The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Hogan, James Francis
Hogan, James Francis, author and journalist, is a native of the south of Ireland, and was born in 1855. His parents emigrated to Victoria during his infancy. He entered the service of the Victorian Education Department at an early age; but an article on "The Coming Australian," which he contributed to the Victorian Review, attracted so much attention that it led to his engagement on the regular staff of that periodical, and he thus embarked on a literary career. Several articles of his also appeared in the Melbourne Review. In 1881 Mr. Hogan joined the staff of the Melbourne Argus, and most of his journalistic work is to be found in the columns of that paper. But he also found time to contribute a good deal of humorous pabulum to Melbourne Punch, to act as Melbourne literary correspondent of the Sydney Daily Telegraph, and to write on Roman Catholic subjects in the Melbourne Advocate. Mr. Hogan took an active part in all Irish and Catholic movements in Melbourne. He was the founder and the first president of the Victorian Catholic Young Men's Society, and the secretary of the Melbourne Daniel O'Connell Statue Fund. In 1886 he published a volume of colonial stories and sketches under the title of "An Australian Christmas Collection," consisting of a selection from his contributions to colonial periodicals. In 1887 Mr. Hogan came to London viâ America to publish a work to which he had devoted a large amount of time and research in the colonies—a history of "The Irish in Australia." It was issued towards the close of 1887, and went through three editions with remarkable rapidity. Sir Charles Gavan Duffy made it the text of a brilliant article in the Contemporary Review for Jan. 1888. Mr. Hogan's next book was "The Australian in London." This was followed by a romantic story of Australian adventure entitled "The Lost Explorer," published in 1890. Next year he published "The Convict King," a vivacious narrative of the extraordinary career of Jorgen Jorgenson, one of the most remarkable adventurers of the century. Of it the London Daily Telegraph wrote, "Not for many a long day has there been published so interesting a romance of real life. Mr. Hogan's book positively whets the reader's appetite. Like Oliver Twist, we ask for more about this marvellous man." He is a well-known industrious writer on colonial subjects in the Pall Mall Gazette, the Star, and the Dublin Freeman's Journal, and also contributes to Chambers' Journal.