Time Travellers in Essendon, Flemington and the Keilor Plains

 

 

Patrick James Flanagan

A Medical Officer of Health for 48 years

 

by Marilyn Kenny

 

This photograph appeared as the illustration in Table Talk in 1905 however may have been taken some time before. The photographer Talma  was in Swanston St from 1893.

 

In the early 1860s Michael and Margaret Flanagan arrived in Melbourne with their young family. Irish born, 33 year old Michael had married 22 year old Margaret Holahan in 1852 and by 1860 they had three children. The couple left behind several siblings but joined a nest of relatives and friends. These included Michael’s older brother Andrew Flanagan, who with his family had been in Melbourne since 1853. He was now a successful road contractor, Councillor for newly established Town of Hotham and was Mayor by 1865.  Michael started working for his brother and by 1863 was landlord at the Rose of Hotham Hotel, corner of Queensberry and Lothian Streets, North Melbourne.

 

In 1865 Michael became licensee at Andrew’s newly established Sir Robert Peel Hotel in Hotham.  By this time the Flanagans had two more children and in 1866 Patrick James was born. In mid 1869 Michael became bankrupt, declaring liabilities of £155 against assets of £6. The causes of insolvency were given as losses in business, and sickness and death in family - in 1866 the couple’s last born infant daughter had died. In 1871 Michael was back in business and resumed his role at the Robert Peel. In 1875 he applied for a license for The Courthouse Hotel, corner of Errol and Queensberry Streets, opposite the newly built Town Hall complex.

 

Court House Hotel, corner  Queensberry and Errol Streets 1882, Courtesy State Library of Victoria,

No: H26302. The hotel contained 10 rooms plus those required for the family. Maybe this is

Michael Flanagan leaning on the hitching post.

 

In 1880 there was yet another move when Margaret Flanagan became licensee of the Old Treasury Hotel (annual rent £500 pa) on the south eastern corner of Queen and Lt Lonsdale St. Melbourne. This was located opposite the Government office complex, adjacent to the law precinct, near the Queen Victoria market and a variety of manufactories. It was a coaching stop, and contained an office for The Sportsman, a weekly sporting newspaper. Many clubs used the hotel for meetings and gatherings and it was often referred to as the ‘Sportsman Hotel’.

 

Michael Flanagan was now a Melbourne identity, an upright, strong Tipperary man, a sterling Irish patriot who spoke in a quaint brogue and distributed shamrocks on St Patrick’s Day. A skilled card player, he entertained his customers with witty and stirring stories. Margaret Flanagan was active, pious, charitable and well known in the Irish-Catholic community. The children grew up in an exciting, sociable milieu experiencing all the passing parade could offer, good and bad, including the gambling, prosecutions for late and Sunday trading, brawls, inquests, the entrapments of temperance advocates and election meetings. The three eldest boys Andrew, Thomas and Joseph, engaged in various sports, including boxing and billiards, and were trained up in the hotel trade.

 

Francis Foy. The Australasian November 1918 

 

The family’s life stepped up several notches when in 1883 twenty-three year old Mary Flanagan married Francis Foy.  He was the 27 year old eldest son of Mark Foy of Collingwood who had settled his successful drapery business on Francis in 1882. A year after the marriage Foy dissolved his partnership with William Gibson. He and his brothers, Mark and Victor, moved to Sydney to found the Mark Foy retail empire. A flamboyant, generous personality, Francis established his own horse stud and brought large parties to Melbourne for the racing carnivals.

 

Mark was also a keen sportsman and patron of many sporting events, and Victor a sports fan and great traveller. The Foys used the Old Treasury Hotel as an employment agency for their Sydney business and frequently visited. There were solid lifelong ties between all the families, strengthened when in 1889 Andy Flanagan, b 1862, took over the license of the prominent Burdekin Hotel, Oxford St, Sydney. In 1893 the 28 year old Lillie Flanagan became the third wife of 52 year old, well known Sydney publican Thomas Keary. Joe and Tom Flanagan took over their Mother’s responsibilities at the Melbourne pub.  

