James Meehan (1774 – 21 April 1826) was an Irish Australian explorer and surveyor. Meehan was born in Ireland, in Shinrone, County Offaly, in 1774. He was declared a rebel and given a life sentence in a trial after the Rebellion of 1798 and was one of a number of political prisoners who arrived in Australia on the Friendship in February 1800. He came under the assumed name James Mahon. Two months later he became an assistant to Charles Grimes, the surveyor-general, and went with him to explore the Hunter River in 1801. He was also with Grimes on the expedition to explore King Island and Port Phillip in the summer of 1802–3. Grimes had a leave of absence from August 1803 to go to England, and during his absence for about three years, Meehan did much of his work with the title of assistant-