David Henry Flight
St Josephs Catholic Cemetery Forth
Died 8th Feb 1876
Age 9 years
Flight Francis Daniel
St Josephs Catholic Cemetery Forth
Died 9th Feb 1876
Age 17 years
Scarlet Fever
Flight James John
St Josephs Catholic Cemetery Forth
Died 22nd Nov 1876
Age 13 years
Diphtheria
Flight Mary Ann
St Josephs Catholic Cemetery Forth
Died 20th Apr 1877
Age 8 years
Diphtheria
Flight Francis Joseph
St Josephs Catholic Cemetery Forth
Died 16 Apr 1923
Age 94 years
DEATH
FLIGHT – At Ulverstone Hospital, on April 16, Francis Joseph Flight, in his 94th year.
The Advocate 17th April 1923
The Late Mr. F. J. Flight
A STURDY PIONEER
One who helped “BLAZE THE TRAIL.”
One of the North West Coast’s early pioneers in the person of Mr. F. J. Flight passed away at the Ulverstone General Hospital on Monday last. In the passing of Mr. Flight another link of the chain of pioneers is severed. He was born in London in 1829. As a lad he developed a roving disposition and left England for the colonies when he was but 14 years of age. The sailing vessel on which the voyage was made; beside having a number of prisoners, had also a quantity of cattle and sheep on board and the lad was under the care of two uncles, who were veterinary surgeons in charge of the shipment of animals. The voyage proved a perilous one and at one time, owing to unrest among the prisoners, fears were entertained that a mutiny would take place on the high seas. This danger however was avoided and after arrival in Victoria he took up work carting supplies from Melbourne to the gold diggings at Ballarat, when the last named was under canvas and Melbourne but a small village. He stayed in Victoria for about 2 years and from thence came to Tasmania to what was then known as Hobart Town. During the period he resided here several of the escaped convicts were a menace to the settlers and one of these was arrested while leaving Mr. Flight’s boot shop with his purchase under his arm. At this time the renowned Dolton and Kelly and other bushrangers were at large and the deceased man knew a good deal concerning their exploits. In 1856 he moved to the north part of the island and settled at Hagley, where he opened in business as a general storekeeper. Soon after he arrived there he married Mary O’Connor, a young Irish girl, who at the age of 18, had come to Tasmania with her two sisters. After the birth of their first born son, Francis, Mr. And Mrs. Flight decided to remove to Hamilton-on-Forth and the journey was commenced with Mrs. Flight driving the chaise cart containing the pigs and fowls, whilst her husband came behind with the dray and six bullocks. The track through the forest was rough and it took a week to come from Exton to Latrobe. The next stage was made by gaining the seashore and following the beach until the mouth of the Forth river was reached. The river was then followed to the township and the party crossed the Forth bridge which was being built.
On the bank of the Forth Mr. Flight built a dwelling and purchased 50 acres of land. He carried on farming. Whilst there the following members of the family were born, viz., Samuel, Joseph, James, David, Peter, Edward and Mary Flight. During their stay at the Forth Mr. And Mrs. Flight had many ups and downs, once being burnt out and on another occasion the crops were completely destroyed by rust. Years later this property was sold to Dr. Dundas and Mr. Flight moved his home to the Forth township, where he built premises and carried on a general store in conjunction with a boot repairing business. Soon after arrival the youngest member of the family, Frank, was born. After two years of business Mr. Flight commenced as a coach proprietor and ran a daily service from Burnie connecting at the train terminus as Latrobe. The two coaches used he built by his own labor. Before coming to the Coast and before the Hobart-Launceston railway was completed, he had considerable experience in coach driving on the road between the two towns.
The deceased was able to recall many close “shaves” which he had experienced while driving along the Coast. On one occasion he had just passed by a large tree when it crashed to earth, having been struck by lightning. Another time he narrowly missed a big landslide, which would have covered coach and horses as well as passengers. The Coast coach service was conducted for 20 years until the railway service was extended. Since that time he had resided at Forth.
The deceased, who was 94 years of age, was a most interesting conversationalist. Despite his age he could recollect the Coronation of Queen Victoria, which he witnessed when a lad. He also had a fund of anecelote of the early days of Tasmania. He was a most methodical man and had a memory for dates that was surprising to many. Among his collections were a number of early English coins, also numerous early photographs. Even his parents’ marriage certificate, dated 1827 and well preserved, was found. Mr. And Mrs. Flight celebrated their golden wedding in May 1907 and the diamond wedding in 1917. His wife predeceased him about 3 years ago at the age of 87 years. Mr. Flight had been active up till the last 12 months. He was an inmate of the Ulverstone Hospital for 3 weeks prior to his death. The surviving sons are: Messrs. Samuel (Myalla), Joseph (Sydney), Peter (Devonport), Edward (Renison Bell) and Frank (Devonport).
The Advocate 21 April 1923
Mary Ann Flight
St Josephs Catholic Cemetery Forth
1918
News Item
Mr. And Mrs. F. J. Flight, of Forth, North West Coast, will celebrate their diamond wedding to-morrow, which will be Mr. Flight’s 88th birthday. The worthy old couple are
the parents of Mr. E. Flight, the manager of the Boulder-Dreadnought mine and they have resided at the Forth for considerably more than half a century and Mr Flight can retell some interesting stories of the old coaching days to Launceston, the discovery of Bischoff and many incidents connected with the early settlement of the North-West Coast. It is generally believed that “Philosopher” Smith was the actual discoverer of the Bischoff mine, but Mr. Flight says this is not so. The discovery was made by a man named Diely, one of the V.D.L. shepherds, who had pitched his camp in the vicinity of Bischoff when “Philosopher” Smith broke through. Diely had several lumps of tin rock on his bush table when Smith visited the place and the latter asked him where he got the stuff. “The hill out thee is full of it,” quoted the shepherd. Where upon Smith went out and discovered Bischoff exactly where it had been pointed out.
The Zeehan & Dundas Herald Tuesday 15th August 1916