James Thomas Fallon (c. 1819 – 26 May 1886) was an Irish-born Australian vigneron, viticulturist, wine merchant and politician, best known as an enterprising pioneer of the Australian wine industry. He was a strong promoter of the emerging colonial wine industry and an important figure in the development of an export trade in wine.
Fallon served as the first mayor of Albury township in the period July 1859 to February 1862. In January 1870 he was elected as the member for the Hume electorate in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, serving for one term until February 1872.
Biography
Early life
James Thomas Fallon was born in about 1819 in Athlone in central Ireland, on the border of counties Roscommon and Westmeath, the son of James Fallon and Margaret (née Norton or Naughton). His father was a farmer.W. P. Driscoll (1972), James Thomas Fallon (1823–1886), Australian Dictionary of Biography website, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University; accessed 30 October 2024.Editorial, The Albury Banner and Wodonga Express, 28 May 1886, page 20. Young James "received a good liberal education" at the Athlone Grammar School.Mr. James Thomas Fallon, Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney), 15 July 1876, page 13.
Goldfields
Fallon emigrated to Australia as a young man under the bounty immigration scheme, departing from Plymouth aboard the barque John Renwick and arriving at Sydney on 31 August 1841.Ship News, Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 2 September 1841, page 3.
Fallon was described as "an Irishman of good position and attainments, but without any means".Past and Present, The Bligh Watchman and Coonabarabran Gazette, 15 June 1898, page 3. In partnership with J. Plumb, Fallon leased a property called 'Brisbane Meadows', owned by the Mitchell family, in the Southern Tablelands district near Bungonia township, in the colony of New South Wales.Obituary, Brisbane Courier, 13 December 1923, page 6.W. P. Driscoll (1972), James Mitchell (1835–1914), Australian Dictionary of Biography website, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University; accessed 1 November 2024. Fallon was involved in establishing a school at the nearby community of Bungonia.
In September 1851 alluvial gold was discovered in the Araluen Valley, south of Braidwood. By the end of October many of the miners attracted to the area began moving to nearby Upper Bell's Creek, north of Araluen township, after gold was found there.Bell's Creek, Araluen Valley History website; accessed 30 October 2025. By May 1852 Fallon had established a store on the goldfields at Bell's Creek.Highway Robbery, Goulburn Herald and County of Argyle Advertiser, 3 July 1852, page 3.The "Goulburn Herald", Goulburn Herald and County of Argyle Advertiser, 11 September 1852, page 5.Braidwood, Freeman's Journal (Sydney), 2 December 1852, page 11.
Fallon later established general stores on 'The Ovens' diggings in north-eastern Victoria, at the Yackandandah and Indigo goldfields (south of Albury on the Murray River).Obituary: Mr. P. E. Fallon, Freeman's Journal (Sydney), 14 March 1907, page 14.
Albury
By early 1854 James Fallon had established a general store in Kiewa Street at Albury, known as the Commercial Store.Beechworth Horse Bazaar & Cattle Yards, Goulburn Herald and County of Argyle Advertiser, 9 September 1854, page 1.Spirit Merchants, New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney), 13 June 1854 (Issue No. 71), page 1229.Commercial Store, Albury, The Border Post (Albury), 27 December 1856, page 2.
In October 1854 Fallon met up with his younger brother, Patrick Edward Fallon, who had emigrated to Melbourne from the United States. After his older brother had emigrated to Australia in 1841, Patrick had remained in Ireland where he experienced "the horrors of the famine years" of 1847 and 1848. In 1852 he emigrated to the United States, living in New York, but after two years he emigrated to Australia to join his brother. In Melbourne the Fallon brothers purchased "a quantity of goods" which they transported to the diggings at Yackandandah.Australian Wine Industry, Freeman's Journal (Sydney), 17 June 1905, pages 32-33.
In April 1858 James Fallon selected 164 acres of land at North Barnawartha (in Victoria, south of 'Wodonga' station), which he purchased for one pound per acre.Selected Lands, The Border Post (Albury), 15 December 1860, page 2.The Murray River District, South Australian Register (Adelaide), 30 March 1857, page 3.
After the borough of Albury was incorporated as a municipality, in July 1859 Fallon was one of nine aldermen elected to the newly-formed Albury Municipal Council. In a vote by the elected aldermen, he was chosen as the first mayor of Albury.Original correspondence, The Border Post (Albury), 3 August 1859, page 2; Albury Municipal Council, The Border Post (Albury), 6 August 1859, page 3. In February 1860, at a special meeting of council, Fallon was re-elected as mayor for the ensuing twelve months.Albury Municipal Council, The Border Post (Albury), 18 February 1860, page 2.
In January 1860 a prospectus for the formation of a limited liability company called the Murray Valley Vineyard Association was published. The proposed company had the broad objective of "encouraging the growth of the grape in the district of the Upper Murray". The first meeting of the directors of the company was held on 15 February 1860 at the Imperial Hotel. The company directors included the mayor James Fallon, two other local aldermen J. Roper and James McLaurin and the Albury police magistrate Heyward Atkins.Prospectus, The Border Post (Albury), 21 January 1860, page 2. In May 1860 an amended scheme to launch the company "into active life" was recommended by a sub-committee of the Association. It was proposed that the company be constituted, with limited liability, by the issue of 2,400 shares of five pounds each (with half the share value paid as a deposit, and the remainder "called up when required").The Albury correspondent..., The Argus (Melbourne), 12 May 1860, page 5.
