Walter Godfrey Bowen MBE (13 February 1922 – 2 January 1994)[1] was a New Zealand farmer and world acclaimed sheep shearer.

With his brother Ivan, he developed the Bowen Technique, which involved the shearer using his spare hand to stretch the sheep's skin, which improved the quality of the shorn fleece.

[3] Bowen, along with George Harford set up the Agrodome in Rotorua, which is still a popular tourist spot to this day.

In the 1960 Queen's Birthday Honours, Bowen was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire,[5] and in 1990 he was an inaugural inductee into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame.

[1] Bowen was also awarded the Star of Lenin and Hero of Labour by Soviet first secretary Nikita Khrushchev for services to farming and shearing in 1963.