 

Patrick Flanagan’s life took a different course to his siblings. In 1883 Patrick matriculated from Christian Brothers College, Victoria Parade, East Melbourne and entered the medical school at the University of Melbourne. His time there appears to have passed routinely. In 1888 along with fourteen others he received his degree of Bachelor of Medicine. From hence he would always be publicly referred to as Doctor even on the family grave monument, sometimes Dr Pat, but never without the title.

 

In 1889 he took a position of Resident  Surgeon at the Melbourne Hospital. At the very commencement of his six month term he, as treating doctor, gave evidence in the trial of Arthur Wren, brother of John Wren, for a gang rape. Arthur was found guilty and condemned to death but had his sentence commuted to two floggings and 12 years gaol. Dr Flanagan’s name then frequently appeared in newspapers giving graphic updates on  the victims of accidents, assaults and suicide attempts and making depositions at inquests. At the conclusion of his Residency he, unlike his peers, did not depart for overseas study or undertake specialist work, but set up practice in Moonee Ponds. Initially he was at the  corner of Dickens St  and Mount Alexander Road, but shortly after he moved across the road to The Anchorage at 429 Mount Alexander Rd, south of Montgomery St. This was adjacent to the busy practices of Dr George Dickinson and Dr James Campbell, and it was likely that he had some arrangement with them. The Anchorage was owned by Dr Dickinson.

 

In September 1891, after a three month engagement, Dr Patrick Flanagan married Elinor Teresa (Nellie) Daley, b 1865, a daughter of long established undertaker, John Daley. The Daley family lived in Spring St, corner  of La Trobe St. The patriarch John had only died the previous year leaving an estate of £22,000 to his widow. The marriage took place at St Patrick’s Cathedral with Archbishop Carr presiding. The reception was at the bride’s home and the couple honeymooned in Ballarat. Table Talk listed the presents, which were unique, costly and numerous. The diverse gift givers included the Foys, employees of the Old Treasury Hotel, boxer John Boland, opera singer  Madame Lucy Chambers,  Albert Cox of the W S Cox family and the Mother Superior of  Abbotsford Convent. The groom’s gift to the bride was a diamond star brooch. Nellie came back to The Anchorage, a bluestone five-room dwelling on a 92 foot frontage. Despite its modest nature, the home offered hospitality to the Oaklands Hunt in 1892. There had been an early meeting at the Travellers Rest Hotel, situated near the current day Westfield Shopping Centre, which made a merry run of several miles south east ending on the Mount Alexander Road. Dr Flanagan then invited the two dozen riders to partake of refreshments before they proceeded to Flemington races.

 

 

1904 MMBW Plan 1609 of Netley The long block was irregularly shaped and gave among the other outbuildings was a summer house. The property, post 1940, became Barnawartha Guest House.

 

In 1895 the couple moved to Netley at 451 Mount Alexander Road, a larger brick home on a 60’ frontage with a 325’ depth. It had a vestibule, drawing, dining and breakfast rooms, surgery, five bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen, pantry and scullery.There was brick stabling, a coach house, harness and feed rooms. The garden however had been considerably disturbed by the owner George Sutton Titheradge. As well as being a well known actor he was an acknowleged expert on daffodils and before moving had spent a day digging over the grounds removing all the bulbs.

 

G S Titheradge (1848–1916) pondering a bulb, 1908.

State Library of NSW. P1/1785

 

 

Medical Officer of Health

Borough of Flemington –Kensington 1890-1903

 

In March 1890 Dr Flanagan applied for the position of Medical Officer of Health for the Town of Flemington and Kensington. This vacancy was caused by Dr Dickinson indicating he was unable to devote the necessary time to the duties. He recommended Dr Charles Y Shuter, who had recently returned from extensive overseas studies and settled in Kensington. However, a month later, Shuter died aged only 30 years. Patrick then took additional consulting rooms in Racecourse Road and reapplied for the position. His appointment, however, did not go unopposed. There was a fiery Council meeting in which some Councillors were accused of having personal objection to Dr Flanagan, but after debate his tenure was confirmed. The duties were numerous and included reporting notifiable diseases, sanitation inspections, recommending improvements to drainage, imposing shut down orders on schools, providing statistics and reports to the Council Health Committee. Dr Flanagan’s salary was £25.

