George Swain FOWLER

FOWLER, GEORGE SWAN (b. Cellardyke, Scotland, 9 Mar 1839; d. Adelaide, SA, 1 Oct 1896). SA Baptist leader, politician and merchant.

Born a son of a merchant who was also a lay Baptist pastor, he was educated in the burgh school of Kirkcaldy at which he was a boarder. He entered into partnership with his father in 1858 but left a year later to enter into a partnership with his brother David in a grocery business in Adelaide. Fowler returned to Scotland in Jan 1864 to marry Catherine (Janet) Lamb and returned to Australia with his bride within a year.

The firm of D & J Fowler dropped out of the retail trade in 1865 to concentrate on wholesale business. Despite the vagaries of colonial economic life the firm prospered and became one of Australia's leading commercial houses. The firm had branches in London and Fremantle, agencies on the River Murray and in the NT and large stores throughout Adelaide. D & J Fowler also ran a shipping agency which exported wool, wheat, flour, meat, butter and other goods as well as importing foodstuffs. After David returned to London in 1873 to head the London branch, George had control of the Australian operations. Further profitable investments were the Shell Oil agency in SA and the introduction of the Macarthur-Forrest cyanide gold extraction process, used with great effect in Kalgoorlie. In 1896 he also bought the bankrupt Adelaide Milling Co and 11 other flour mills. In his commercial dealings Fowler earned a reputation of scrupulous honesty and reliability.

George and his brother David were very active in Baptist work in SA and both were on the committee of prominent Baptists who invited Rev Silas Mead (q.v.) to establish a central Baptist church in Adelaide. George Swan Fowler remained a friend of Mead throughout his life and served on the SA Baptist Association general committee with him over many years. Fowler served as treasurer of the Association on numerous occasions and was a generous giver to Association funds for church extension, the relief of building debts, and the support of aged clergy. He was also a prolific giver to individual Baptist churches and individuals in need. His giving to Baptist causes was normally conditional on equal amounts being raised by others and he refused to give if he believed that waste was involved. Fowler also refused to give to the foreign mission effort of SA Baptists because he believed that their efforts should be concentrated locally while the colony was still expanding. His refusal to budge on this issue revealed a stubborness which was typical of him. He was a foundation member of the Norwood Baptist Church and the Flinders St Baptist Church both in which he served as deacon and treasurer, and in his later years was a member of the Glen Osmond Baptist Church.

Both Fowler brothers were ardent advocates of free trade and George was elected to the House of Assembly seat of East Adelaide in 1878. He served as treasurer in the Morgan government in 1881 but had to resign after two months due to ill-health. He lost his seat in the 1884 election because of his pro-temperance views.

On his death in 1896 he left an estate of £80 000 and was survived by his wife and three children. His eldest son, James Richard (b. 25 May 1865; d. 17 Dec 1939), was also a prominent businessman, public figure and Christian leader who held to a liberal interpretation of Christianity. His daughter Laura (q.v. Laura Hope) was the first woman to graduate MB, BS, from the University of Adelaide.

J Price, Memoir of George Swan Fowler, Christian Merchant (Adelaide, 1897); ADB 4; H E Hughes, Our First Hundred Years: The Baptist Church of South Australia (Adelaide, 1937); J S Walker, 'The Baptists in South Australia, 1863 to 1914' (BTh thesis, Flinders University, 1990)

JOHN WALKER