Ernest Flint

[2] At the age of 17, in late 1871, Flint began working for the Overland Telegraph Line and he travelled with a group of men from Adelaide to Alice Springs on horseback.

[7] In 1882 Flint took special leave from his role to lead an exploring party to the east, in the direction of the Plenty River, and he travelled with police officer John Shirley, an Aboriginal interpreter named Paddy and two stockmen from Undoolya Station; Harry Price and F Godlee.

[11] Flint died a short time later, on 17 July 1887, of rheumatic fever and is buried at the small cemetery at the Alice Springs Telegraph Station which he had established.

[11] In announcing his death the newspaper stated:[15] The name that he has made all along the line for genuine good heartedness and kindness in every way is not likely to be easily shifted to the shoulders of as deserving a successor.

The officers who at one time or other came under him speak of him as the grandest man they ever had anything to do with - as generous to the lowly as those in the highest walks of life - every inch a thorough manShortly after her husbands death Florence returned to England.