Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Henry (Harry) Brannigan (2276)
Henry (Harry) Brannigan served in WW1 and returned to become a well respected farmer at Lower Tully. He grew bananas along the Tully River before the war and afterwards grew sugar cane.

He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1884 to parents Henry and Mary Jane (née Jones) Brannigan, who had a large family of 15 children, of whom 13 survived. As a young man he was an apprentice master winder, but Henry travelled to Australia sometime after 1911 to join the Anglican Bush Brotherhood, although he did not remain with the Brothers.

He enlisted for WW1 in Townsville on 1st April, 1916, aged 22 years (service number 2276). He was sent to Bells Paddock, Enoggera and after training, he embarked from Brisbane on the troopship Boonah on 21 October 1916 with the 4th Reinforcements of the 41st Battalion. He arrived at Plymouth, England early in January 1917. He was on the same ship as Ernest Cook from Cardwell, who had enlisted two days later and also joined the 41st Infantry Battalion.

Brannigan trained as a signaller for six weeks at Weymouth and qualified as an Assistant Instructor before proceeding overseas to France on 4 December 1917. He was hospitalized from the field in France (Rouelles) a number of times during his duty with the 41st as they endured the flooded trenches, heavy shelling and severe conditions on the front. He spent some time in the City of London Military Hospital in April 1918. He then served at the School of Instruction, Boyton and the 9th Training Battalion in England in September-October 1918.

He proceeded to France on 30 October 1918, and joined the 44th Battalion temporarily before returning to the 41st. After the close of hostilities, in 1919 he completed a course of Instruction in Telegraphy at the British School of Telegraphy in London for which he was paid six shillings a day. He returned to Australia on the Argyllshire, the same ship as Gordon Clark-Kennedy. He was discharged on 22 September 1919. His final rank was Lance Corporal and he was awarded the British Medal and the Victory Medal.

He returned to the Tully River district and applied for the post of shire clerk in 1920 but was not successful. He worked as a clerk in Innisfail for a while and this is probably when he met his future wife, Lucy.

He came back to Tully in 1926 and became an established farmer, active on the behalf of farmers in the district. In 1929 he served on the Tully Suppliers Committee which reported to the Innisfail District Canegrowers Association. His residence at Lower Tully was a polling booth for council elections and Brannigan Road at Lower Tully is a reminder of his place of residence for many years. Brannigan Road was formerly known as Keto’s Road but the name was officially recognized by Council in April 1973.

The name H. Brannigan was among the foundation shareholders of the Tully Cooperative Sugar Mill. In April 1929 he married Miss Lucy Elizabeth Wilson of Innisfail, whose parents owned the Riverview Hotel in that town. The couple traveled to Sydney and then took their honeymoon in the “Old Country”.

Their children, Wilson and Nola, both attended Lower Tully school. In 1958 the Brannigans sold their cane farms and with their son and daughter moved to St Lucia, Brisbane. Harry Brannigan died in February 1969 and his wife died in June 1972.

Four of Henry’s brothers and two sisters also migrated from Northern Ireland to Australia and spent time at Lower Tully before moving on. Edward Brannigan was resident in the Tully locality when he enlisted in the army in Cairns in June 1940 for WW2. He was a Lance Sergeant (QX7800) at discharge on 30 September 1944. He eventually settled on a Soldier Settlement cane farm at Childers

Ernest Brannigan’s two daughters, Myrtle and Mavis attended the Lower Tully School in 1932, as also did Herbert’s son Neville in 1938. Herbert and his wife Ellen left Tully for Ipswich in 1941 and Edward moved to Ipswich in 1944 and died on 29 May 1957. Older brother George Brannigan served in the British Army in WW1 and was a POW in Germany; he was also in the VDC in WW2 (Q119570).
Courtesy of The Cardwell and District Historical Society.