Donald John Bowman (25 May 1936 – 30 April 2013) was an Australian politician. He was 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 la ...

member for

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

in 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 ...

from 1981 to 1988 and from 1991 to 1995. Bowman was born in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

to electrical linesman Donald Napier Bowman and his wife Annie. He attended high school at

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

from 1948 to 1952, and went on to achieve a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from the University of New England in 1955. After completing his national service in 1956 he was a regional high school teacher, receiving his

Diploma of Education The Diploma of Education, often abbreviated to DipEd or GradDipEd, is a postgraduate qualification offered in many Commonwealth countries including Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Overview The diploma can build on the g ...

in 1966. He joined the Labor Party in 1965 and married Margaret Estelle Thomson in 1969. He was active both in the local Labor Party and in the local teachers' associations, and in 1974 was elected to

Lake Macquarie City Council The City of Lake Macquarie is a local government area in Greater Newcastle and part of the Hunter Region in New South Wales, Australia. It was proclaimed a city from 7 September 1984. The area is situated adjacent to the city of Newcastle and is ...

, where he remained until 1980. In 1981 he was selected as the Labor candidate for the new seat of

(the seat replaced Munmorah, whose member,

Harry Jensen Henry Frederick Jensen AO, (12 July 1913 – 27 August 1998) was an Australian ALP politician, who served as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1965 until 1981. He was also Lord Mayor of Sydney from 1957 until 19 ...

, retired). He won the seat easily and was re-elected in 1984, but in 1988 he was defeated by Lake Macquarie Mayor Ivan Welsh, running as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

. He regained the seat in 1991 but retired in 1995. In 2013, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and died on 30 April of that year, aged 76. He was survived by his wife Margaret and their daughters, Kelly and Zoe.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowman, Don 1936 births 2013 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Australian schoolteachers Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales