William Light loyalist Boyle Travers Finniss first premier of South Australia 1856-57 under elected government

Boyle Finniss, as colonial secretary in 1853, played a conservative role in drafting the South Australian constitution bill. 
Image courtesy State Library of South Australia

Boyle Travers Finniss was colonial secretary in 1856 when he became South Australia’s first premier under responsible government.

Born at sea off the Cape of Good Hope in 1807, Finnis served as a lieutenant in the British army.  Finniss became interested in the colony proposed for Gulf St Vincent on Australia's southern coast and joined the South Australian building committee. He was signatory to the loan to finance the colony of South Australia and, with his wife Anne, was among the first European settlers to reach the colony.

Retrenched as a British army officer in peace-time 1835, Finniss was appointed third-in-charge assistant surveyor general to South Australian colony. In this role, he became a strong critic of governor John Hindmarsh and supported surveyor general William Light’s choice for the Adelaide city site. He remained loyal to Light to the end. His devotion to Light in his dying days meant their surveyor company Light, Finniss & Co. was left to run down.

After failing to adapt a First Creek water mill near his Traversbrook property at Burnside for grinding flour and timber sawing, Finniss returned to the public service as deputy survyor general then, in 1843, as police commissioner and police magistrate.

Next year, he succeeded captain Charles Sturt as registrar-general and treasurer, with a seat on the executive and legislative councils. He was nominated to the new part-elected Legislative Council in 1851 and next year became colonial secretary. In this office, he played a conservative role in drafting the South Australian constitution bill.

Although he became the first premier of South Australia in October 1856, Finniss wasn’t elected to the Adelaide seat in the new House of Assembly until 1857 and his ministry fell in August. Next year, he became treasurer in premier Richard Hanson’s ministry. He was returned for the Mount Barker seat to the second parliament but resigned his seat in 1862.

In 1864, Finniss became the South Australian government resident in the Northern Territory. His survey party was instructed to examine the Adelaide River and nearby coast and to select a site for the capital’s territory. Against his subordinates’ advice, Finniss chose Adam Bay, despite its mosquito-infested mud flats. A royal commission condemned Finniss for poor judgment and for spending £40,000 of public funds on the venture.