Sir George Ferguson Bowen, unlike previous Australian military and naval governors, was trained in law, classics and administration. A noted intellectual and author, Bowen later became Fellow of Brasenose College in Oxford prior to a career as Queensland’s first Governor.

During 1847 and 1851, Bowen worked as the political secretary to the government of the Ionian Islands where he married Countess Diamantina Roma, daughter of Count Candiano di Roma, President of the Senate.

A strong supporter of Liberal Prime Minister, William Gladstone, Bowen was appointed Governor of the newly separated colony of Queensland, arriving on 10 December 1859. Since Queensland did not have a substantive government at the time, Bowen ruled with Colonial Secretary, R. G. W. Herbert who later became Queensland’s first Premier in 1860.