Francis Harry Rowe (20 October 189524 May 1958) was a senior Australian public servant, best known for his time as

Director-General A director general, general director or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''general directors'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'') is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer ...

of the Department of Social Services.

Life and career

Frank Rowe was born in

Bright, Victoria Bright (pronunciation: ) is a town in northeastern Victoria, Australia, 319 metres above sea level at the southeastern end of the Ovens Valley. At the , Bright had a population of 2,620. It is located in the Alpine Shire local government area ...

on 20 October 1895. In March 1917, Rowe enlisted in the

First Australian Imperial Force The First Australian Imperial Force (1st AIF) was the main Expeditionary warfare, expeditionary force of the Australian Army during the First World War. It was formed as the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) following United Kingdom of Great Bri ...

and was assigned to a position in the

Army Medical Corps A medical corps is generally a military branch or officer corps responsible for medical care for serving military personnel. Such officers are typically military physicians. List of medical corps The following organizations are examples of med ...

. He was discharged in September that year. In 1918 he joined the

Commonwealth Public Service The Australian Public Service (APS) is the federal civil service of the Commonwealth of Australia responsible for the public administration, public policy, and public services of the departments and executive and statutory agencies of the Gov ...

in the Repatriation Department, as a clerk. Between April 1941 and his death in May 1958, Rowe was head of the Department of Social Services. He took over from

Jim Brigden James Bristock Brigden (20 July 188712 October 1950) was a senior Australian public servant, heading Australian Government Departments during World War II. Life and career Brigden was born in Maldon, Victoria on 20 July 1887. He attended schoo ...

who had held the position only nominally since the idea of national insurance had been considered two years before, but the Department had never functioned. For this reason, Rowe's first act as Director-General was to engage staff. In 1945, Rowe traveled to Canada, representing Australia, to advise the Canadian Ministry of National Health and Welfare on Australia's social services. While in the country, Rowe explored the possibility of a reciprocity of social services, like the arrangement in place between Australia and New Zealand. Rowe died in a Melbourne hospital on 24 May 1958 after a short illness.

Awards and honours

In June 1953 Rowe was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his service as Director-General of the Social Services department. In November 1958

Howard A. Rusk Howard A. Rusk (April 9, 1901 – November 4, 1989) was a prominent American physician and founder of the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine. He is considered to be the founder of rehabilitation medicine. Born in Brookfield, Missouri, Ru ...

from the World Rehabilitation Fund announced the Fund had established the Frank Rowe Memorial Fellowship to honour Rowe as one of the pioneer leaders of rehabilitation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowe, Frank 1895 births 1958 deaths People from Bright, Victoria Australian public servants Australian Commanders of the Order of the British Empire