Michael Flanagan -
Innkeeper Harp of Erin
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Elizabeth Grant Flannagan
wife of Hugh Flanagan
| They had 5 children in Ireland and 6 were born at South Creek, Michael was born in 1813 in Ireland and travelled out with his parents in 1824. |
Michael Flanagan, the eldest son had been working on Harriet King's property. Harriet's husband Phillip Parker King was the son of Gov King who was the 3rd Governor of New South Wales. The Kings maintained "a horse stud of distinction "
Flanagan succeeded Hayes who was manager of the Concern in 1827. He had been
engaged in Ireland, apparently by William Hayes when he visited Britain in 1816, and had been
employed minding the King sheep at Bathurst. He and his family moved into ‘the house by the
Garden’ according to Harriet when the sheep came back to ‘Dunheved’.41 Contemporary opinion in
the next decade was that Flanagan managed the farm with flair and that in its expansion, it became
the ‘pattern farm to the whole country’ working half a dozen teams and keeping a dairy and a horse
stud. It was described in the early 1830s as:
…an establishment …[that] had four men constantly employed, besides occasional hands, a stud
groom, veterinary surgeon, two horse breakers, engaged breaking in for the market…[From the
King stallions] came some good race horses and hackneys, which could not be surpassed.43
The Kings owned extensive tracts of land and the Flanagan's were held in in high regard by the King Family and with the authorities. Phillip Kings was absentee a great deal of the time and the Flanagans had worked for Govenor King’s family at South Creek and Michael was regarded as a trustworthy employee who looked after their horses.
John Flanagan was still at ‘Dunheved’ in 1834, and produced fine horses even without keeping a book
detailing their pedigrees 42 42 Ryan, Reminiscences of Australia, p. 16.
In 1831 100 acres was then granted to Michael Flanagan for an Inn to service the overseers and military working on the road down Mt Victoria Pass.
This parcel of land was on the corner of Cox's Road and the Great Western Highway. Its location was to capitalize on the opening of the Mt Victoria Pass to carry traffic to Bathurst
The Inn was first licensed in 13th February 1832. However, soon after opening Andrew Gardiner then took up the license in 1836 who renamed it the Plough Inn.
The Flanagans formed a friendship with the Grant family with the marriage of daughter Rose Flanagan to Jeremiah Grant in 1833. James Flanagan married Eleanor Grant in 1835.
Michael Flanagan married Bridget Murray in 1840 in Bathurst. Brigit ultimately was bludgeoned to death in a drunken stupor by Michael in 1860 aged 43.
FLANAGAN/HAYES
Marriage 1
John FLANAGAN b: ABT. 1791 in King's County, Ireland
· Married: ABT. 1812 in Ireland
· TO Ellen Hayes ID: I09229 Name: Ellen HAYES Sex: F Birth: in County Down, Ireland Death: 31 JUL 1879 Burial: ABT.
In Marsden Swamp
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