Franc Brereton Sadleir Falkiner (17 June 1867 – 30 October 1929) was an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n politician and grazier, born on the Ararat, Victoria

Ararat, Victoria

Ararat is a city in south-west Victoria, Australia, about west of Melbourne, on the Western Highway on the eastern slopes of the Ararat Hills and Cemetery Creek valley between Victoria's Western District and the Wimmera...

 goldfields to Frank Sadleir Falkiner and Emily Elizabeth, née Bazley. The eldest boy among five sons and five daughters, his younger brother Otway Falkiner would later rival him as a Merino sheep breeder.

Falkiner was educated at Geelong Church of England Grammar School, and in 1878 the family moved to the Riverina

Riverina

The Riverina is an agricultural region of south-western New South Wales , Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, warm to hot climate and an ample supply of water for irrigation. This combination has allowed the Riverina to develop...

 as a result of Otway's asthma

Asthma

Asthma is the common chronic inflammatory disease of the airways characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and bronchospasm. Symptoms include wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath...

. Franc managed the family properties for some time, and in 1909 became managing director of F. S. Falkiner & Sons Ltd on the death of his father.

A founding member of Conargo Shire Council

Conargo Shire Council

Conargo Shire Council is a local government area in New South Wales, Australia. It is the smallest Local Government Area in New South Wales. Conargo Shire was established in 1907. In 2001 the former Windouran shire was absorbed into Conargo Shire. This amalgamation resulted in an additional...

 (formed in 1906), Falkiner's political interests were awakened by the 1910 Federal land tax, which prompted him to enter the Australian House of Representatives

Australian House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....

. He won the seat of Riverina

Division of Riverina

The Division of Riverina is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of New South Wales. It is located in south-west rural New South Wales, generally following the Murrumbidgee River valley. It includes the cities of Wagga Wagga and Griffith as well as the towns of Junee, West Wyalong, Tumut,...

 in 1913, representing the Commonwealth Liberal Party

Commonwealth Liberal Party

The Commonwealth Liberal Party was a political movement active in Australia from 1909 to 1916, shortly after federation....

, but lost it to the former member, John Chanter

John Chanter

John Moore Chanter was an Australian politician, farmer and commission agent. He was variously a member of the Protectionist Party, Australian Labor Party and Nationalist Party of Australia....

, the following year. He won Hume

Division of Hume

The Division of Hume is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of New South Wales. The Division is located in the central part of the state, just north of the Australian Capital Territory. The Division covers a predominantly rural area, with agriculture and coal mining the main industries...

 in 1917 for the Nationalist Party

Nationalist Party of Australia

The Nationalist Party of Australia was an Australian political party. It was formed on 17 February 1917 from a merger between the conservative Commonwealth Liberal Party and the National Labor Party, the name given to the pro-conscription defectors from the Australian Labor Party led by Prime...

, but was defeated in his attempt to transfer to the Senate

Australian Senate

The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...

 in 1919. A brusque and humorous politician, Falkiner derided Labor

Australian Labor Party

The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 Prime Minister Andrew Fisher

Andrew Fisher

Andrew Fisher was an Australian politician who served as the fifth Prime Minister on three separate occasions. Fisher's 1910-13 Labor ministry completed a vast legislative programme which made him, along with Protectionist Alfred Deakin, the founder of the statutory structure of the new nation...

's 1912 maternity allowance as a "bangle bonus".

On his departure from politics, Falkiner concentrated on breeding sheep, and was president of the Southern Riverina Pastoralists' Union, one of the founders of the Australian Stud Merino Flock Register, and a director of the Bank of New South Wales from 1919-1929.

Falkiner died on 30 October 1929 at Bungendore

Bungendore, New South Wales

Bungendore is a town in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, in Palerang Council. It is on the Kings Highway near Lake George, the Molonglo River Valley and the Australian Capital Territory border. It has become a major tourist centre in recent years, popular with visitors from...

 of intracranial haemorrhage, and was survived by his wife, Ethel Elizabeth (née Howat), whom he had married on 5 May 1902, and his two sons and two daughters.