Theodore Fink

Theodore Fink (3 July 1855 – 25 April 1942) was an Australian politician, newspaper proprietor and educationist.

Fink was born in Guernsey in the Channel Islands, the son of Moses Fink, shopkeeper and his wife Gertrude, née Ascher. Brought to Victoria by his father in 1860 he was educated at the Flinders School, Geelong, at Geelong College, and at the Melbourne Church of England Grammar School from 1871, where Alfred Deakin was a classmate and friend. Fink qualified as a solicitor at the University of Melbourne and was a successful in his solicitor's practice.

In September 1894 Fink was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly as member for Jolimont and West Richmond, holding the seat for 10 years. On 5 December 1899 he became a minister without portfolio in the Allan McLean ministry. The treasurer William Shiels had been in bad health and the intention was that Fink should act as an assistant to him. He, however, objected to some personal remarks made by Shiels at a public meeting referring to the ministry just displaced, and resigned from the ministry. It was generally felt that his reasons were insufficient, and his action did harm to his future career as a politician. He supported the federation movement and stood for Kooyong in the house of representatives at the first federal election in April 1901, but was defeated by William Knox. He still held his seat in the Victorian assembly but retired in 1904 and never afterwards entered politics.

During his political career, Fink had been doing valuable work in another direction. He was president of the royal commission on technical education in 1899-1901 which resulted in reforms in primary and technical schools, and he was also president of the royal commission on the University of Melbourne in 1902-4. In August 1904 he was thanked by parliament for his services to education. Subsequently he was chairman of conferences on apprenticeship in 1906-7 and 1911, chairman of a board of inquiry into the working-men's college in 1910, vice-president of the council of public education, vice-chairman of the state war council of Victoria, and chairman of the Commonwealth repatriation board for Victoria in 1917-19.

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