A Little Bit of Justice – The Drawings of Charlie Flannigan

Charlie Flannigan (aka Charlie McManus) was born in the mid-1860s, probably in the Diamantina region in south western Queensland.

Not very much is known about his early life. His mother is believed to be an Aboriginal woman from the area, possibly a Maiawali or Karuwali woman and his father was an Irishman. Flannigan is known to have worked at Marion Downs Station in Western Queensland and in the Diamantina area.

Charlie Flannigan first came to the Territory in 1881 droving cattle to within 100 kilometres of Port Darwin. Wave Hill Station was founded in 1883 by Nat Buchanan and Sam Croker. Flannigan records that date on the tree in his drawing of the homestead, suggesting he was involved in stocking the station at the time. Cattle was brought to Wave Hill Station from Queensland through the Murranji Track in the Northern Territory.

Beginning in 1881 through to the early 1890s, Charlie Flannigan worked on a number of cattle stations in Queensland, the Victoria River region of the Northern Territory and the Ord River districts of Western Australia. When pastoralist Nathaniel Buchanan brought the first herds of cattle from Queensland to the Territory in 1883, it is believed that young Flannigan was one of the stockmen he employed. This drawing depicts the homestead at Victoria River where he worked.

Charlie Flannigan drew a number of panoramas which include finely detailed depictions of station outbuildings and structures, including bough sheds (note the anvil block) and stockyards. Flannigan draws his landscapes with great accuracy, for instance the rising hills, forests and deep channels. Given that all of the drawings were carried out while he was imprisoned, he must have had a very good memory.

Charlie Flannigan was a skilled horseman and won three races from four rides at the 1887 Palmerston Cup. In the main race he won the cup on a horse called Cygnet. The drawing above shows a stockman about to round up several cattle in the distance. Out of all the 80 drawings completed by Flannigan only two feature cattle, whereas over a quarter of his drawings feature a horse, many with a rider either stationary or at full gallop.

When Charlie Flannigan arrived at Auvergne Station in September of 1892, he was given the task of building new stockyards. Flannigan shows an extraordinary visual memory and eye for detail in this drawing. Note the ‘spindle wheel’ on the gate at the right. This was used to hoist cows for butchering.

Charlie Flannigan had been playing cards with Sam Croker and two other men at Auvergne station on the night of the murder. Following taunts from Croker, Flannigan got up, left the room and returned with his rifle and fired two shots at Croker. He helped the other men sew Croker into a body bag before burying him claiming: "Now, old fellow, I have the pleasure of sewing you up, instead of you sewing me up.” The following day he fled the crime scene on horseback to Halls Gap in Western Australia and then gave himself up to police.

Flannigan’s love of horses and riding comes through in many of his drawings. He captures the athleticism of horse and rider with precision and the sense of freedom and joy in this picture is palpable.

Charlie Flannigan gave himself up at Halls Creek after he spoke to a man called Boothy who encouraged him to surrender to police. He was then taken to Wyndham where Mounted Constable Holdaway of the Northern Territory formally arrested him.

In this drawing the figure on the left appears to be manacled suggesting that this could be Flannigan, while the other figure is possibly a man called Kelly who accompanied Flannigan to Halls Creek before he was taken to Wyndham for extradition to the Northern Territory. 

Many of the drawings appear to narrate the events of Flannigan’s arrest and transportation to Darwin. In this drawing Holdaway is depicted with striped trousers, chevrons on his sleeves and epaulettes. The other figure is most likely a clean-shaven Flannigan at the time of his arrest.

Charlie Flannigan was given paper and pencil while awaiting his fate in Fannie Bay Gaol. This was a practice first instigated by Deputy Sherriff John George Knight after watching prisoners draw on the walls of their cells. The paper was South Australian government stationery. Flannigan tore each sheet into smaller sections and used both sides of the paper for his drawings. He also often sketched a number of disparate elements rather than creating a complete composition.

In this drawing he combined a number of objects including the SS Rob Roy, which transported Flannigan to Darwin, a bunkhouse, shed and some geometric doodles, which might be stars. The boab tree is inscribed with the word ‘Gaol’. It is possible Flannigan was locked up in the Wyndham ‘prison tree’, about 40 kilometres south of the town. The tree was commonly used as a temporary gaol for prisoners on their way to Wyndham.

The SS Rob Roy was an iron steamship operated by the Adelaide Steamship Company on the Darwin to Fremantle service from 1891 to 1893. It stopped at western ports such as Broome and Wyndham. Flannigan’s extradition to Darwin for trial included transportation on the Rob Roy to Port Darwin.

In 1892 Palmerston (now Darwin) was considered something of a ramshackle town with a population that included over 3,000 non-Aboriginal people from Europe, China, Japan, Philippines, Malaya and Java.

Charlie Flannigan drew a number of detailed Darwin streetscapes. His drawings were not topographically correct often juxtaposing different buildings that were in reality located on different streets. However he must have known Darwin fairly well because he includes a number of recognisable structures in his compositions. In this drawing, he depicts the courthouse and Victoria Hotel side-by-side, and in the distance we see the gaol watchtower which was not possible to observe from this vantage point. The telegraph lines are part of the Overland Telegraph Line which became fully operational in 1872, joining the Territory and the Australian colonies to the world.

This image depicts Fannie Bay Gaol. The wardens’ residence can be seen at the front with the wall, gate and watch tower in the centre. Note the pole and cable at the left. This is the first telephone line in Darwin, connecting the gaol, the hospital and the post office. The tower was used to sight ships coming into the harbour and to alert the people in town.

The inscription “Long Fellow Waves Ta Tay”, suggests that this is possibly one of the last drawings Flannigan made before his execution. Long Fellow is believed to be his nickname.

Charlie Flannigan pleaded not guilty at his trial but offered no line of defence. His case became the centre of intense debate throughout South Australia when George Page, a white man from Port Lincoln who was also sentenced to death for murder, had his sentence commuted to life in prison. Cries for the same mercy for Flannigan were made. A large deputation stormed the South Australian Executive Council arguing that ‘justice should be evenly dispensed without regard to race or colour.’ However despite the protests of many prominent people, the execution went ahead. His death was described as ‘one of the gross mistakes that a government could make’ and brought to the fore the prevalence of institutional racism.

Flannigan was executed on the gallows at Fannie Bay Gaol on 15 July 1893.

This telegram was received the day before his death at 12.50pm from South Australia, addressed to Justice Dashwood. The telegram read:

“Has your precept for / execution of Flannigan / been duly issued and

served on the deputy / sheriff  please reply at once”

From L. E.  Stephens, Under Treasurer

The death penalty was abolished in the Northern Territory in 1973.

Library & Archives NT presented the exhibition: A Little Bit of Justice: The Drawings of Charlie Flannigan at the NT Library, Parliament House from 10 March to 27 June 2021.

The exhibition toured to Godinymayin Yijard Rivers Arts & Culture Centre in Katherine from 2 July to 28 August 2021 and is now showing at the South Australian Museum until 10 September 2023.