Patrick Quinn was a brother of Roderic Quinn (q.v.) and father of Marjorie Quinn (q.v.). He was born in Sydney, and educated at the Marist Brothers' and Fort Street Model schools. He became a journalist at the age of twenty, and worked for newspapers including the Star, Echo and Illustrated Sydney News. In 1898 to 1904 he was a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, and in 1912 to 1917 he was deputy trade commissioner for New South Wales in the United States. Upon his return to Sydney, he joined the editorial staff of the Daily Telegraph.
In addition to his poetry and fiction, Quinn published non-fiction works including a pamphlet, The Australian Commonwealth : Being a History of the Federal Movement (1901) and a school reader, The Art Reader : A Series of Readings on Art (1905).
(Major source : Australian Dictionary of Biography. Carlton, Vic. : MUP, 1966- )
