Mervyn Finlay

Finlay (back row, 3rd from right) in the 1952 Olympic rowing team

Mervyn David Finlay (born June 17, 1925 in Sydney ; † July 2, 2014 ibid) was an Australian rower and lawyer.

Live and act

Mervyn David Finlay was the son of the lawyer Mervyn Finlay and his wife Marjorie, b. Kirkwood. While attending the Sydney Grammar School , he began to practice rowing. After finishing school he was trained with the Royal Australian Air Force and promoted to flying officer shortly before the end of World War II . After completing his military service, he studied law at the University of Sydney , where he was a successful rower and athlete in university sports. In 1950 he took the aft part in rowing competitions in Christchurch Centenary Games and Kings Cup. After graduating, he worked in his father's law firm and was admitted to the bar in 1952.

At the Olympic Summer Games in Helsinki in 1952 , he won the bronze medal behind the teams of the USA and the Soviet Union with the Australian men's eighth in sixth place. Finlay rowed for the Leichhardt Rowing Club from Sydney . Prior to his rowing career, he also won the New South Wales Championships as an 880 yard runner .

Finlay worked as a junior lawyer of 20 years and then for 12 years as Attorney General . From 1984 to 1995 he was a member of the Supreme Court of New South Wales . Until he was 80, he continued to take on legal duties in the public interest, including as an inspector at the Police Integrity Commission of New South Wales.

Finlay died in 2014. He left behind his wife, to whom he had been married since 1955, and four adult children.

Web links

Mervyn Finlay in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Literature by and about Mervyn Finlay in the WorldCat bibliographic database

Obituary in The Sydney Morning Herald

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b Michael Foster: Mervyn Finlay: Supreme Court judge was champion sportsman. The Sydney Morning Herald , August 5, 2014, accessed September 23, 2014 .
^ Andrew Guerin: History of Australian Rowing: Olympic Games — Helsinki 1952. (No longer available online.) In: www.rowinghistory-aus.info. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018 ; accessed on September 23, 2014 (English).
↑ Philip Conford: Retired Judge Named As The Watchers' watchdog. In: www.actrowing.com.au. Sydney Morning Herald, April 20, 1997, archived from the original March 3, 2015 ; accessed on September 23, 2014 (English).

personal data
SURNAME	Finlay, Mervyn
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Finlay, Mervyn David (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Australian rower
DATE OF BIRTH	June 17, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH	Sydney , Australia
DATE OF DEATH	2nd July 2014
Place of death	Sydney

[smh-1] A ^b Michael Foster: Mervyn Finlay: Supreme Court judge was champion sportsman. The Sydney Morning Herald , August 5, 2014, accessed September 23, 2014 .

[rowinghistory-aus-2] Andrew Guerin: History of Australian Rowing: Olympic Games — Helsinki 1952. (No longer available online.) In: www.rowinghistory-aus.info. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018 ; accessed on September 23, 2014 (English).

[actrowing-3] Philip Conford: Retired Judge Named As The Watchers' watchdog. In: www.actrowing.com.au. Sydney Morning Herald, April 20, 1997, archived from the original March 3, 2015 ; accessed on September 23, 2014 (English).