Ernest Cowan
Encyclopedia
Peter Ernest Cowan usually known as Ernest Cowan, was a Member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly
Western Australian Legislative Assembly
The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Perth....

 from 1928 to 1930.

Born in Wallaroo
Wallaroo, South Australia
Wallaroo is a port town on the western side of Yorke Peninsula in South Australia, 160 kilometres north-northwest of Adelaide. It is one of the three Copper Triangle towns famed for their historic shared copper mining industry, and known together as "Little Cornwall", the other two being Kadina ...

, South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

 on 3 January 1882, he was the son of farmer Robert Cowan and Christina née McMartin. Nothing is known of his early life until 1894, when he arrived in Esperance
Esperance, Western Australia
Esperance is a large town in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, located on the Southern Ocean coastline approximately east-southeast of the state capital, Perth. The shire of Esperance is home to 9,536 people as of the 2006 census, its major industries are tourism, agriculture,...

, Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

. On 31 October 1914 he married Lilly Mary Prisk, with whom he would have five sons and four daughters.

Cowan spent most of his life prospecting for gold on the north-eastern goldfields of Western Australia. In 1918 he was working as a labourer on the Gwalia
Gwalia, Western Australia
Gwalia is a former gold-mining town located 233 kilometres north of Kalgoorlie and 828 kilometres east of Perth in Western Australia's Great Victoria Desert. Today, Gwalia is essentially a ghost town, having been largely deserted since the main source of employment, the Sons of Gwalia...

 woodline, and the following year settled at Leonora
Leonora, Western Australia
Leonora is a town in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia, located northeast of the state capital, Perth, and north of the city of Kalgoorlie. At the 2006 census, Leonora had a population of 401, about a third of whom are of Aboriginal descent. The area is extremely arid, with a...

, where he worked as a timber-cutter and labour. In 1828 he was working as a barman when he successfully contested a Legislative Assembly by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....

 for the seat of Mount Leonora
Electoral district of Mount Leonora
Mount Leonora was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Western Australia from 1904 to 1930.The district was located in the Goldfields region, and was based in the town of Leonora. It was generally a Labor seat, although sitting member George Foley sided with...

 on a Labor
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 ticket. He held the seat until its abolition at the election of 12 April 1930. In that election he contested the seat of Mount Magnet
Electoral district of Mount Magnet
Mount Magnet was an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of Western Australia from 1904 to 1950.The district was based on the outback town of Mount Magnet. It was held at all times by the Australian Labor Party.-Members:...

, but was defeated by the Labor incumbent Michael Troy
Michael Troy
Michael Francis Troy is a retired butterfly swimmer from the United States, who broke the world record in the 200m butterfly five consecutive times before it was taken over by fellow American swimmer Carl Robie in 1961....

.

From 1934 to 1937, Cowan worked as a labourer at Lake Darlot. In 1939 he worked as a cyanide
Cyanide
A cyanide is a chemical compound that contains the cyano group, -C≡N, which consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. Cyanides most commonly refer to salts of the anion CN−. Most cyanides are highly toxic....

 solutionist at the Victory battery at Leonora. In the general election of 29 April 1944 he contested a Western Australian Legislative Council
Western Australian Legislative Council
The Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of parliament in the Australian state of Western Australia. Its central purpose is to act as a house of review for legislation passed through the lower house, the Legislative Assembly. It sits in Parliament House in the state...

 North East Province seat as an Independent Labor candidate, but was unsuccessful. In 1946 he was working as a shop assistant.

Cowan suffered from silicosis
Silicosis
Silicosis, also known as Potter's rot, is a form of occupational lung disease caused by inhalation of crystalline silica dust, and is marked by inflammation and scarring in forms of nodular lesions in the upper lobes of the lungs...

 in later life. He died at the Wooroloo
Wooroloo, Western Australia
Wooroloo is a town on the outer fringe of the Perth metropolitan area, located off Great Eastern Highway in the eastern part of the Shire of Mundaring. At the 2006 census, Wooroloo had a population of 254.-History:...

 Sanitorium on 7 May 1955, and was buried in Karrakatta Cemetery
Karrakatta Cemetery
Karrakatta Cemetery is a metropolitan cemetery in the suburb of Karrakatta in Perth, Western Australia. Karrakatta Cemetery first opened for burials in 1899, with Robert Creighton. Currently managed by the Metropolitan Cemeteries Board, the cemetery attracts more than one million visitors each...

.
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