Michael John Flannigan
| Michael John Flannigan | |
|---|---|
| Born | 13 August 1862 Sandhurst, Victoria, Australia |
| Died | 21 April 1901 (aged 38) Bendigo, Victoria, Australia |
| Occupation | District Surveyor King Island |
Michael John Flannigan (13 August 1862 – 21 April 1901) was the first District Surveyor of King Island (Tasmania), Australia. His work was singled out for praise by the Surveyor-General, Albert Edward Counsel, at a time when professional standards for land surveyors were newly defined and often disregarded by practitioners.
In the 1890s King Island topped the league of Tasmanian places being settled for the first time. Even under such pressure and in primitive living and working conditions, Flannigan's survey maps and reports were exemplary. 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.
Flannigan's relationship with the settlers was cordial because he paid careful attention to their concerns and needs. And in the Lands office in Hobart, his standing was so good that after his death his colleagues chose to honour his memory by arranging for Big Lake, King Island to be renamed Lake Flannigan, in 1911 or 1912. It is the largest lake on the island; the length in 1956 was approximately one mile (1.6 kilometres) and in places the width was three-quarters of a mile (1.2 kilometres). In 1913 the Tasmanian Government Gazette officially announced the creation of the reserve fringing the lake, just as he had recommended in 1896.
Michael John's family name was Flanagan. In adult life he used the form Flannigan. Furthermore, every possible variation of the name appears in official records and newspaper reports about him. The form Flannigan is used for him throughout this article.
In 1862, the year that Flannigan was born in Bendigo, Victoria, the town had already been temporarily renamed Sandhurst (from 1854 to 1891). Being at the centre of a major Victorian gold rush the town consisted mostly of huts and tents. Prospecting was extremely dusty work, permanently damaging to the lungs of 'diggers'. When epidemics such as tuberculosis broke out, many hundreds succumbed. Flannigan's father was among the victims.
John Flanagan was an older brother of the famous Irish-Australian gold prospector Thomas Flanagan.
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. 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.
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