Obituaries Australia

Patrick O'Brien, n.d.

from Pastoral Review, 16 February 1917

Pat O'Brien, of the Nest, Leura, N.S.W., passed peacefully away on the evening of the 25th January.

To the great majority of people the above paragraph means the ordinary death notice, but to a large number of the poor and needy in New South Wales and Queensland it means the loss of a good friend and the passing away of a simple, clean minded man, who notwithstanding his worldly success in life, remained the same to the last, and of whom it can be truthfully said that he was one of nature's gentlemen.

Arriving in Australia 54 years ago a strong, healthy young man of 19, with a physique and bearing that would attract anyone's attention, he made his way to North Queensland, where there were good openings for those who were prepared to avail themselves of them by hard, strenuous work, and enduring the hardships attendant on pioneering in a new country. He never spared the strength that nature had so bountifully provided him with, but while struggling to improve his own condition, he was always prepared to help a lame dog "over the stile."

He became interested in a number of ventures, and as the principal of the firm of Steele, Hunt, & O'Brien, struck it rich in the Cumberland mine, near Georgetown, which was eventually sold to an English company for a considerable sum, most of which was promptly invested in cattle stations in the Gulf district. A new partnership was formed to include Mr. Francis Cobbold, which continued during the lifetime of William Steele and Edward Hunt, and was only finally dissolved when the firm sold all their station property to the Queensland Meat Export and Agency Company 1st January, 1903, and the subject of our notice retired from his former activities and established a home in Sydney.

Two years afterwards the two survivors of the old pastoral partnership joined hands again and became the owners of several sheep stations, including Mitchell Downs near Mitchell, and Langlo and Listowel Downs in the Blackall district, under the firm name of Cobbold & O'Brien, continuing until death again dissolved the partnership.

In nearly forty years of the late gentleman's association with his several partners, no word of discord or difference ever arose, and so united by the most loyal ties, enabled the old and later firms to win through all vicissitudes to a success none deserved more than the late Patrick O'Brien.

The deceased was married twice, and leaves a widow, also a married daughter (Mrs. A. J. Cobcroft) of Warwick, Queensland.