Early Life and Background
The youngest of three children, Barry Robert O'Farrell was born to Kevin and Mae O'Farrell in the Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne, in 1959. He is descended from poor Irish immigrants who arrived in Victoria in the 1860s; and his paternal grandfather was an officer in the Victoria Police Force in Ballarat. Spending his early years in North Melbourne, he moved with his family to various places around Australia; his father was in the Australian Army, having joined up during the Second World War in 1943, and having been later part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan. The O'Farrells moved to Darwin during his adolescence and he finished his education at St John's College.
In 1977 O'Farrell began studying at the Australian National University in Canberra, residing at Ursula College. During his second year of study, he was elected President of the Ursula College Student Association. In 1980 he received a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Australian history, politics and Aboriginal studies and has cited Professor Manning Clark and Don Baker as major influences for his continuing interest in Australian history.
After briefly serving as a graduate trainee in the Department of Consumer Affairs, in 1980 O'Farrell joined the Liberal Party and worked in the offices of two South Australian Senators, Tony Messner and Gordon Davidson.
When John Howard became Leader of the Opposition in 1985, his chief of staff, Gerard Henderson, hired O'Farrell as a Sydney-based adviser. In 1985, O'Farrell was employed as Chief of Staff for Bruce Baird, a cabinet minister in the New South Wales government. Four years later, O'Farrell beat Tony Abbott in being appointed the State Director of the New South Wales Liberal Party. O'Farrell held this position until 1995.
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