Newton Digby Fowell b. 30 July 1768

  • Artist (Draughtsman)
Fowell joined the Royal Navy at 12 and arrived in Australia on the First Fleet. He made sketches of birds and Aboriginal weapons, none of which survive. He died of fever at sea at the age of only 22.
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sketcher and/or art collector, letter-writer and naval officer, was born on 30 July 1768, second son of John Fowell and Mary, née Digby, of Blackhall, Devon. He entered the Royal Navy on 1 March 1781, aged twelve, as midshipman on board HMS Ocean . In 1786, determined to go 'where there are some hopes of Promotion’, Fowell asked his father to use his influence to have him appointed to the First Fleet. John Fowell had enough connections (through Lord Nepean) to have young Newton transferred to the Sirius by 25 February 1787. On the voyage Phillip wrote to Nepean describing Fowell as 'a very good young man, & improves very much’.

From the new colony at Sydney Cove Fowell sent home to Devon several letters, a stuffed lorikeet and sketches of Aboriginal weapons. When Philip Gidley King left Sydney in February 1788 to establish a settlement at Norfolk Island, Fowell was appointed acting second lieutenant in his place; the promotion was confirmed on 28 December 1789. Fowell survived the wreck of the Sirius at Norfolk Island in March 1790 but lost most of his effects, as his last letter to his father, written on 31 July 1790 from Batavia, indicates: 'I have sent a Plan of Botany Bay & Port Jackson / I had them all Complete to send you but they were lost in the Sirius with a very valuable collection of birds which cost me a great Deal of Trouble’.

Fowell was in Batavia by chance. He had sailed with King from Sydney in the Supply intending to land at Norfolk Island but the weather being too rough for landing, the ship had continued on to Batavia where the Waaksaamheyd was hired to replace the Sirius . Fowell was appointed to sail it back to Sydney – his first command. This was not to be. He caught the fever which was rife in Batavia and died at sea on 25 August 1790. His letters were preserved by his parents, who added the following: 'Universally lamented He excelled most young men of his age both in Body and Mind which made his Death an inexpressible grief to his Parents’. Fowell’s letters were acquired in December 1987 by the Mitchell Library but no surviving sketches are known.

Writers:
Staff Writer
Date written:
1992
Last updated:
2011

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