Thomas Finney M.L.A.

Commercial Rowing Club (QLD)

Finney was a founder, Vice-President and then Patron of Commercial Rowing Club. Working with Denis O'Connor, he assisted the Club in gaining the site on which the current boatshed stands. He also assisted Denis O'Connor establish himself commercially into the hospitality business.

Commencing in 1906, the Finney Memorial Shield for the Club with the most points at the Queensland Championships was presented.

He was also a Vice-President of the Queensland Rowing Association.

Jack Pritchard in his book Rowing in Queensland summarised his work as follows.

Another outstanding personality of this era was Thomas Finney, M.L.A., a principal of Finney Isles & Co., Drapers, which now exists as the David Jones Brisbane department store. He was a founding vice-president of Commercial R.C. in 1877 and one of the founding committee of Toowong R.C. in 1889. He was Patron of Commercial R.C. from 1898 until his death in 1903. He was a vice-president of the Queensland Rowing Association. He was either Patron or President of the following:- Brisbane Gun Club, Brisbane Bicycle Club, National Cricket Union, Queensland Amateur Athletic Association, Brisbane Gymnasium and Toowong Harriers besides being a member of the Queensland Turf Club.

Andrew Guerin
January 2023

Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information provided, errors may exist. Please send advice of any errors or inaccuracies by email to:

Also your comments, suggestions and photos are sought to enhance this site.

The idea for this history originated from the Olympic Rowing and World Senior Rowing Championship histories written by Andrew Guerin and Margot Foster in 1991, 1992 & 1993 for the Australian team handbooks. Andrew Guerin developed and extended these histories to the current format in 2004 for publication in 2004 and then expanded the site.

Steve Roll has been an invaluable contributor to the website in locating errors and finding Christian names of rowers. His superb work is acknowledged.

© Andrew Guerin – 2004
These contents of this history are copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted by the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. However given that the purpose of the history is to assist rowers and rowing clubs, written permission is not required for non-commercial usage by rowers and rowing clubs provided acknowledgement is made.

Disclaimer: Whilst extensive efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the information supplied, the editors take no responsibility for any loss or damage whatsoever arising from inaccuracies contained in this work.