1. Nigel Bowen was a member of the Liberal Party and served in the House of Representatives from 1964 to 1973, representing the New South Wales seat of Parramatta.
24 Facts About Nigel Bowen
1. 2.
Nigel Bowen held senior ministerial office in multiple Coalition governments, serving as Attorney-General, Minister for Education and Science, and Minister for Foreign Affairs.
3.
Nigel Bowen was the son of Dorothy Joan and Otway Percival Bowen.
4.
Nigel Bowen's parents, both born in England, were apple farmers.
5.
Nigel Bowen was sent to school in England from 1919 to 1921 with financial assistance from an aunt.
6.
Nigel Bowen subsequently matriculated to the University of Sydney, graduating Bachelor of Arts in 1931 and Bachelor of Laws in 1934.
7.
Nigel Bowen served his articles of clerkship with Sly and Russell in Sydney and was called to the bar in 1936.
8.
Nigel Bowen practised "widely across fields that included divorce, probate, and inheritance".
9.
Nigel Bowen took silk in 1953 in New South Wales and Victoria in 1954.
10.
Nigel Bowen was president of the New South Wales bar council from 1959 to 1961 and was vice-president of the Law Council of Australia from 1957 to 1960.
11.
Nigel Bowen was elected to parliament at the 1964 Parramatta by-election, caused by the resignation of Sir Garfield Barwick to take up an appointment as Chief Justice of Australia.
12.
Nigel Bowen was appointed Attorney-General of Australia in the Second Holt Ministry in December 1966, and in 1968 he introduced a bill for the establishment of a federal court junior to the High Court of Australia.
13.
Nigel Bowen appointed the Commonwealth Administrative Review Committee, which reported in 1971 and formed the basis for the establishment of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, the appointment of a Commonwealth Ombudsman and the enactment of the Administrative Decisions Act 1977.
14.
Nigel Bowen introduced the Privy Council Act 1968, which began the process of abolishing appeals from the High Court to the Privy Council in London, culminating in the Australia Act 1986.
15.
In November 1969, Nigel Bowen was appointed Minister for Education and Science in the Second Gorton Ministry.
16.
Nigel Bowen was William McMahon's preferred candidate to replace William Owen on the High Court, but Anthony Mason was eventually chosen as it was feared that the Liberal Party would not be able to retain Nigel Bowen's seat at a by-election.
17.
When McMahon resigned after the 1972 election, Nigel Bowen lost the resulting leadership vote by one vote to Billy Snedden, on the fifth ballot.
18.
In 1973, Nigel Bowen was appointed as Chief Judge in Equity in the Supreme Court of New South Wales.
19.
Nigel Bowen was appointed first Chief Judge of the Federal Court of Australia in 1976 and held this until his retirement in 1990.
20.
Nigel Bowen was one of only six politicians to have served in both the Parliament of Australia and the Federal Court of Australia, alongside Bob Ellicott, Merv Everett, Tony Whitlam, John Reeves and Duncan Kerr.
21.
In 1947, Nigel Bowen married Eileen Mullins, a nurse, with whom he had three daughters.
22.
Nigel Bowen was widowed in 1983 and in 1984 remarried to Ermyn Krippner, a school principal.
23.
Nigel Bowen died in Wahroonga, New South Wales, on 27 September 1994, aged 83.
24.
Nigel Bowen was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1976 and a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1988.