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John Bowser

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Sir John Bowser
26th Premier of Victoria
In office
29 November 1917 – 21 March 1918
Preceded byAlexander Peacock
Succeeded byHarry Lawson
13th Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly
In office
30 April 1924 – 5 March 1927
Preceded byJohn Mackey
Succeeded byOswald Snowball
Personal details
Born(1856-09-02)2 September 1856
Islington, London, England, UK
Died10 June 1936(1936-06-10) (aged 79)
Wangaratta, Victoria, Australia
Political partyNationalist
Spouse
Frances Rogers
(m. 1914)
Alma materUniversity of Edinburgh

Sir John Bowser (2 September 1856 – 10 June 1936),[1] Australian politician, was the 26th Premier of Victoria. He was born in London, the son of an army officer, and arrived in Melbourne as a child with his family. He grew up at Bacchus Marsh and when he left school got a job with the Bacchus Marsh Express. As a young man he went to Scotland and worked on newspapers while studying at University of Edinburgh. Returning to Australia, he settled in Wangaratta, where he farmed and managed the Wangaratta Chronicle, which he eventually bought.

In October 1894, Bowser was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly for Wangaratta and Rutherglen.[2] Wangaratta and Rutherglen was renamed to Electoral district of Wangaratta in 1906, and was renamed again to Electoral district of Wangaratta and Ovens in 1927. Bowser held the seat until November 1929.[2] In total Bowser represented Wangaratta, in its different names, for 35 years. He was Minister for Public Instruction in the Liberal government of Thomas Bent in 1908–1909, but thereafter did not hold office again until he became Premier. He emerged as one of the leaders of the conservative rural faction of the Liberal Party, known as the Economy Party, concerned with getting roads and railways to their districts, cutting government expenditure, and keeping country areas over-represented in the Assembly.

In 1917, the Liberal Premier, Alexander Peacock, increased country rail fares, arguing that the Victorian Railways would otherwise become insolvent. In protest, Bowser led his faction into opposition, and at the election in November, Bowser's followers won 27 seats, to Labor's 18, the Peacock Liberals' 12 and the Victorian Farmers Union's four. Peacock resigned and Bowser became Premier. He rescinded Peacock's rail fares increases, but had no answer to the larger problem of railway finances. In May 1918, he was defeated in the Assembly when all the other parties voted against a railways estimates bill.

Bowser, who had little taste for office, immediately resigned, and a Peacock Liberal, Harry Lawson, formed a composite ministry of the various Liberal factions, with Bowser as Chief Secretary and Minister for Public Health, posts he held until 1919. In 1921, he joined the newly formed Country Party. In 1924, he was elected Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, which was becoming a traditional honour for former Premiers. He was knighted in 1927 and retired from politics in 1929.

In 1922, a railway station just north of Wangaratta was named after him.[3]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Vines, Margaret. "Bowser, Sir John (1856–1936)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
  2. ^ a b "Sir John Bowser". Re-Member: a database of all Victorian MPs since 1851. Parliament of Victoria. Archived from the original on 23 April 2023. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
  3. ^ Turton, Keith W. (1973). Six And A Half Inches From Destiny. Australian Railway Historical Society (Victorian Division). p. 104. ISBN 0-85849-012-9.
  • Geoff Browne, A Biographical Register of the Victorian Parliament, 1900-84, Government Printer, Melbourne, 1985
  • Don Garden, Victoria: A History, Thomas Nelson, Melbourne, 1984
  • Kathleen Thompson and Geoffrey Serle, A Biographical Register of the Victorian Parliament, 1856-1900, Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1972
  • Raymond Wright, A People's Counsel. A History of the Parliament of Victoria, 1856-1990, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1992

 

Political offices
Preceded by Premier of Victoria
1917–1918
Succeeded by
Victorian Legislative Assembly
Preceded by Member for Wangaratta and Rutherglen
1894–1904
District abolished
District created Member for Wangaratta
1904–1927
District abolished
District created Member for Wangaratta and Ovens
1927–1929
Succeeded by
Preceded by Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly
1924–1927
Succeeded by