Fitzgerald was born in Ireland, the son of a brewer, was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and became a solicitor in Ireland. He migrated to Victoria as a result of the Victorian gold rush, had an unsuccessful stint as a miner at Moonlight Flat, near Castlemaine, and then practised as a solicitor in Castlemaine. While practicing as a solicitor there, he established the Castlemaine Brewery in 1857. His brother, Nicholas Fitzgerald, followed him to Victoria and joined him in the business in 1859. The Castlemaine Brewery became highly successful, opening breweries in Melbourne, Newcastle, Sydney and Brisbane, each of which was later floated as a separate company, as well as breweries at Daylesford and Newbridge. He continued to hold interests in the various breweries, invested in mining companies, and was a Borough of Castlemaine councillor and trustee of St Mary's Orphanage.
