SPECIAL Wednesday Lunchtime Lecture: The Forgotton Irish Explorer

John Finnegan (1789-1853), survivor of the traumatic Irish Rebellion of 1798, charged with larceny and transported to the horrors of the convict life in NSW, defied all the odds of incarceration, shipwreck and betrayal, and life among the Indigenous peoples of Moreton Bay to become one of the great characters that influenced the birth of Brisbane.

Vastly underestimated for his contribution to the exploration and settlement of Brisbane, John Finnegan was deliberately ignored by John Oxley who shamelessly stole the credit for the discovery of Brisbane River and the choice of the original settlement site of Brisbane city. His selfish acts have echoed through the last two hundred years leading to many erroneous reports on the events of the time.

This book presents an accurate account of the discovery of the Brisbane River and clears the many misconceptions and inaccurate reports of the Castaways’ adventures and provides an exciting story of survival and redemption from poverty to respect of one for the great forgotten heroes of Australia – John Finnegan.

Out of high school, Alan Finegan joined the Army and spent 30 years in both the Regular and Army Reserve retiring as a Major. During this time he served in the Officer Cadet Training Unit teaching military history. He graduated as an Air Traffic Controller in 1968 and for the next 12 years worked in Control Towers in Brisbane, Townsville and New Guinea spending my spare time as a SCUBA Diving Instructor while enjoying the sport of spear fishing. In 1987 he graduated as a secondary school teacher in Mathematics and History, then taught for a year in a Catholic Mission School deep in the Solomon Islands, followed by a further three years at the International Secondary School in Fiji. Here he coached a first- grade rugby side in Fiji from the bottom of the ladder to the Fijian Grand Final.

After returning to Australia, he worked for the next twenty years as a private Computer Project Manager on many multi-million-dollar projects from the NT to NSW, finally as the Program Manager of the RAAF $3B F/A 18 Hornet Upgrade comprising 15 individual projects over ten years. He have always had a keen interest in history, having studied History as one of my subjects in high school. I have published three books: The Battle for Guadalcanal, which I wrote in the Solomon Islands based on my location and history documents found at the school, my Dad’s war story, as well as my family history. It was his dad’s love of the story of the castaway Finnegan that prompted me to research and publish The Forgotten Explorer.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher The Royal Historical Society of Queensland