Sir Nigel Hubert Bowen, AC, KBE (26 May 1911 – 27 September 1994) was an Australian lawyer, politician and judge.

After the Coalition lost the 1972 election he was an unsuccessful candidate to replace William McMahon as Liberal leader, losing to Billy Snedden by a single vote.

They initially settled on a sheep farm in Gunnedah, New South Wales, but following a drought moved to Sydney where his father worked as an accountant.

[1] During the Second World War, Bowen volunteered in 1941 and joined the Second Australian Imperial Force in 1942 and served in the South Pacific theatre for two years.

[2][3] After the war, Bowen resumed his legal career, sharing chambers with Gough Whitlam, John Kerr and later Bob Ellicott.

[3][4] Bowen was elected to parliament at the 1964 Parramatta by-election, caused by the resignation of Sir Garfield Barwick to take up an appointment as Chief Justice of Australia.

In the McMahon Ministry, he was Attorney-General from March to August 1971 and then Minister for Foreign Affairs until the election of the Whitlam government in 1972.