Nellie Flynn

Frances Taylor, on left, with her mother Nellie Flynn during the 1961 NT News "Walkabout". Nellie 'Shotgun' Flynn (4 August 1881 – 31 December 1982) was an Aboriginal Australian who was a matriarch of her family and a community leader.

Life in the Northern Territory

Flynn was born in 1881 at Powell Creek Telegraph Station, just south of Elliott, and was the daughter of Maggie and Lindsay Crawford; her mother was an Aboriginal woman and her father was Māori. Flynn never knew her mother as she died when she was a small child.

Flynn was only about 145cms tall and Tom was described as an "Irish giant" at 189cms tall.

Flynn was given the name 'Shotgun Nellie' from her skill with a rifle. She was fiercely protective of her family and home and often protected them with this gun. In one incident, a passing swagman "started to get a bit cheeky" with Flynn and her daughter, and she wielded the shotgun at him to get him off the property. After completing the walk, as the last over the line, she was rewarded with afternoon tea at Government House.

Resources There is a collection of biographical clippings of Flynn available at the National Library of Australia.