BIO

Sir Darcy Rivers Warren Cowan was one of eight children (seven sons & one daughter) born to Sarah and James Cowan

Born on 8 August 1885 at Norwood, a medical specialist, he worked tirelessly all his life to develop an effective treatment for tuberculosis and other chest diseases. He graduated from the University of Adelaide 1908 where he won a triple Blue in lacrosse, football and tennis, and also played cricket. Darcy and his wife Effie Hewitt Cox were in England at the outbreak of World War 1 and on November 1915 he was appointed temporary lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps. Returning to South Australia on 22 May 1916 he joined the Australian Army Medical Corps as an honorary captain. 

From 1924 to 1935 he worked as an honorary physician at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. In 1938 he opened the first chest clinic and ward for tuberculosis patients at the RAH. He went on to found Bedford Industries (1950), a workshop providing rehabilitation services for those afflicted with tuberculosis. In addition, he helped to establish the Northcote Home at Grange, a residence for children, whose parents were hospitalised with TB.
Darcy was an office-holder in the South Australian Lawn Tennis Association, and helped to organise the Davis Cup challenge rounds at Memorial Drive in 1952 and 1956.
 
Dr Darcy Cowan was knighted in 1955 and died on 9 June 1958 at Calvary Hospital at the age of 72 years, and is buried in Payneham Cemetery. 

1895 - Silver medal in gymnastics awarded at PAC Annual Speech Day 20 December
1902 – (1 game) – played alongside his brother Leslie Cowan on 2 August against Sturt 
1903 (2 games) - replaced Dowdy in match against Sturt on 6 June
1904 (3? games)
1905 (5? games)
1906 (9 games) position in Ruck, toured with the club to Victoria, playing matches against Essendon, Ballarat and Fitzroy
1907 (5 games) - Premiership player
1908 (1 game)

Darcy's brothers William, Horace, Frank and Leslie also played for Norwood

M Coligan Jan 2014

See also
Philip Woodruff, 'Cowan, Sir Darcy Rivers Warren (1885–1958)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/cowan-sir-darcy-rivers-warren-9845/, accessed 3 January 2014.