Charlie Flannigan (also known as Charlie McManus) was an artist of Australian Aboriginal and European decent, with the exception of that snippet of information his origins are mostly unknown. For most of his life Flannigan worked as a stockman, a profession that heavily influenced his work, most of which features stockmen or country stations and landscapes as the prime subject.

In 1892 Flannigan was tried for the murder of Sam Croker (Greenhide Sam) manager of Auvergne Station and sentenced to death; he was executed in Fanny Bay Goal in 1893. According to the single source that has any mention of Flannigan’s drawings, they were drawn while he was awaiting his execution; meaning that they were probably drawn in 1892 and 1893. Flannigan’s style differs from the styles of many other Australian Aboriginal artists, being far more Europeanised and in the case of his landscapes and depictions of man made structures quite realistic and natural. There is barely even a trace of traditional Australian Aboriginal influence in both Flannigan’s style and the subject matter of his art, almost all of which concerns stockman, landscapes, homesteads, country stations or steam ships.