John Farrell

John Farrell (18 December 1851 – 8 January 1904) was an Australian poet and journalist.

Farrell spent some time in Darwin, Northern Territory, gold-digging

Literary career In 1878 Farrell published, using the name John O'Farrell, Ephemera: An Iliad of Albury, a small pamphlet of verse, and a rare Australian publication.

Late life and legacy Farrell continued to be a regular contributor to the Telegraph until 1903 due to Bright's disease on 8 January 1904. Farrell had married in November 1876 Elizabeth Watts, who survived him with four sons and three daughters. In 1904 a memorial edition of Farrell's poems was published with a memoir by the critic Bertram Stevens under the title of My Sundowner and other Poems. It was re-issued in 1905 as How He Died and other Poems. The contents differ substantially from the 1887 volume of the same name. Farrell's gravestone is inscribed with: Sleep Heart of Gold! 'Twas not in vain You loved the struggling and the poor, And taught, in sweet and strenuous strain To battle and endure. The lust of wealth, the pride of place, Were not a light to guide thy feet, But larger hopes and wider space For hearts to beat.