<ref name="NNZ">{{cite book |title=Notable New Zealanders |page=350 |publisher=Paul Hamblyn |location=Auckland |year=1979 |editor-last=Jackson |editor-first=Desney |isbn=086832020X}}</ref> into an Irish Catholic family. He was educated at the Marist Brothers High School, Greymouth, and at Canterbury University College, where he graduated Master of Arts with second-class honours in history in 1956.<ref name="NNZ"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://shadowsoftime.co.nz/university18.html |title=NZ university graduates 1870–1961: Mu–O |website=Shadows of Time |access-date=10 November 2020}}</ref>

Having moved to Australia in 1956, O'Farrell earned a PhD from the Australian National University in 1960 on the development of Harry Holland, an early Labour Party leader in New Zealand, as a militant socialist.<ref>{{cite thesis |url=http://hdl.handle.net/1885/15445 |title=H.E. Holland and the labour movement in Australia and New Zealand: with special emphasis on the activity of militant socialists |type=PhD |year=1960 |first=P. J. |last=O'Farrell |location=Australian National University |hdl=1885/15445 |access-date=10 November 2020}}</ref>

On 29 December 1956, O'Farrell married Deirdre Genevieve MacShane, and the couple went on to have five children.<ref name="NNZ"/>

==Academic career== O'Farrell was appointed as a lecturer in history at the University of New South Wales in 1959, rising to become a professor in 1972.<ref name="NNZ"/> On his retirement in 1990, he was conferred with the title of professor emeritus.

O'Farrell's first research interests were in Labour history with the 1964 publication of a work on Harry Holland. The appearance in 1968 of his book ''The Catholic Church in Australia'' led to his recognition as the leading historian of the Catholic Church and community in Australia. He subsequently also became well known for his major contributions to the writing of Irish history and of Irish Australian history.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gascoigne |first1=John |date=November 2010 |title=Patrick O'Farrell and the Patrick O'Farrell Memorial Lecture |url=https://australiancatholichistoricalsociety.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/2010_2011_achs_journal.pdf |journal=Journal of the Australian Catholic Historical Society |volume=31/2 |issue= |pages=108–9 |doi= |access-date=29 June 2021}}</ref> As an opponent of social history 'from below', he initiated a polemic against oral history in the 1980s.

==Bibliography== {{Expand list|date=September 2016}} *''Harry Holland: Militant Socialist'' (1964) *''The Catholic Church in Australia: A Short History 1788-1967'' (1968) *''Documents in Australian Catholic History 1788-1968'' (1969) *''Ireland’s English Question: Anglo-Irish Relations 1534-1970'' (1971) *''England and Ireland since 1800'' (1975) *{{cite book |author=O'Farrell, Patrick |title=The Catholic church and community in Australia : a history |location=West Melbourne |publisher=Thomas Nelson (Australia) |year=1977 <!--isbn=0170051293-->}}<ref>Revised edition of ''The Catholic church in Australia'' (1968).</ref> **{{cite book |author=O'Farrell, Patrick |author-mask=1 |title=The Catholic Church and community : an Australian history |location=Kensington, NSW |publisher=New South Wales University Press |year=1985 <!--isbn=0868402257-->}}<ref>Revised edition of ''The Catholic church and community in Australia : a history'' (1977).</ref> **{{cite book |author=O'Farrell, Patrick |author-mask=1 |title=The Catholic Church and community : an Australian history |location=Kensington, NSW |publisher=New South Wales University Press |year=1992 |edition=3rd rev. <!--isbn=0868402257-->}} *''Letters from Irish Australia 1825-1929'' (1984) *{{cite book |author=O'Farrell, Patrick |title=The Irish in Australia |location=Kensington, NSW |publisher=New South Wales University Press |year=1986 <!--isbn=0868402346-->}} **{{cite book |author=O'Farrell, Patrick |author-mask=1 |title=The Irish in Australia |location=Kensington, NSW |publisher=New South Wales University Press |year=1993 |edition=Revised <!--isbn=0868401811-->}} **{{cite book |author=O'Farrell, Patrick |author-mask=1 |title=The Irish in Australia : 1788 to present |location=Kensington, NSW |publisher=UNSW Press |year=2000 |edition=3rd <!--isbn=086840635X-->}} *{{cite book |author=O'Farrell, Patrick |author-mask=1 |title=Vanished kingdoms : Irish in Australia and New Zealand |location=Kensington, NSW |publisher=UNSW Press |year=1990 <!--isbn=086840148X-->}} *''Through Irish Eyes: Australian and New Zealand Images of the Irish 1788-1948'' (1994) *''UNSW: a Portrait'' (1999)

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading== * {{cite journal |last=Finnane |first=Mark |title=Patrick O'Farrell (1933-2003) |journal=Proceedings of the Australian Academy of the Humanities |volume=28 |issue=2003 |pages=48–51 |url=http://www.humanities.org.au/Resources/Downloads/Publications/Proceedings/Proc2003.pdf |access-date=2009-02-18 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110411120104/http://www.humanities.org.au/Resources/Downloads/Publications/Proceedings/Proc2003.pdf |archive-date=11 April 2011 |df=dmy-all }}

==External links== *[http://www.patrickofarrell.com/ Patrick O'Farrell website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100514094430/http://www.patrickofarrell.com/ |date=14 May 2010 }} *[http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Search/Home?lookfor=author:%22O%27Farrell,%20Patrick,%201933-2003%22&iknowwhatimean=1 Patrick O'Farrell at the National Library of Australia] *[http://www.abc.net.au/rn/religionreport/stories/2004/1037077.htm The Religion Report (ABC Radio National) - Patrick O'Farrell]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ofarrell, Patrick}} Category:1933 births Category:2003 deaths Category:University of Canterbury alumni Category:Australian National University alumni Category:Academic staff of the University of New South Wales Category:People from Greymouth Category:New Zealand Roman Catholics Category:New Zealand people of Irish descent Category:New Zealand emigrants to Australia Category:20th-century Australian historians Category:People educated at John Paul II High School, Greymouth