ANGFA Life Member — in memoriam
Ron Bowman
Ron Bowman was, by most accounts, the founding figure of Fishes of Sahul itself. A professional "Fine Line" commercial artist and airbrush lecturer by trade, Ron designed and edited the journal from its first issue in 1983 — he wrote Fishes of Sahul's very first published article, "Trouble shooting with ANGFA: Blue eyes", in Vol. 1(1) — and went on to author 26 articles across the journal's history, the last reprinted alongside his own memorial tribute in December 2021. He was, for many years, described in ANGFA's own pages as "ANGFA's only Life Member".
Ron's fishkeeping career began at age eleven and ran for 84 years. Before ANGFA existed, he had already rebuilt the Aquarium Society of Victoria's newsletter Finchat from a roneoed club circular into a serious, professionally typeset scientific publication, first as its editor from 1956 and later as ASV President (1966–68). That publishing apprenticeship — recruiting Gilbert Whitley as a scientific advisor, learning the printing trade from the ground up — fed directly into Fishes of Sahul when ANGFA formed in the early 1980s. The rainbowfish Melanotaenia bowmani, discovered in West Papua's Siriwo River in 2012 and formally described soon after, was named in his honour.
Ron died in 2021, aged around 95. This page draws together his contributions found so far in Fishes of Sahul — the one publication in which his byline has been fully indexed to date — plus further reports and columns awaiting indexing in ANGFA Vic News.
Personal background
In "Rainbowfish Man — a collection of anecdotes celebrating the life of Ron Bowman", Daryl Maddock opens not with fish at all but with egg-and-bacon pie: "Ron assured me it was the best because he had thoroughly researched the situation, taste testing pies from all round the district… How do you tell the history of someone who spans 84 years of fish keeping and has done so much for the hobby in those 84 years?" Ron was born in 1926, developed an intense interest in nature at age eleven, and married Audrey — a talented pianist who accompanied Melbourne radio shows and, in Maddock's words, "regaled visitors with impromptu concerts, sometimes accompanied by Ron on the bones!" — in the 1950s. He designed their Chadstone home himself, "cunningly incorporating a fish room disguised as a back bedroom", and remained "always quietly spoken, very competitive… I never knew him to speak ill of anyone, often describing views contrary to his own as 'interesting'. You knew this really meant '****' by the tone of voice!"
His custom-built fish house grew over decades to include a dedicated "Killi cave" for temperature-sensitive killifish and a 3.5-metre acrylic-roofed annexe whose open troughs created their own indoor jungle microclimate — once memorably invaded by a possum that fell through the roof. Ron's last major publishing project, in 2007, was "The Bowman Letters", a 134-page compilation of decades of correspondence from scientists about the identification and location of Australia's native fishes; around the same time he spent over 1,000 hours hand-painting "Twelve Morphs of Pseudomugil gertrudae", a poster-sized artwork of the Spotted Blue-eye's geographic variation, the original now held by the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.
He kept fish to the very end of his life, with a final small tank installed in his room at the Kyneton retirement home. A 2014 short film by his grandson, Conor Jamieson, titled "Rainbowman", records Ron telling Conor about his lifetime of fishkeeping.
Personal background drawn from Daryl Maddock's tribute and Gary Lange's "Remembering Ron Bowman", both in Fishes of Sahul Vol. 35(4), December 2021, and from a full-text search of every digitised ANGFA publication for mentions of Ron beyond his own bylines.
Contributions found so far
- 26 authored/co-authored articles in Fishes of Sahul, spanning Vol. 1(1) in 1983 — the journal's very first published article — through to Vol. 35(4) in 2021, reprinted alongside his own memorial tribute
- 6 further articles identified by byline in ANGFA Vic News, awaiting full article indexing, including a 2005 tribute to fellow rainbowfish researcher Dr Jürgen Clasen
- Founding editor and designer of Fishes of Sahul from 1983, and editor of the Aquarium Society of Victoria's Finchat magazine from 1956
- A species named in his honour: Bowman's Rainbowfish, Melanotaenia bowmani, discovered in West Papua in 2012
Counts are drawn from an author/photo-credit search across every ANGFA publication processed so far and will grow as more issues are indexed — treat them as a running minimum, not a final tally. As with several other founding figures, Ron's role as editor and designer — effectively building Fishes of Sahul with his own hands for decades — runs well ahead of what a bibliography search alone can show.
Featured contributions
Trouble Shooting with ANGFA: Blue Eyes
Fishes of Sahul, Vol. 1(1), July 1983
The very first article published in Fishes of Sahul's very first issue — fittingly, from the man who designed and edited the journal into existence.
Discovering Melanotaenia bowmani and Melanotaenia grunwaldi
Fishes of Sahul, Vol. 30(2), June 2016 — Johannes Graf & Gary Lange
The account of the 2012 West Papua expedition that discovered the rainbowfish later named in Ron's honour, deep in the remote Siriwo River valley.
Rainbowfish Man — a Collection of Anecdotes Celebrating the Life of Ron Bowman
by Daryl Maddock, Fishes of Sahul Vol. 35(4), December 2021
An eleven-page eulogy covering Ron the family man, fish-house builder, club president, editor and publisher — the primary source for this page's personal background.
Complete list of contributions found so far
Sorted by publication, then chronologically. Co-authored pieces are included. This list will be extended as more publications are indexed.
Fishes of Sahul (26)
- Trouble shooting with ANGFA. Blue eyesVol. 1(1) — Bowman, R.
- ANGFA visits Neil ArmstrongVol. 1(2) — Bowman, R.
- ANGFA visits Neil ArmstrongVol. 1(3) — Bowman, R.
- Blue eyesVol. 1(3) — Bowman, R.
- Chilatherina fasciata (Clearwater Creek) – some colour observationsVol. 2(1) — Bowman, R.
- Fish transfer techniquesVol. 2(3) — Bowman, R.
- Rainbowfishes – egg posting and fry raisingVol. 3(2) — Bowman, R.
- Sawfish in captivity – Preston, Victoria 1984Vol. 3(4) — Bowman, R.
- Spawning mopsVol. 4(3) — Bowman, R.
- EditorialVol. 5(1) — Bowman, R.
- The Oktedi rainbowfishVol. 6(3) — Bowman, R.
- Melanotaenia trifasciata – a multiplicity of morphsVol. 7(1) — Bowman, R. and Armstrong, N.
- Melanotaenia splendida australis – the western rainbowfishVol. 7(4) — Bowman, R.
- Melanotaenia trifasciata – a habitat guideVol. 9(3) — Armstrong, N. and Bowman, R.
- To the Pascoe – and beyondVol. 10(3) — Bowman, R.
- Rainbowfishes in a small gene pool – a reviewVol. 11(3) — Bowman, R.
- A rainbowfish guards his spawning siteVol. 12(2) — Bowman, R.
- Twelve spotted blue-eye morphs – a study of variations within the Pseudomugil gertrudae speciesVol. 13(1) — Bowman, R.
- Observations of the spawning of the rhino-horn goby Redigobius baleatusVol. 14(2) — Bowman, R.
- Mellis in MelbourneVol. 16(4) — Bowman, R.
- The self-replicating werneri populationVol. 17(1) — Bowman, R.
- Celebrating 20 years of Fishes of SahulVol. 17(3&4) — Bowman, R.
- A surprise guest: Melanotaenia gracilis, the slender rainbowfishVol. 20(2) — Bowman, R.
- Significant signifersVol. 22(1) — Bowman, R.
- Some observations on rainbowfish behaviourVol. 26(2) — Bowman, R.
- Some observations on Rainbowfish behaviourVol. 35(4) — Bowman, R.