Frank Finnan


Francis Joseph Finnan was an Australian politician and a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1941 until 1953. He was a member of the Labor Party and held numerous ministerial positions between 1947 and 1953.

Early life and career

Finnan was born in The Rocks and was educated at St Aloysius' College. He initially worked as a shearer in Queensland and was an official in the Australian Workers' Union. By 1930, Finnan had returned to Sydney and was involved in the management of Labor papers including Common Cause and the Labor Daily.

Political career

He was elected to the New South Wales Parliament as the Labor member for Hawkesbury at the 1941 state election. The sitting United Australia Party member, Bruce Walker Jr, didn't stand as he was on trial for conspiracy charges, and Finnan's victory helped Labor gain a majority at the election. He held the seat at the next 2 elections but a redistribution prior to the 1950 state election made the seat unwinnable for Labor. During the premierships of James McGirr and Joseph Cahill, Finnan held numerous ministerial positions including Minister for Tourism, and Minister for Labour and Industry and Social Welfare.
Finnan successfully stood for the new seat of Darlinghurst at the 1950 election. Darlinghurst was abolished at the 1953 election and Finnan was unsuccessful in an attempt to win the seat of Albury. He then retired from state politics and was granted retention of the "Honourable" title for life by Queen Elizabeth II.

Later life and career

Finnan then moved to Newcastle where he was appointed by Premier Cahill as president of the Hunter District Water Board. In 1960 he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Reappointed in 1960, when he reached the statutory retiring age in 1962, the government passed special legislation enabling him to continue for another term, serving a further two years before retiring in 1964.
Finnan was a council-member of Newcastle University College, chairman of the Hunter Valley Research Foundation, a member of the Newcastle Regional Development Committee and of the Newcastle International Sports Centre Trust, and a director of the Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Waratah. Finnan was a patient of the same hospital and died there in 1966.
Finnan Oval in Blackalls Park, Lake Macquarie, is named after him on land owned by Hunter Water.