William Gow was born on the 21st of May, 1868 in Cairn, Muthill, Perthshire, Scotland (see birth certificate above). His parents were William Gow & Jean Drummond. He was the youngest of 5 children.
William left Scotland and travelled to Australia in 1886 by himself when he was 18. His brother Robert was already in Sydney. Growing up in Scotland, he learned how to be a landscape gardener. When he arrived in Sydney on October 5th, 1886, he became a landscape gardener at the home of Sir Adrian Knox, a barrister and chief justice.
William was only supposed to stay in Australia for 2 years, however, much to his mother’s dismay, he remained here.
He joined the police force in Sydney in November 1896. On his application form, he stated that he had been a gardener and fruit grower for 14 years.
On the 14th of December, 1904, he married Elizabeth Croal. In late August 1905, they had a son, Adam, who sadly died after being alive for only 24 hours. On February 2nd, 1910, they had another son - William David Drummond Gow (My Grandfather, known as David throughout his life).
William Gow was well known throughout the Traffic Department of the Police for 16 years. In 1912, he resigned and returned to farming. He was requested to reconsider his decision but believed farming was his true occupation. In late early 1913, William, Elizabeth & David moved from Sydney to Gumma, near Macksville, NSW where they lived & owned a farm. One of their favourite things that they grew were tomatoes.
William remained in Gumma until his death in 1943. He passed away at ‘Jalna’ private hospital in Macksville on the 28th of November, aged 75.
The picture above, left to right, is David, William & Elizabeth. Most likely taken in the late 1930’s/early 1940’s.
If William had returned to Scotland after 2 years, I probably wouldn’t be here, writing this. So William, I thank you.
Happy 145th Birthday!
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