Fowles was an artist but not much is known of his early life apart from what can be gleaned from the journal of his voyage to New South Wales held in the Mitchell Library, Sydney.

[1] He arrived in Sydney on 31 August 1838 via Hobart as an unassisted cabin passenger aboard the "Fortune" with his wife Sarah and partner Emily Collyer.

[1][3][4] Fowles opened a studio in Harrington Street in Sydney’s Rocks in the 1840s and gained a reputation as a marine painter.

[7] The major artistic work of Joseph Fowles career was a series of etchings depicting the town of Sydney in 1848.

The purpose of this project was to change any such perceptions to the contrary as he outlined in the serial installments appearing in the press and in the print publication: “The principal object of this Work is to remove the erroneous and discreditable notions current in England concerning this City, in common with everything else connected with the Colony.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported these stables built by ‘Mr Fowles the well-known animal painter of Sydney’ to be ‘the most complete establishment of the kind in the colony’[16] Despite a financial setback in which the stables sent him into insolvency he remained well connected in the racing industry affiliated with Homebush Jockey Club and the Tattersall’s Club.

[3] The success of Fowles major artistic work: “Sydney in 1848” acted as a springboard for a career as a drawing teacher that was to last for the rest of his life.

[3][18] It was said that through Fowles efforts drawing was being taught at every government school in New South Wales at the comparatively early date of 1869.