Alexander Finlay (14 November 1887 – 2 March 1963) was an Australian politician. Born in the

South Yarra South Yarra is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km south-east of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the Cities of City of Melbourne, Melbourne and City of Sto ...

neighborhood of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, he moved to Adelaide, South Australia as a child and attended school there until the age of twelve. He then became a carriage painter like his father. He married at age twenty-two and had three children. In 1918 Finlay enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force, serving in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

. After his discharge in 1919, he returned home to

Bowden Bowden may refer to: Places Australia * Bowden Island, one of the Family Islands in Queensland * Bowden, South Australia, northwestern suburb of Adelaide * Bowden railway station Canada * Bowden, Alberta, town in central Alberta England * Bowde ...

, a suburb of Adelaide. There he joined The Returned Sailors and Soldiers Imperial League of Australia. In the 1920s and 1930s he held several offices in the

Australian Natives' Association The Australian Natives' Association (ANA) was a mutual society founded in Melbourne, Australia in April 1871. It was founded by and for the benefit of native-born white Australians and membership was restricted exclusively to that group. The A ...

and in a coachmakers' union later known as the Vehicle Builders' Employees' Federation of Australia. He eventually became president of the coachmakers' union, and then from 1934 to 1944 general secretary of its South Australian branch. In that position, he negotiated the union's strike-free agreements with the automobile manufacturer

General Motors-Holden Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. It was an Australian automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter which sold cars under its own marque in Australia. In its last three ...

. Finlay attempted to be preselected as a Senate candidate for the Labor Party in 1937 and 1939. He was chosen for the Labor Senate ticket in 1940, but lost the election. In 1943 he shared the Labor Senate ticket with Sid O'Flaherty and Theo Nicholls. All three were elected. Finlay held his Senate seat until he retired in 1953. He died in 1963 in Brighton, a beachfront suburb of Adelaide.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Finlay, Alex Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian Senate for South Australia Members of the Australian Senate 1887 births 1963 deaths 20th-century Australian politicians