A New Era Begins
On the 20th April 2026, my brother David, a part-owner and director of Bowens for the past 53 years, shifted to retirement. At the same time, his shares in the business were purchased by my ‘arm’ of the family, streamlining the company’s ownership and helping to ensure the company remains in the Bowen family for many years to come. For a 132-year-old family business, four generations and counting, this is cause for celebration. Better still, our wider family continues to get on well. I’d like to think Richard Bowen (our founder in 1894) would be proud of our longevity, our growth and, most importantly, our capacity to maintain strong and trusting relationships across the wider family unit.
“For a 132-year-old family business, four generations and counting, this is cause for celebration.”
Over the first five years of the 2000’s, David and I acquired the equity of our two sisters. Before and since that time, we have had a great working relationship and a friendship based on respect and trust. Gratefully, the connection between all of my siblings, before and after the company’s shares were transferred, has never been less than loving, generous and considerate – a reality I do not take for granted. Our sisters, in particular, rode the Company’s good times and bad without criticism; they were always trusting. They allowed David and me to keep things going after the death of our father in 1971, and, in turn, I believe we did our job by keeping them appropriately informed.
While I have little control now on what the next generations decide to do, I believe that the culture of family unity and respect is pretty well embedded in the DNA of my children and even my grandchildren. My wife Meg has complemented all that has happened over the last 56 years of our marriage. She also came from a great family support base.
“While I have little control now on what the next generations decide to do, I believe that the culture of family unity and respect is pretty well embedded in the DNA of my children and even my grandchildren.”
The above is the crux of my message in this May Bulletin – what follows is the history of ownership from Richard Bowen’s time, starting in 1894!
When my grandfather Richard Bowen started the “Bowens” business, he had his brother-in-law Redmon Pomeroy ready and willing to provide financial backing – a partnership in which Richard’s wife (and Pomeroy’s sister) also played an active part. The business of Bowen & Pomeroy started on rented council land at 127 Dryburgh Street, North Melbourne. Richard and Mary Ann had been married for 14 years when Mary Ann died suddenly, from a brain hemorrhage. There were no children from the marriage.
Bowen & Pomeroy was incorporated as a registered private company on the 5th December 1914. 4,000 shares were divided equally between Richard Bowen and Redmond Pomeroy. In the meantime, Richard had remarried, his new wife being Mary Poer, the sister of a Bowen & Pomeroy staff member. In 1909, Mary and Richard produced a son, John Richard (my father) and a daughter, Catherine Mary, in 1912.
Over the following 12 years, the business prospered, but sadly, in February 1924, Mary was killed when the Fiat car Richard was driving overturned on the road to Geelong. Just eight months after Mary’s death, Richard died of heart failure – a tremendous shock to the business and Redmond Pomeroy.
Although they were in many ways an unlikely combination, the two men had managed to weld a successful partnership that had stood for thirty years. Redmond Pomeroy’s steady and conservative nature had provided a balance to Richard Bowen’s enthusiasm and high ambitions. Redmond had a reserved manner, a foil for Richard’s open, ebullient style. Nevertheless, Redmond Pomeroy had always relied upon Richard to oversee the daily operation of the business and had depended heavily on his partner’s knowledge and familiarity with the building industry. The prospect of assuming sole responsibility for the Company filled him with anxiety, and he was confined to his sick bed barely days after Richard Bowen’s funeral. The doctor diagnosed a heart condition and inflammation of the kidneys. He never returned to work, as his condition became steadily worse. He died on 4th January 1925.
At this point, the shares in Bowen & Pomeroy Pty Ltd were divided between a number of people: Redmond Pomeroy had bequeathed his stake equally to his wife, daughter and son, while Richard Bowen’s shares were to be administered solely by his trustees – his brother-in-law, John Poer and his solicitor, William Perry – until his son, Jack, reached the age of 25 years. Catherine Bowen (my dad Jack’s sister) was left a sum of money in lieu of shares in the Company.
While Roy Pomeroy (son of Redmond) and William Perry were appointed Directors, neither had a practical knowledge of, nor interest in timber, and were unable to provide the business with informed leadership. This vacuum left by Richard Bowen’s death was filled by one of Richard’s proteges, Charlie Barrass. Charlie was only 26 at the time. He was ably supported by another young man in Jack Dowling, who was a natural and effective timber salesman.
My father left school in 1926 and began work at Bowen & Pomeroy, aged 17. These years, through to 1933, were dominated by the Great Depression. By 1932, over 30% of the Australian workforce was unemployed, and amongst the business community, there was a wave of closures and bankruptcies. At the beginning of 1931, Bowen & Pomeroy was in dire straits – having operated at a loss for 3 consecutive years. My dad had turned 21, and it was widely believed that the Company would be wound up.
Jack Dowling and Charlie Barrass remained convinced the business could survive. A firm of accountants, Spry Fooks and Company, were invited to review Bowen & Pomeroy’s financial situation and prepared a series of recommendations.
In October 1931, Spry Fooks and Company’s plan was adopted, and a new company was created with a paid-up capital of £2,000. Jack Bowen and Redmond Pomeroy’s widow, Teresa Pomeroy, were appointed the first Directors. Jack Bowen was the major shareholder, and Teresa Pomeroy and her daughter, Vera, were his partners. Roy Pomeroy sold his share entitlement to Jack Bowen.
To preserve continuity, the new Company was known as Bowen & Pomeroy Pty Ltd while the old Company was renamed B&P Investments Pty Ltd. It held the Company’s major assets and represented equally the estates of the two founding partners.
In June 1949, Teresa and Vera Pomeroy indicated a willingness to surrender their shares to my father. An agreement was signed on 29th June. The Company continued to be known as Bowen & Pomeroy, but now with just the one owner.
The history of Bowen & Pomeroy was written in 1994, and a sequel was added in 2022. ‘Sixpence For A Piece of Timber …’ covers our first 125 years. No doubt what happens from April 2026 will fill the pages of the next sequel! In the latest edition, I included a long ‘letter’ to my grandfather Richard. I finished the letter with the following …
“We have been blessed with four generations who have managed to respect each other, showing an unselfish attitude to the continued future of Bowen & Pomeroy Pty Ltd as a family business. As we celebrate this milestone, you will be very much in our thoughts. Your life journey from the Goldfields of Ballarat in the early 1880’s (at the age of 16 years) has been a blessing for the Bowen family and its family of some 1,300 men and women who operate the Company today, not forgetting the tens of thousands of past employees and their families who also benefited from your brave journey to the ‘big city’ more than 125 years ago. I will write to you again in 2044 and report on Bowen & Pomeroy’s 150-year progress!!”
No doubt Richard Bowen’s great grandsons John and Andy will write to Richard – and keep him up to date … I’ll try and be there, but that will be my 100th year … not an impossible task, however!
Jack Bowen