Drawn from the Museum’s Archives Collection, the posthumous exhibition of Flannigan’s work, A Little Bit of Justice, will showcase the full breadth of Flannigan’s original sketches 130 years after his death.

The origin of this remarkable body of work tells a complex history. In 1892, the Northern Territory was gripped by a controversial murder trial, as the former prize-winning jockey stood accused of shooting dead Samuel Croker, the white manager of Auvergne Station near the border of the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

At trial, authorities struggled to gain a clear picture of why the night of 20 September 1892 ended in bloodshed. The two men had been seen playing cards shortly before the gunshots, but some accounts suggest there were deeper tensions at play. Croker had previously been involved in the frontier killings of other First Nations people, and one eyewitness claimed Flannigan feared Croker planned to shoot him first (“Croker has carried a revolver for a fortnight for the purpose of killing me,” Flannigan was heard saying).

Flannigan pled not guilty to the murder but declined to defend himself in court. His sentence – which would make him the first man to be hanged in the Northern Territory – inspired intense public debate (a white man found guilty of murder around the same time was sentenced to hard labour). As one newspaper reported, “the public conscience has never before been so deeply stirred by a keen sense of injustice,” while other commentators argued it was a “scandalous shame” that “even handed justice was not being done.”

But it was in solitary confinement at Fannie Bay Gaol that Flannigan committed a surprising legacy to paper. Given rudimentary art supplies by warders who were worried he might escape or take his life, Flannigan completed an astonishing 82 drawings that vividly document his life as a drover and Aboriginal man in 19th century Australia.

For a century these sketches were preserved in the South Australian Museum Archives. In 2016, a selection of images were shared with Darwin-based historian and Library & Archives NT curator Don Nawurlany Christophersen, who was inspired to bring Flannigan’s story and artistry to light once again.

“I wanted to do the story justice, to tell his story the right way,” Christophersen said. “He’s trying to tell us, ‘this is what happened, this is what I saw’. It’s his life that he’s chronicling, where he’s worked, what he did, right up to the last image of Fannie Bay Gaol.”

Little is known about Flannigan’s art practice, or whether he even picked up a pencil before his conviction. With a playful style that recalls the newspaper cartoonists of the era, this body of work offers a personal and energetic first-person account of Flannigan’s short and eventful life, from detailed studies of colonial architecture to horseback scenes that evoke the thrill and freedom of working on Country.

“He got better and better in the ten months he was in gaol. You can imagine him sitting, shackled in his small cell, with nothing to look at other than what’s in his head – and he recreates those images in paper.”

Curated by Christophersen, A Little Bit of Justice shines an overdue spotlight on Flannigan’s artwork and story. Following an initial run at Library & Archives NT, its South Australian Museum season will include all 82 original sketches on display for the first time.

“Today, we look at them in a totally different light. It’s him talking to us from the grave, really – who would have thought 130 years later, we’re telling his story again?”

South Australian Museum Acting Director Justine van Mourik said A Little Bit of Justice is a testament to the rich, untold stories kept alive in the Museum’s archives. “For over a century the South Australian Museum has been the custodian of Charlie Flannigan’s unique perspectives on 19th century Australia. It’s a privilege to finally recognise Charlie, his skill as an artist, and the complexities of his life story, with the public.”

A Little Bit of Justice opens on Saturday 5 May 2023 and runs until Sunday 10 September 2023. Entry is free.

A Little Bit of Justice: the Drawings of Charlie Flannigan is a Library & Archives NT Exhibition