FINK, THEODORE

FINK, THEODORE (1855–1942), Australian press magnate, lawyer, and politician. Fink was born at Guernsey in the Channel Islands and was brought up in Melbourne. He built up a large practice in company and mercantile law. From 1894 to 1904 he sat in the Legislative Assembly of Victoria, and in 1899 was minister without portfolio. In 1902 he acquired a controlling interest in Herald Newspapers, which under his direction became the largest publishing house in the southern hemisphere. Fink presided over commissions on university, technical, and public education and in 1904 was thanked by Parliament for his services. It was to Fink that Australia largely owed the development of her news communications with the West. In politics, Fink evolved from progressive liberalism to right-wing conservatism. In 1998 a comprehensive biography of Fink was published by Don Garden, Theodore Fink: A Talent for Ubiquity. -ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Australian Dictionary of Biography; H.L. Rubinstein, Australia I, 389–90. (William D. Rubinstein (2nd ed.)