Background
Fairbairn was born in Geelong, Victoria and educated at Geelong Grammar School and Jesus College, Cambridge.
Fairbairn was born in Geelong, Victoria and educated at Geelong Grammar School and Jesus College, Cambridge.
University of Cambridge.
Fairbairn returned to Australia in 1876 and in the following years managed Peak Downs and Barcaldine stations in Queensland. In 1890, he took over the family farm at Lara, Victoria and subsequently acquired other farms in Victoria and New South Wales and developed numerous business interests. He was president of the Employers" Federation of Australia for six years.
In 1903 Fairbairn was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly seat of Toorak which he held until 1906 when he resigned to contest the newly created seat of Fawkner in the Australian House of Representatives.
He was Agent-General for Victoria in London from 1924 to 1927. He was knighted in 1926.
He rowed for Jesus College Boat Club in 1875 and 1876, the first two years of an 11-year stretch up to 1885 when it won the Cambridge head of the river races. He won Fawkner at the 1906 election and in 1909, he helped create the union of the non-Labor parties into the "fusion" He lost Fawkner in the 1913 election, following an adverse electoral redistribution, but he was elected to the Senate from 1917 election, but did not stand for re-election at the 1922 election.