From January 1861 the business of the Commercial Stores in Kiewa Street, general storekeepers and wholesale spirit merchants of Albury, was conducted under the name of Fallon Brothers.Commercial Stores, Albury, The Albury Banner and Wodonga Express, 9 January 1861, page 3; The "Albury Banner" Legal & Commercial Directory, The Albury Banner and Wodonga Express, 24 August 1861, page 2.
At a special meeting of Albury Municipal Council in February 1861 James Fallon was re-elected as mayor against one other candidate.Albury Municipal Council, The Border Post (Albury), 16 February 1861, page 1. Fallon retired from the council in February 1862.Municipal Election, The Albury Banner and Wodonga Express, 12 February 1862, page 3.
Wine-making
In 1863 Fallon was reported as the owner of two year-old grapevines on five acres of land near the Indigo Creek, and was in the process of planting out five acres more.The Vineyard: The Vine in the Murray and Ovens Districts. No. V. The Farmer's Journal and Gardener's Chronicle (Melbourne), 4 June 1863, page 12.
In 1864 Fallon completed the construction of new stores in a central location in Kiewa Street in Albury.Albury Municipal Council, The Albury Banner and Wodonga Express, 18 June 1864, page 2; Great Ball in Albury, The Albury Banner and Wodonga Express, 2 July 1864, page 2. Fallon was active in community affairs and took a particular interest in local education. By May 1865 he was serving as the honorary secretary of the Albury Model School.Albury Model School, The Albury Banner and Wodonga Express], 13 May 1865, page 3.
In June 1865 it was reported that James Fallon had purchased the whole of the previous year's vintage of the Murray Valley Vineyard Company (apart from one quarter cask bought privately), and intended selling colonial wine at prices significantly below "those lately charged in Albury".Albury Wine, The Albury Banner and Wodonga Express, 17 June 1865, page 3. The protectionist tariffs imposed by the colony of Victoria on goods imported from other Australian colonies affected the financial viability of the Murray Valley Vineyard Company by preventing the sale of their wine at competitive prices in Victoria. The Murray Valley Vineyard had been operating at a loss, costing the company shareholders about seven thousand pounds by the end of 1866, "the first large vineyard that has succumbed under the devastating influence of the border customs". Unable to avoid tariffs into the Victorian market the company was forced to sell their wine for three shillings a gallon, "which was unremunerative".An agitation has been commenced..., The Argus (Melbourne), 27 November 1866, page 1; quoting from the Border Post (Albury) newspaper. In November 1866 the property belonging to the Murray Valley Vineyard Company was put up for auction, but failed to attract a single bid.The Murray Valley Vineyard Company, The Albury Banner and Wodonga Express, 10 November 1866, page 2. The company property of 640 acres (259 ha) was located about three miles north-east of Albury, comprising twenty-five acres of shiraz, riesling and brown muscat grapevines, a further ten acres cleared and prepared for trenching and the buildings and wine production plant required "for a first-class vine-growing establishment".The Murray Valley Vineyard Company, The Albury Banner and Wodonga Express, 3 November 1866, page 3. In December 1867 the Murray Valley Vineyard was sold by auction "in virtue of a power of sale contained in a mortgage deed". The property was sold for £2,300 to James Fallon, "this amount being sufficient to cover the principal and interest secured by the mortgage" and included the vineyard's plant and equipment. The investment into the property by the company had totalled £8,300 and the newspaper report of the sale commented that "we fancy that Mr. Fallon has cause to congratulate himself on his bargain".Sale of the Murray Valley Vineyard, The Albury Banner and Wodonga Express, 28 December 1867, page 2.The Late James Fallon, Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney), 5 June 1886, page 19.
After the railway connecting Melbourne to Echuca was completed in September 1864, followed by the construction of the Port of Echuca Wharf in 1865, a busy steamer trade developed linking townships on the inland rivers to the Echuca railhead. In June 1866 the side-paddle river steamer Cumberoona was built for the Albury Steam Navigation Company and launched at Echuca. The vessel was named after John Hore's pastoral station of the same name near Albury.The Launch of the Coomberoona, The Age (Melbourne), 21 June 1866, page 4; reprinted from Riverine Herald (Echuca), 20 June 1866. From July 1866 the partnership of 'W. M. N. Edmondson and others' owned and operated the Cumberoona between Echuca and Albury, carrying goods and passengers to and from the Victorian railhead at Echuca, whenever the Murray River was navigable.Steam to Albury..., The Argus (Melbourne), 18 July 1866, page 7. 'W. M. N. Edmondson and others' was a partnership of seven businessmen and pastoralists from Albury and the surrounding district, one of whom was James Fallon.Private Advertisements, New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney), 14 August 1866 (Issue No. 156), page 1915.
Expansion
In early 1867 an agreement between the colonies of Victoria and New South Wales (known as the 'border customs treaty') enabled the free trade in wine between the colonies.Topics of the Week, The Australasian (Melbourne), 2 February 1867, page 17.Victorian Parliament: The Debate on the Border Customs Treaty, Sydney Mail, 9 February 1867, page 6.