David McKenzie Dow OBE (1870-1953) was official secretary for Australia in America in 1924-31, and acting commissioner-general in 1931-38. Dow was the eldest of eight children of John Dow (1837-1923), politician and journalist, member for Kara Kara from 1877 to 1893, minister of lands, agriculture and mines from 1886 to 1890, remembered for promoting irrigation and making dairying a major Victorian industry. David Dow was the author of Australia’s Revival and Trade Opportunities (1933) and Australia Advances (1938), both published in the USA; and, on his return to Australia, Melbourne Savages: A history of the first fifty years of the Melbourne Savage Club (1947). David McKenzie Dow’s papers, along with those of members of his family, are at the University of Melbourne Archive.
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Purchased 2012
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