"Said Hanrahan" is a poem written by the Australian

bush poet The bush ballad, bush song, or bush poem is a style of poetry and folk music that depicts the life, character and scenery of the Australian bush. The typical bush ballad employs a straightforward rhyme structure to narrate a story, often one of ...

John O'Brien, the

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

of Roman Catholic priest

Patrick Joseph Hartigan Monsignor Patrick Joseph Hartigan (13 October 1878 – 27 December 1952) was an Australian Roman Catholic priest, educator, author and poet, writing under the name John O'Brien. Life Born at Yass, New South Wales Patrick Joseph Hartigan studie ...

. The poem's earliest known publication was in July 1919 in ''

The Catholic Press ''The Catholic Press'' was a Sydney-based newspaper that was first published on 9 November 1895 and ran until 26 February 1942, after which it amalgamated with the Catholic ''Freeman's Journal'' and was reborn as ''The Catholic Weekly''. Hi ...

'', appearing in 1921 in the anthology '' Around the Boree Log and Other Verses''. The poem describes the recurrent natural cycle of

drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

s and

bushfires A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...

in rural Australia as seen by "Hanrahan", a

pessimistic Pessimism is a mental attitude in which an undesirable outcome is anticipated from a given situation. Pessimists tend to focus on the negatives of life in general. A common question asked to test for pessimism is "Is the glass half empty or half ...

man of Irish descent. "'We'll all be rooned', said Hanrahan"—an

adage A proverb (from ) or an adage is a simple, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and are an example of formulaic speech, formulaic language. A proverbial phrase ...

extracted from the poem—has entered the

Australian English Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language and ''de facto'' national language. While Australia has no of ...

lexicon.

Poem Description

The poem starts with the area in the grip of a drought, the worst since "the banks went bad"; a reference to the drought and banking crisis of the early 1890s. :''"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 time, the rains "drummed a homely tune" on "iron roof and window-pane". The problem then changed from drought to flood. "Banker" refers to a watercourse filled from bank to bank, unusual in Australia where many watercourses are

ephemeral Ephemerality (from the Greek word , meaning 'lasting only one day') is the concept of things being transitory, existing only briefly. Academically, the term ephemeral constitutionally describes a diverse assortment of things and experiences, fr ...

or only intermittently full. :''And every creek a banker ran,'' ::''And dams filled overtop;'' :''"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,'' ::''"If this rain doesn't stop."'' "In God's good time" the rain stopped and spring arrived with "harvest-hopes immense". The "knee-deep" grass, while good for feeding livestock, brought to mind the risk of bushfire. :''"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."''

Popular culture

The key refrain in the poem is "We'll all be rooned" ("rooned" is a transcription of an

Irish Australian Irish Australians () are ‌‍‍‍‍residents of Australia who are either fully or partially of Irish people, Irish descent. Irish immigrants and their descendants have had a prominent presence in Australian society since the First Fle ...

pronunciation of "ruined") which has entered the Australian lexicon as a dismissive response to predictions of disasters or hard times, especially those out of the control of the speakers.

The Poem

SAID HANRAHAN :"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 lookin' 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 a 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." John O'Brien

References

External links

Questioning Hanrahan: Environmental optimism and realism in the 21st century

Address by the Governor of Queensland
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090913054550/http://www.govhouse.qld.gov.au/the_governor/guaddress.aspx , date=2009-09-13 Australian poems 1921 poems Irish-Australian culture Works about philosophical pessimism