Michael John Flannigan
His work was singled out for praise by the Surveyor-General, Albert Edward Counsel,[1] at a time when professional standards for land surveyors were newly defined and often disregarded by practitioners.
He understood the vegetation and the geology of the land, recommending actions to protect water and other natural resources, such as a reserve around the shore of Big Lake in King Island.
[10] Their parents were Mary Lyons (c.1790-1870) and Michael Flanagan (c.1782-1865) who leased a farm in the district of Clonkerry, near the important town of Ennis in County Clare, Ireland.
[11] No birth or baptism records have come to light for John, but his Australian death certificate confirms his birthplace and his parentage, and was signed by his brother Thomas Flanagan.
[12] Two years later he was to be found in Adelaide, South Australia with his new wife Margaret O'Halloran - or so say the birth certificates of his first two children born in 1861 and 1862.
In his will dated 14 March 1901, Flannigan bequeathed the house to Margaret O'Halloran for her lifetime, after which he directed that it was to revert to William Thomas Higgs.
A description of the house is given in Flannigan's probate document dated June 1901: "A five-roomed weatherboard cottage and outhouse, lath and plaster throughout, an iron roof, verandah.
The next official mention of Flannigan appears in the Victorian Government Gazette of 25 March 1892, where he is listed as one of 14 newly qualified surveyors.
He went to live in Hobart and travelled the country to survey areas for new settlement, including King, Christmas, New Year and Councillor Islands.
He seems to have striven constantly for professionalism: e.g. his membership of the new Tasmanian Institute of Surveyors in Hobart was continuous, with the minutes of their meetings recording his regular payment of the annual fee of two shillings and sixpence.
[20] There must have been celebrations early in 1899: the promotion to District Surveyor would have been cause for high hopes, and in April Flannigan's friend William Nevin Hurst was married in Hobart to great fanfare.
In Bendigo there was the death of his step-father, William Higgs, and of his uncle, Thomas Flanagan, which brought the need to support his mother and shoulder the burden of the administrative work entailed in both men's intestate estates.
His mother, Margaret Higgs, commissioned a fine grave and headstone for Michael and his two sisters, and their father John Flanagan, and she would lay there herself in 1916.
The descendants of his half-brother are said to have told Bendigo journalist and historian, David Graham Horsfall (1926-1998), that Flannigan had worked on Flinders Island and had died from the rigour of the surveyor's life.
[24] However, now, modern genealogical tools and methods have revealed the true, more remarkable story and achievements of Michael John Flannigan.
