William John Sowden

Sir William John Sowden (26 April 1858 – 10 October 1943) was a journalist in South Australia, who was knighted in 1918.

They spent some years in Kapunda, South Australia, where vast quantities of copper ore were being extracted, but by 1867 had returned to Castlemaine where he completed his schooling and started in the newspaper trade.

In 1874 they moved to Moonta, South Australia, another mining town, where William started work with the Yorke's Peninsula Advertiser, then in 1879 transferred to the Port Adelaide News[1] (both owned by E. H. Derrington, whose feuds with Ebenezer Ward were legendary).

[2] In 1881 he started working for the South Australian Register, and was selected to accompany a group of parliamentarians (J. Langdon Parsons, H. E. Bright, L. L. Furner, J. H. Bagster), Professor Ralph Tate and others, to the Northern Territory on the Menmuir (Captain Ellis)[3] as a representative of the Register.

He retired around 1925 to "Castlemaine", the house designed by architect Henry Ernest Fuller in Victor Harbor, where he died.