watercolourist and army officer, arrived at Sydney on 28 July 1808 as secretary to Acting Lieutenant-Governor Foveaux. His watercolour portrait Tippanee, a Chief of New Zealand (Mitchell Library) is dated November 1808 and signed 'James Finucane N.S. Wales’, the subject presumably being one of the Maoris in Sydney at the time. This small painting, Finucane’s only known art work, was once owned by Governor Lachlan Macquarie and his wife, Elizabeth .
In March 1809 Finucane was appointed secretary to Lieutenant-Governor Paterson. He was aide-de-camp to Paterson until he left the colony with Foveaux in the Experiment a year later. When he appeared in London at the court-martial of Lieutenant-Colonel George Johnston in 1811 as a witness for the defence Finucane stated that he wished to be examined as quickly as possible as 'Both my private affairs and my public duty make it necessary that I should return to Ireland immediately’, so it seems that he was then still Foveaux’s secretary.
This entry is a stub. You can help the DAAO by submitting a biography.
- Writers:
- Staff Writer
- Date written:
- 1992
- Last updated:
- 2011
