James Busby was born in Scotland in 1801 and emigrated to New South Wales in 1824.

Busby returned to Europe to study viticulture, but came back to Australia in 1833 bringing with him a large collection of vine cuttings from France and Spain. These cuttings formed the basis of all subsequent Australian vineyard plantings in the 19th and early 20th centuries. As a consequence James Busby is considered to be the founding father of the Australian wine industry.