Early Life and Family
McGowen was the son of James McGowen, a boilermaker, and his wife Eliza Ditchfield, immigrants from Lancashire and was born at sea, on the "Western Bride", on the way to Melbourne. His father worked building in bridges, initially in Victoria, and later in New South Wales. After limited schooling he was apprenticed as a boiler maker in 1870. He became a member of the United Society of Boilermakers and Iron Shipbuilders of New South Wales on its establishment in 1873, he became secretary in 1874. He entered the railways department and in 1888 was elected president of the executive of Trades Hall committee. He worked hard and successfully to raise funds to build the Trades Hall at Sydney.
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