Francis Joseph Finnan (23 September 1897 – 21 March 1966) was an Australian politician and a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

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 (Sydney) St Aloysius' College is an Education in Australia#Independent schools, independent Catholic school, Catholic Primary school, primary and Secondary school, secondary day school for boys, located in Kirribilli, a suburb on the North Shore (Sydney), ...

. He initially worked as a shearer in Queensland and was an official in the

Australian Workers' Union The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) is one of Australia's largest and oldest trade unions. It traces its origins to unions founded in the pastoral and mining industries in the 1880s and currently has approximately 80,000 members. It has exer ...

. By 1930, Finnan had returned to Sydney and was involved in the management of Labor papers including ''Common Cause'' and the ''

Labor Daily The ''Labor Daily'' was a Sydney-based journal/newspaper of the early to mid 20th century. An organ of the Australian Labor Party, it was published in Sydney by Stanley Roy Wasson after the ailing ''Daily Mail'' was absorbed by Labor Papers Ltd, w ...

''.

Political career

He was elected to the New South Wales Parliament as the Labor member for

Hawkesbury Hawkesbury or Hawksbury may refer to: People *Baron Hawkesbury, or Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool (1727-1808), English statesman Places ;Geography *Hawkesbury Island, an island in British Columbia, Canada * Hawkesbury Island, Queensland ...

at the 1941 state election. The sitting

United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four federal elections in that time, usually governing in coalition with the Country Party. It provided two prim ...

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 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...

state election made the seat unwinnable for Labor. During the premierships of

James McGirr James "Jim" McGirr, JP (6 February 1890 – 27 October 1957) was the Labor Premier of New South Wales from 6 February 1947 to 3 April 1952. A Catholic, McGirr was the seventh son of John Patrick McGirr, farmer and Irish immigrant, and Mary Mc ...

and

Joseph Cahill John Joseph Cahill (21 January 189122 October 1959), also known as Joe Cahill or J. J. Cahill, was a long-serving New South Wales politician, railway worker, trade unionist and Labor Party Premier of New South Wales from 1952 to his death in 1 ...

, Finnan held numerous ministerial positions including Minister for Tourism, and Minister for Labour and Industry and

Social Welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...

. Finnan successfully stood for the new seat of

Darlinghurst Darlinghurst is an inner-city, eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Darlinghurst is located immediately east of the Sydney central business district (CBD) and Hyde Park, within the local government area of the City of Sydney. ...

at the 1950 election. Darlinghurst was abolished in the 1952 redistribution, he lost the preselection contest for

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

, and was unsuccessful in an attempt to win the seat of

Albury Albury () is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of the Murray River. Albury is the seat of local government for the council area which also bears the city's name – the ...

. 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 Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after 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 The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE). 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 (1959–66) of Newcastle University College (University of Newcastle from 1965), 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 The City of Lake Macquarie is a local government area in Greater Newcastle and part of the Hunter Region in New South Wales, Australia. It was proclaimed a city from 7 September 1984. The area is situated adjacent to the city of Newcastle and is ...

, is named after him on land owned by Hunter Water.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Finnan, Frank 1897 births 1966 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Australian trade unionists Australian Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 20th-century Australian politicians People educated at St Aloysius' College (Sydney) Public servants of New South Wales