 

Medical Officers of Health were to have extra demands made on them at this time. The 1888 Royal Commission into the Sanitary State of Melbourne had resulted in a more encompassing Public Health Act and the appointment of the energetic reformer Dr Dan Astley Gresswell  to the Board of Public Health. The Board had to ensure that local Councils, on which responsibility for health matters devolved, fulfilled their duties. The Board held Medical Officers accountable, though they often found themselves in a position of being critical of the Council that employed them, and unable to enforce good practice.

 

Dr Gresswell  Our Medical Commander in Chief  The Australasian, June 1900.

The doctor died in 1904 of the side effects of an infectious disease, aged 51.

 

Dr Gresswell had established his reputation in Victoria on his arrival by his handling of the Russian flu epidemic of 1890. He had experienced the disease personally in the UK and immediately recognized its presence in Melbourne. Information circulars were sent out and advice regarding treatment. Local Essendon doctors reported many were ill. Victorian influenza-related deaths that year were 164, eight times that of the previous year. In the following season the now more virulent disease returned, with thousands in each suburb becoming ill and reported deaths were 1,035.

 

Epidemics of other diseases like measles and typhoid were commonplace and seemed accepted as part of the vicissitudes of life. In 1891 Council authorized Dr Flanagan to conduct a house to house visitation of all premises in the municipality, at a fee of 55 guineas. This inspection, along with the Health Inspector, was carried out in 1892 and resulted to the discovery of a number of bad drains, which might have given rise to fevers and other infectious diseases; but as these defects were now remedied, the inhabitants of the Borough might congratulate themselves on the sanitary prospects of the present year. He reported monthly with basic statistics and provided an Annual Report which was forwarded to the Central Board. It seems that Flanagan’s report was one of the brief one page of notepaper which the Board criticized. Generally speaking, he settled into the role briskly, but some Councillors were quick to pick up on any dilatoriness.

 

A Popular Rising Sportsman

 

Dr Flanagan 'That excellent and volatile little sportsman', as part of the

VRC Committee pictured in the Leader, November 1907.

 

Dr Flanagan’s profession may have been health but his passion was for horses. It is not clear how this developed but the association with the Foys may have been instrumental. It developed into such a pursuit that it is hard to understand how he accommodated all his various responsibilities. The Oaklands Hunt had been established in 1888 and by early 1890 he was a member, on the Committee and Honorary Surgeon to the Hunt. In the same year, 1890, he also became Honorary Surgeon to the Moonee Valley Racing Club (later also a Steward), the Victorian Racing Club, the Victorian Amateur Turf Club (Caulfield, Melbourne Racing Club) and Maribynong Racing Club. The merry little medico as owner, rider or observer was invariably at metropolitan meetings, hunt gatherings and point to point races many of which were held on weekdays. The accounts of most hunt outings included his name and that of his mount, and when he won in October 1892 he was cheered as a popular man rising sportsman and nearly had his hand shaken off. Such activities brought him into frequent contact with local notables and prominent personages. Hunting had been made more popular by the Lady Hopetoun, wife of the Governor. She was an expert horsewoman (once breaking her nose in a riding accident) and an enthusiastic hunter. Dr Flanagan became the family doctor to many in the racing fraternity such as W S Cox and the Alexander McCrackens. 

 

Tommy Corrigan 1851-1894

Image National Library of Australia, nla. pic-an9653841

 

The accident and death rate on the various courses was considerable and it was said that nearly every jockey in the State passed under Dr Flanagan’s hands. The jump races were especially dangerous to beast as well as man. The two came together for Dr Flanagan when his prize horse had to be put down after falling in the Grand National Steeplechase meeting. That day another horse was put down and two jockeys injured in falls. What drew most publicity however was the death of famous jockey Tom Corrigan as a result of a fall that day in 1894.

 

Dr Flanagan was one of the many thousands that attended the elaborate funeral. The fatality rate for the Oaklands Hunt was such that it, in 1897, unusually drew comment, one report listing at least twenty horses that season that had to be destroyed and multiple others disabled. The focus however was not on horse or rider but on the impact on the breeding pool. The disasters are grim.... the price that is being paid for the sport is too dear,… and to prevent the wholesale destruction of our best class of jumpers.

