Frank Finnan

The Hon. Frank Finnan (23 September 1897 – 21 March 1966) was an Australian politician and a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1941 until 1953 . He was a member of the Australian Labor Party and held numerous ministerial positions between 1947 and 1953.

Finnan was born in The Rocks, New South Wales and was educated at St Aloysius' College (Sydney). 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. 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, Ronald Walker had retired 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. Finnan then successfully stood for the new seat of Darlinghurst. 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. 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.^[1]

Finnan then moved to Newcastle where he became president of the local water authority. In a sermon on the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the Anglican dean of Newcastle, Rev. W. A. Hardie, strayed from his subject to denounce Finnan's nomination as a blatant example of political corruption and 'spoils for the victor'. In 1960 he was appointed C.B.E. When he reached the statutory retiring age in 1962, the government passed special legislation enabling him to continue for another term. He retired from this role in 1964.^[2]

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 also a patient of the same hospital and died there in 1966.^[2]

There is a soccer field set named after him at Blackalls Park, Lake Macquaire, NSW. The soccer fields are on land owned by Hunter Water, and in fact directly next to a sewerage treatment plant, and a cricket field named Waterboard Oval. ^[3]

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