FitzPatrick was born and lived all of his life in Broken Hill, New South Wales and was a boilermaker before running for Parliament.

As a measure of how safe this seat was, he retained it in 1975 with a majority of seven percent even amid Labor's collapse that year.

Ahead of the 1977 federal election, Darling was abolished, and FitzPatrick opted to follow most of his constituents into neighbouring Riverina.

FitzPatrick challenged the National Country incumbent, John Sullivan, and won narrowly even as the Coalition was easily reelected.

However, facing the prospect of a challenge from the popular mayor of Broken Hill City Council, Noel Hicks, FitzPatrick did not run for reelection in 1980.