David Bruce Cowan AM (15 January 1926 – 7 April 2011) was an Australian politician and Minister of the Crown in the cabinets of Tom Lewis and Sir Eric Willis. He was a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

for 14 years from 6 November 1965 until his resignation on 29 August 1980 and then for 13 years in the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members of the ...

for Lyne for the Country Party of Australia and its successors, the National Country and then National Parties.

Early life

Bruce Cowan was born in January 1926 in

Taree, New South Wales Taree is a town on the Mid North Coast, New South Wales, Australia. Taree and nearby Cundletown were settled in 1831 by William Wynter. Since then Taree has grown to a population of 26,381, and is the centre of a significant agricultural distri ...

, the son of a farmer, David Cowan, and Bessie Kent. He was educated at Oxley Island Public School and

Taree High School , motto_translation = May your Sons and Daughters Crown the River , established = , type = Government-funded co-educational comprehensive secondary day school , educational_authority = NSW Department of Education , district = Tar ...

and thereafter worked as a farmer, a real estate agent, and stock and station agent. He became a prominent member of the community, becoming the country real estate agents representative on the New South Wales Council of Auctioneers, the President of Oxley Island Primary Producers Union Branch, Secretary of Oxley Island Drainage Union and as a Member of the Taree

Rotary Club Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, profe ...

for 37 years. He married Laura Bidner on 5 June 1954 and had two daughters, one of whom, Rosemary, married the future Leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party and

Premier of New South Wales The premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster Parliamentary System, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislature. ...

Barry O'Farrell Barry Robert O'Farrell (born 24 May 1959) is a former Australian politician who has been Australia's High Commissioner to India and non-resident Ambassador to Bhutan since May 2020. O'Farrell was the 43rd Premier of New South Wales and Minis ...

. After Laura died in a car accident in 1987 he remarried, to Jan Churchill.

Political career

Cowan's interest in politics began when he joined the Country Party of Australia, becoming a member of the central executive in 1952, 1953 and 1958. He ran for the local government elections and became an Alderman on Taree Municipal Council from 1957 to 1965, later rising to become Deputy Mayor from 1959 to 1965. In 1965, he contested the

seat of

Oxley Oxley may refer to: Places Australia Australian Capital Territory * Oxley, Australian Capital Territory is a suburb of Canberra, Australia Queensland *Oxley, Queensland is a suburb of Brisbane, Australia **Oxley railway station, Brisbane ...

at a November by-election caused by the death of the sitting member,

Les Jordan Leslie Charles Jordan (26 July 1896 – 29 September 1965) was an Australian politician and a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1944 until his death in 1965 . He was initially elected as a member of the Country Party but c ...

. He went on to win the seat on preferences with 59.75% of the vote. He went on to retain his seat a further 5 times, each time with a significant majority, until his resignation. For most of his time in Parliament he remained on the backbenches until Premier Askin retired and Tom Lewis became Premier, who appointed him as Minister for Agriculture and Minister for Water Resources on 17 December 1975. He held these portfolios until, Lewis' successor, Sir Eric Willis, lost the election on 14 May 1976. In opposition he was made the Shadow Minister for Conservation and Shadow Minister for Water Resources from 28 May 1976 to 2 November 1978, when under the new leader, John Mason, he was appointed the Shadow Minister for Local Government and Shadow Minister for Roads. Held this portfolio until he resigned and later also resigned his seat on 29 August 1980. In 1980, Cowan won the

National Country Party The National Party of Australia, also known as The Nationals or The Nats, is an Australian political party. Traditionally representing graziers, farmers, and regional voters generally, it began as the Australian Country Party in 1920 at a fede ...

preselection for the

seat of Lyne when

Philip Lucock Philip Ernest Lucock, CBE (16 January 1916 – 8 August 1996) was an Australian politician and Presbysterian minister. He served in the House of Representatives from 1952 to 1980, representing the Division of Lyne for the Country Party. He ...

retired from politics. Cowan faced the

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

candidate and Local Councillor Leslie Brown and the Liberal Party's

Milton Morris Milton Arthur Morris AO (2 April 1924 – 27 February 2019) was an Australian politician who represented the Electoral district of Maitland between 3 March 1956 and 29 August 1980 for the Liberal Party. He helped pass several laws promoting au ...

who was the Member for Maitland in the NSW Legislative Assembly. Although Brown won more primary votes, preferences from Morris were more than enough to ensure that Cowan was elected. Cowan held the seat comfortably until retiring at the 1993 election. On 26 January 1998, Cowan was appointed a

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

for service to Parliament and the community. On 1 January 2001, he was also awarded the

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or go ...

for service to society through parliament. Cowan died on 7 April 2011, a week after O'Farrell (his son-in-law) was elected Premier of New South Wales.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowan, Bruce 1926 births 2011 deaths New South Wales local councillors Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Lyne Members of the Order of Australia Recipients of the Centenary Medal National Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales 20th-century Australian politicians Australian stock and station agents