Franc Falkiner Explained

Franc Falkiner
Constituency Mp1:Riverina
Parliament1:Australian
Predecessor1:John Chanter
Successor1:John Chanter
Term Start1:31 May 1913
Term End1:5 September 1914
Constituency Mp2:Hume
Parliament2:Australian
Predecessor2:Robert Patten
Successor2:Parker Moloney
Term Start2:5 May 1917
Term End2:3 November 1919
Birth Date:1867 6, df=yes
Birth Place:Ararat, Victoria
Death Place:Bungendore, New South Wales
Nationality:Australian
Spouse:Ethel Elizabeth Howat
Party:Liberal (1913 - 17)
Nationalist (1917 - 19)
Occupation:Property manager

Franc Brereton Sadleir Falkiner (17 June 1867  - 30 October 1929) was an Australian politician and grazier, born on the Ararat, Victoria goldfields to Frank Sadleir Falkiner and Emily Elizabeth, née Bazley. The eldest boy among five sons and five daughters, his younger brother Otway Rothwell 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 as a result of Otway's asthma. 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 (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. He won the seat of Riverina in 1913, representing the Commonwealth Liberal Party, but lost it to the former member, John Chanter, the following year. He won Hume in 1917 for the Nationalist Party, but was defeated in his attempt to transfer to the Senate in 1919. A brusque and humorous politician, Falkiner derided Labor Prime Minister Andrew Fisher'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 Foxlow Station, Bungendore 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.[1]

References

Falkiner, Suzanne Ethel: A Love Story Macmillan, Sydney 1996

Notes and References

  1. News: MR. F. B. S. FALKINER. . . 31 October 1929 . 15 January 2016 . 12 . National Library of Australia.