 

 The Late Mr T S Dean Weekly Times Sat 1 Jun 1901

 

 H Magennis crashes into fence at Melbourne Hunt Club Moonee Valley races.  Punch 30 Sep 1909.

  

This became very personal in 1901 when 26 year old amateur jockey Tommy Dean died after a fall at Moonee Valley races. The Deans, who had operated the Moonee Ponds Hotel, were not only neighbours but family friends. Tommy had worn Dr Flanagan’s colours in 1899 on his horse Queen Bee, winning the Melbourne Hunt Club Cup race. Dean had only been three months back from the South African War, and at his welcome home Dr Flanagan proposed the health of the warrior and contributed a song to the entertainment. On 22 May Dean’s horse fell on him and he was rendered unconscious. The doctor attended him and found the injuries, including a fractured skull, were so serious that there was no hope of recovery. Dean was dead on arrival at the hospital.   

 

In May 1898 Dr Flanagan had himself became the patient after an accident in the hunting field. He was riding with the Findon Harriers at Rockbank, the attendance of several hundred including Janet, Lady Clark. His horse refused a fence and threw the rider. Dr Flanagan remounted and put her at the jump again, but once more she refused. By some means Dr Flanagan was thrown over the fence, and the force of the fall appears to have caused a fracture. He was taken to Sir Thomas Fitzgerald’s private hospital where he spent some six weeks as there were also severe lacerations and knee damage. It was August before he was able to appear on a racecourse and then only on crutches. However, he appeared at hunts on wheels, but in June 1899 declared that his last smash up was quite enough for him, and the others can have all the hunting in the future.

 

Despite his declaration, by 1901 Dr Flanagan, pictured centre, was riding in flat races at the Valley.

He was one of  17 riders in the so called Leadbag Stakes, the riders weighing between 12-16 stone

(76-101 k). The doctor, noted to be putting on flesh, at this time rode at 12s 10lb.

 

It is not obvious how Dr Flanagan’s lifestyle was financed especially during this decade of Depression. Most doctors could expect and needed a minimum of £500 pa but also carried large bad debt ledgers. His Lodge practice (he had been appointed ANA Lodge Doctor immediately on setting up practice) would have given a base income. Surgeons for racing clubs normally received an honorarium of £100 pa and his role as Medical Officer and doctor on various racecourses sent him a steady stream of involuntary patients. His prize winnings rose to £363 in 1899 but it cost £2 a week to keep a horse in training. There was taxation on winnings and multiple Hunt and Club subscriptions at five guineas a year each. In 1895 Mrs Dr Flanagan inherited her share of her mother’s £11,000 estate. However, Patrick Flanagan was not mentioned in his mother’s 1898 will, which divided property between his siblings and some grandchildren; and Michael Flanagan left no assets on his death in 1900. It may be that Patrick had anticipated his inheritance. The doctor, as expected, was a betting man, relentless in pursuing a good thing. The Foys remained connected with the Flanagans even after the death in 1900 of the former Mary Flanagan and there may have been some cross subsiding. The Foys used the Flanagan hotels to channel racing tips and Foys’ horses and racing dogs were named for the Flanagan brothers. Dr Flanagan was also made a gift of a successful hunter.

 

Some of his prize winning horses were, however, unexpected finds. One, Khaki, was an odd animal of unknown parentage, almost orange in colour and pulled the doctor on his professional rounds. Doctor Pat entered the horse into a Point to Point Steeplechase around Woodlands simply to make up the numbers. The horse pulled the buggy on a Saturday and easily won on the Monday. However, the good doctor had not only bet on another horse but wagered against his own. Khaki became the object of attention on the roughly metalled roads of Moonee Ponds, and racegoers shouted Lost your buggy? He carried the wagering hopes of the district when he ran in subsequent meets.

 

Dr Pat with Khaki the winner of the Oaklands Hunt Point to Point Steeplechase Punch October 1900. The 

jockey is gentleman rider P Fleming. By 1916 the doctor was driving himself in a £300 Dodge

standard sedan. He gave up his car and relinquished his license in 1935.

 

There are few mentions in all of Nellie Flanagan, apart from descriptions of her dress at various balls and events.

 

Mrs. (Dr. ) Flanagan looked remarkably well in

black silk with a bodice completion of turquoise

blue velvet finishing and an Empire bow fastened

with a large gold cross set with emeralds.

 

It is clear that by the turn of the century she and Patrick were living apart. Nellie returned to living with her sisters in Melbourne city. This does not appear to have changed the doctor’s lifestyle except that his participation in other sports increased. He became a keen angler with the Essendon Fish Protection Society, office bearer with the Essendon Rowing Club, President of the Moonee Ponds Bowling Club and an obsessive bridge player. Other sporting interest included prize fighting and the keeping of racing pigeons.

 

Although usually referred to as 'Little' this shows Dr Flanagan of a height consistent with his

peers. The doctor is in the light coloured hat in the centre of this 1902 photo taken of

Officials at Moonee Valley.

 

The Black Death

 

The end of Dr Flanagan’s time with the Town of Flemington-Kensington was marked by controversy. Plague had long been expected in Australia and it arrived in Sydney in January 1900. Victorians waited in terrified anticipation of its onset in this colony. The Board of Health held conferences and issued circulars. Municipalities began cleansing programmes, fifty men were employed in rat catching on the wharves and a sanatorium established on Coode Island. Dr Flanagan had attended a Municipal Health Officers meeting on plague prevention and his reports condemned the state of the Moonee Ponds Creek and the noxious trades. Councils placed a bounty on rats of 2-3d a head, 560 being presented at Essendon, 800 at Flemington. In May 1900 a Collingwood family of four was diagnosed by Dr Gresswell, followed by a Geelong case. In late May a Kensington family fell ill, and after diagnosis by Dr Greswell, was removed to the Quarantine Station at Portsea. The Council held an emergency meeting, bridling at several newspaper exposés as to environmental conditions in the municipality. Dr Flanagan declared that he had examined the family some fortnight before and disagreed with the finding of plague. He spoke frankly declaring the newspaper reports as slander and stood by the Health of the Borough. Dr Gresswell was accused by the Council of inventing disease to bolster his position and of there being plots to ruin district business. Council unanimously carried a vote of confidence in their Medical Officer and declared that he had been shamefully slighted. Dr Gresswell refused to take offence. Dr Flanagan continued in his role, undertaking a house to house inspection in 1902 and pursued prosecutions of noxious trades.

 

Medical Officer Town of Essendon

1903-1938

 

Dr Flanagan was President of the Moonee Ponds Bowling Club in 1902. Miss Alice Young, the Mayor’s sister rolled the first jack on the opening day. Photo: Moonee Ponds Bowling Green and pavilion, Moonee Valley Library Service local history collection.

 

Easter Tournament at the Moonee Ponds Bowling Club. Punch,April 1905. Dr Flanagan’s pair won

the first round and lost the second.

 

By 1903 Dr Flanagan was Medical Officer of the Town of Essendon. The change did not receive particular note. However, in the November 1903 annual bowling match between Essendon and Flemington Officers and Councillors, he played for Essendon (Flemington won). He continued at Netley but established rooms in Collins St, Melbourne.

 

His interest in racing continued unabated, attending morning gallops, hunts and meetings. As well as attending jockeys at the time of a fall, Dr Flanagan started to instigate some wider reforms. In 1902 an inquest into a jockey’s death had brought to light the inadequacy of medical facilities at Flemington racecourse compared to Caulfield. The room at Flemington was then refitted out to his specifications, aiming at being the best in Victoria. The VRC then required country clubs to better equip their casualty rooms. In 1907 he suggested to minimize the dangers of Steeplechasing, some material such as a couple of inches of soft tan should always be spread for 30ft. on the landing side  of each fence, so that in the event of an accident a rider would not pitch on to the hard, unyielding ground. He considers that many a serious head injury would be avoided if the landing were made softer.

 

It is not clear whether this suggestion was adopted. The VRC was not open to change, commenting in respect of a proposal to lower hurdle heights that Flemington was no place for squibs. In 1909 there was again controversy with the doctor criticizing the care received by an injured jockey he had sent to the Melbourne Hospital. The hospital publicly explained events, but there was comment that jockeys should be sent to a private hospital, not an institution meant for poor people. The £10 donation the VRC usually made to the hospital was not sufficient and there was a VRC Distressed Jockey’s fund on which to draw.

 

Continued on the next page.