An official portrait of former South Australian Premier Dean Brown was unveiled at the House of Assembly on Thursday 20 February.

The portrait of the first Member for Finniss is in the Old Chamber at Parliament House. 

Artist Robert Hannaford and large gathering of family, friends, former political colleagues and current MPs attended the event.

A rural research scientist, Dr Brown entered the South Australian Parliament as the Member for Davenport in 1973 and served in the Tonkin ministry for four years before losing his seat in 1985.

He re-entered Parliament in 1992 as Member for Alexandra, later renamed ‘Finniss’, and became Leader of the Opposition.

Dr Brown retaining his seat in December 1993 and took office as Premier of South Australia following a landslide victory.

Current MP for Finniss David Basham was at the unveiling and has praised his predecessor’s efforts to develop a strong infrastructure framework for the future of regional South Australia.

“Dean was determined to open the region up to the rest of South Australia and worked tirelessly to get the Southern Expressway built despite the collapse of the State Bank and no money in the coffers. He always envisioned it as a two-way dual carriage to link the North and South of Adelaide.”

He says that while Dean Brown still considers the Expressway one of his greatest achievements, a close second is the Tour Down Under bike race.

”On the third day of being in government, Dean Brown learnt that Victoria has signed a contract for the Grand Prix so he responded by looking for an alternative and found the Tour Down Under for South Australia. Some people laughed at the time, but just look at the success of it now.”

Finniss incorporates the localities of Back Valley, Chiton, Clayton Bay, Currency Creek, Encounter Bay, Finniss, Goolwa, Goolwa Beach, Goolwa North, Goolwa South, Hayborough, Hindmarsh Island, Hindmarsh Tiers, Hindmarsh Valley, Lower Inman Valley, McCracken, Middleton, Milang, Mosquito Hill, Mount Compass, Mount Jagged, Mount Observation, Mundoo Island, Nurragi, Nangkita, Point Sturt, Port Elliot, Sandergrove, Tooperang, and Victor Harbor. It also includes part of Inman Valley, Lake Alexandrina and Waitpinga.