Daughter of an Irish father and English mother, Eileen Finlay (nee Moroney) was born in Maffra, North Gippsland and felt a strong identity with that part of Victoria all her life. She and her family resided in Colac, Victoria, where her father was the shire engineer, prior to his death in 1887.

After her marriage in 1899 to Alexander Finlay, an architect, they lived in Melbourne, but they had frequent holidays in Gippsland, where most of her novels are set. Her husband died in 1921. After Finlay's death in 1950, Dale Collins (q.v.) wrote that she was 'as gallant and lovable as any of her heroines, as human and warm as any of her books'.

Finlay is the author of the book of prayers for mothers, 'Tis Morning [194-?]. In addition to the works listed in AustLit, she is reputed to have written another novel, 'The Wasted Years', but this appears not to have been published.