Mervyn David Finlay (17 June 1925 – 2 July 2014) was an Australian judge of the

Supreme Court of New South Wales The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian State of New South Wales. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters, and hears the most serious criminal matters. Whilst the Supreme Court i ...

and

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

. He was a

WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

RAAF "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

officer, represented Australia at

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically atta ...

in the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

and was a

NSW ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

state athletics champion.

Early life and sporting career

Born in

Balmain, Sydney Balmain is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Balmain is located west of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local government area of the Inner West Council. It is locate ...

one of two children to solicitor Mervyn Finlay and his wife Marjorie (née Kirkwood), Finlay was educated at

Sydney Grammar School (Praise be to God) , established = , type = Independent, day school , gender = Boys , religious_affiliation = None , slogan = , headmaster = R. B. Malpass , founder = Laurence Hynes Halloran , chairman = ...

. He was commissioned an RAAF Flying Officer in the closing stages of World War II. In 1948 he was the New South Wales state athletics champion at the 880yds event. His senior rowing was done with the

Leichhardt Rowing Club Leichhardt Rowing Club formed in 1886 is one of the oldest rowing clubs in Sydney, Australia. The clubhouse has occupied sites on Port Jackson's, Iron Cove at Leichhardt, New South Wales, Leichhardt since 1886. Leichhardt is an all-level competiti ...

in Sydney where he was club captain in 1952. In the three seasons from 1950 to 1952 he was selected in the New South Wales state eight which contested the King's Cup at the

Australian Rowing Championships Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

. The New South Wales crew were national champions in 1950 and 1951. 1952 Aust RowingSquad

For the 1952 Helsinki Olympics an all-New South Wales crew was selected twelve months in advance based on the 1951 King's Cup result. The Olympic selection crew raced the 1952 King's Cup for New South Wales during its preparation and was comprehensively beaten by Victoria. The media then claimed the Victorian crew should be nominated instead. However the selector Joe Gould stuck with the selected crew since a number of them including stroke

Phil Cayzer Philip Arthur Cayzer OAM, (13 May 1922 – 15 July 2015) was an Australian national champion rower who won medals in the 1952 Summer Olympics and the 1950 British Empire Games. He coached at state and national representative level taking Austra ...

, had severe adverse reactions to the vaccinations they'd taken for overseas travel. It was also mentioned that their fundraising responsibilities, some 7,000 pounds, impacted their preparation - the Australian Olympic Federation had only been able to fund four air tickets for the eight. Finlay was seated at six in that Australian Olympic men's eight who to their credit won the bronze medal in Helsinki.Finlay at World Rowing
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Legal career

He was admitted to the Bar in 1952 and practised as a

in New South Wales. From 1984 to 1994 he was a

New South Wales Supreme Court The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian State of New South Wales. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters, and hears the most serious criminal matters. Whilst the Supreme Court i ...

judge. After retirement from the bench he was appointed in June 1997 as Inspector of the Police Integrity Commission for a five-year term. He later conducted a judicial review into the law of manslaughter in NSW and its application to negligence-caused deaths of an unborn children. Certain of his proposed statutory amendments were adopted into law. Following a period as Chairman of the NSW Innocence Panel, Finlay was appointed Assistant Commissioner of the Police Integrity Commission, for a period expiring shortly after his 80th birthday. In 2007 he was recommended and took up a post as Inspector (Assistant Commissioner) of the newly established New South Wales Police Integrity Commission.

Personal

He married Prudence Teece and raised four children at Bellevue Hill in Sydney. Finlay died on 2 July 2014.

External links

profile

ACT Rowing profile on Finlay

Guerin-Foster History of Australian Rowing

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Finlay, Mervyn 1925 births 2014 deaths Judges of the Supreme Court of New South Wales People educated at Sydney Grammar School Australian male rowers Olympic rowers for Australia Rowers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Australia Olympic medalists in rowing Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics Australian King's Counsel Rowers from Sydney Sportsmen from New South Wales