John David Hennessey

John David Hennessey (1847 – 31 July 1935), also known as Rev. J. D. Hennessey and David Hennessey, journalist and author, was born in London and went to Australia in 1875. He lived in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.

Hennessey was a Methodist and Congregational minister and preached at the Wharf street Congregational Church in Brisbane and the Pitt street Congregational Church in Sydney. He founded the Australian Christian World in 1886 and edited it until 1891. In 1894 he edited the Australian Field, a weekly agricultural paper.

Hennessey retired from journalism when about seventy years old, however he continued his literary work until shortly before his death, which occurred after a brief illness. He was buried at the Dromana Cemetery.

As well as short stories in magazines in Australia and England, Hennessey published several novels. One, The Outlaw, was awarded second prize of £400 in a £1,000 novel competition.

Bibliography

• The Dis-Honourable (1895)
• An Australian Bush Track ('The Bush Track: A Story of the Australian Bush') (1896)
• Wynnum ('Wynnum White's Wickedness') (1896)
• A Lost Identity ('The Bells of Sydney'; 'Gunnery of Church-Conset') (1897)
• The New Chum Farmer (1897)
• The Outlaw (1913)
• A Tail of Gold (1914)
• The Caves of Shend (1915)
• The Cords of Vanity (1920)

External links

• Works by John David Hennessey at Project Gutenberg Australia

References

• The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature, second edition, 1994, Oxford University Press.
• Australian Literature a Bibliography to 1938 Extended to 1950 (Angus and Robertson, 1956), page 228, by Miller and Macartney.
• The Argus, Melbourne, Friday 2 August 1935.