Peter Plowman (10 December 1902 – July 1983) was an Australia-born businessman and politician in

Western Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); a ...

. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly between 1954 and 1964, and as Member for Transport and Communications from 1956 to 1957.

Biography

Born in

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

in December 1902, Plowman was educated at Scott's College and Hutchin's College.''Pacific Islands Year Book 1963'', p107 He began working at a cattle station in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

in 1920, before becoming a plantation manager in the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

in 1923. The following year he relocated to the

New Hebrides New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium (french: link=no, Condominium des Nouvelles-Hébrides, "Condominium of the New Hebrides") and named after the Hebrides Scottish archipelago, was the colonial name for the island group ...

where he did the same job until moving to Sydney in 1931 to join Airzone Ltd as a manager and director. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he served in the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister of ...

and the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

, becoming an explosives specialist.Peter Plowman
''Pacific Islands Monthly'', September 1983 After his marriage to Elsie Paxton ended,A man on a mission
''Samoa Observer'', 27 July 2018 he moved to

Apia Apia () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Samoa, as well as the nation's only city. It is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoa's second-largest island. Apia falls within the political district (''itūmālō ...

in Western Samoa in 1947 to work for A.G. Smyth & Co, later setting up his own import-export business. He also became one of the largest poultry farmers in the islands. After settling in Samoa, he married Aggie Mann, with whom he had two children.Peter Plowman
Billion Graves In

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

he was elected to the Legislative Assembly from the European constituency, also becoming a member of the Executive Council. In 1956 he was appointed Member for Transport and Communications. He was re-elected in

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

and was a member of the 1960 Constitutional Assembly that produced the independence

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

, becoming one of its signatories. He was re-elected again in

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

, but did not contest the 1964 elections when the number of European seats was reduced from five to two. He ran unsuccessfully in

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

, finishing last out of the four candidates.Samoan election results by constituency 1964–2016
Samoa Election Results Database In 1966 he was appointed chairman of the Apia Harbour Board. He died in Apia in July 1983 at the age of 80.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plowman, Peter 1902 births Politicians from Hobart New Hebrides people Australian emigrants to Samoa 20th-century Samoan businesspeople Samoan farmers Members of the Legislative Assembly of Samoa 1983 deaths