People Australia

Hubert Flannagan, 1918

Construction and Local Government Journal (Sydney), 29 July 1918, p 13

Hubert Devereux Woolcott (‘Flan’) Flannagan (1878-1951) telegraphist, civil servant and trade union official

Birth: 1 September 1878 at Richmond, Victoria, son of English-born parents John Augustus Flannagan (1837-1882), an architect from Manchester, Lancashire, and Louisa, née Woolcott (1841-1909) from Exeter, Devonshire. Marriage: 10 October 1901 at Trinity Anglican Church, Launceston, Tasmania, to native-born Emily Mary (Emmie) Mullay (1876-1943). Death: 7 November 1951 at his home, in Billson Avenue, East Brighton, Victoria. 

• Joined Eastern Extension Telegraph Company in 1893 aged 15, working with company in Melbourne, at Georgetown in Tasmania and at La Perouse in New South Wales, before joining Tasmanian government at Strachan.
• Influential in establishing Tasmanian Postal Telegraph Association, graduating from committeeman, treasurer, honorary secretary and president of Tasmanian branch. Worked as a telegraphist in the General Post Office, Hobart. Appointed Justice of the Peace.
• Was first honorary secretary of the Southern Tasmanian Town Planning Association until he transferred to Launceston in 1917, earning eulogistic references to his ‘extremely valuable services.
• In 1922, moved to Melbourne, was elected general secretary of Australian Third Division Telegraphists and Postal Clerks Union. He resigned from the post in 1928.
• Was supervisor of the telegraphy department of the PMG until he retired in 1938. Employed by the Department of Supply and Development in 1940.
• Gave public addresses, published a pamphlet on telegraphy, contributed to the press in Tasmania and Melbourne and broadcast on the radio. Was ‘a brilliant, confident and witty speaker’.
• Cause of death: congestive heart failure and cardio vascular degeneration.

Sources
The Australian Telegraphist, 20 September 1922, 21 January 1929, 20 September 1938.