Much respected Mount Gambier residents Bob and Gayle Cowan have been awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in today’s Australia Day honours.
Mr and Mrs Cowan are passionate about enabling rural students to access tertiary education.
The couple established the Cowan Grant 29 years ago to support initiatives that help financially disadvantaged students to gain a higher education and follow the career prospects that a higher education affords.
Since the Cowan Grant was established, Mr and Mrs Cowan have provided more than $3.5m to over 1500 students from rural and regional Australia.
Mrs Cowan said it was an honour to receive the OAM, which she said also came as a bit of a surprise.
“We are only doing things that we believe need support, because we sent our children to Adelaide to university, but this (grant) was not around, we were both working to put them through university,” Mrs Cowan said.
“I know how hard it is to support children away from home.
“Our kids over the years have had various scholarships that other people have given, so it is a generosity that we thought one day, maybe if we can, that would be something that we would like to give back.”
Mrs Cowan took an interest in the early administration and investment approach of the Cowan Grant, enabling the Trust to further support rural and regional students.
Mr Cowan said giving back to the community was rewarding and their work was rewarded when they met scholarship recipients and therefore could share in their journey.
“Our reward is their success,” Mr Cowan said.
Mr Cowan worked a 35-year career in the South Australian timber industry, with a Bachelor of Science (Forestry) and a Diploma of Forestry from the Australian Forestry School in Canberra along with completing postgraduate studies in Forestry at Oxford University.
He lectured in Forestry at TAFE and to postgraduate students at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.
Mr Cowan sat on several forestry management boards and committees including as President of the Radiata Pine Association of Australia and was the Inaugural Chairman of the South East Economic Development Board.
The couple also have a long-standing involvement with the Riddoch Arts and Cultural Centre in the heart of Mount Gambier.
Mr Cowan was chairman of the board and a member of the Riddoch Art Gallery.
Mrs Cowan was a member of the Friends of the Riddoch Art Gallery Committee, which raised funds to purchase art for the gallery, and served as committee president for seven years.
“We donated to the foundation and I was on the Friends Committee for 25 years and I studied art here at TAFE,” Mrs Cowan said.
Mrs Cowan also co-wrote a book with artist Diana Wiseman called ‘For the Love of Art: 25 Years with the Friends of the Riddoch Art Gallery’.
The couple are deeply committed to the Mount Gambier community, with Mrs Cowan volunteering her time to several groups including organisations that reflect her passion for the arts and Mr Cowan has served on multiple committees and boards.
Their generosity has been spread far and wide, working with institutions including the University of South Australia, University of Adelaide, James Cook University, Kathleen Lumley College and St Marks College.
Last year Mr and Mrs Cowan were both awarded a Fellowship of the University of South Australia, which acknowledged their outstanding contribution to the growth and development of the University.
