A Little Bit of Justice features the drawings of Charlie Flannigan, a nineteenth-century Aboriginal stockman who was incarcerated at Fannie Bay Gaol while awaiting trial for murder. The first person to be hanged in the Northern Territory, Flannigan became the centre of intense debate when George Page, a white man also sentenced to death for murder, had his sentence commuted to life in prison.
The drawings, held in the South Australian Museum’s Archives, were made by Flannigan while in solitary confinement and are unique observations of his personal history and culture.
Charlie Flannigan was denied justice, but his story lives on through his drawings, allowing us to know more about his life rather than just the circumstances of his death.
Presented by South Australian Museum