John William Fowler (19 July 195429 September 2023) was an Australian high school teacher and a former mayor of the City of South Sydney.

Early life and family

Fowler was born in Sydney and his family lived in Wallacia when he was a child. He attended

Newington College Newington College is a multi-campus Independent school, independent Uniting Church in Australia, Uniting Church Single-sex education, single-sex and Mixed-sex education, co-educational Pre-school education, early learning, Primary school, primar ...

(1968–1971). In 1908, his grandfather John Fowler was appointed postmaster in the town we now know as Wallacia and he became an alderman on the Mulgoa Municipal Council. His father Bernard Noel Fowler was an Independent Mayor of Penrith in 1956 and 1957. His older brother, Ross Fowler , was a Liberal Mayor of the same city on three occasions: 1995–1996, 2013–2014 and 2018–2020.

City of South Sydney

Fowler was an independent councillor for the City of South Sydney from 1989 until becoming the first non-Labor mayor in 2000. He served in that role until the mayoralty was taken back by the Labor Party in 2002. He was the first openly gay mayor in Sydney. In February 2001 the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Holocaust Memorial was unveiled in Green Park in

Darlinghurst Darlinghurst is an inner-city suburb in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Darlinghurst is located immediately east of the Sydney central business district (CBD) and Hyde Park, within the local government area of the Ci ...

. At the same time the Sydney Park AIDS Memorial Grove was also unveiled by Fowler recognising the municipality as the then heart of Sydney's gay and lesbian population. In August 2003, South Sydney Council formally recognised gay and lesbian relationships. A similar register had been implemented by the

Greater London Authority The Greater London Authority (GLA), colloquially known by the Metonymy, metonym City Hall, is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved Regions of England, regional governance body of Greater London, England. It consists of two political ...

in United Kingdom but this recognition in South Sydney came 15 years before the plebiscite that recognised gay marriage in Australia.Out Gay Former Mayor Of South Sydney Dies Aged 69
Retrieved 18 August 2024.

Sydney Gay and Lesbian Holocaust Memorial

Image:Pink Triangle Sydney,.jpg Sydney Gay and Lesbian Memorial.jpg File:Gay morial plan.jpg

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fowler, John 1954 births 2023 deaths People educated at Newington College Australian gay politicians Independent politicians in Australia LGBTQ mayors of places in Australia Mayors of places in New South Wales 21st-century mayors of places in Australia 20th-century Australian LGBTQ people 21st-century Australian LGBTQ people Australian schoolteachers