Born in Shetland, Scotland in 1816, Robert Cowie was an Edinburgh-trained surgeon. Before coming to Otago, he lived in Victoria, Australia. There, he married Agnes Goudy Halcrow in 1859 and the couple had two children, Robert and Marion Bain. At some point before moving to New Zealand Robert worked as the surgeon on board the sailing ship the Accrington. He subsequently immigrated to Otago in 1861; his wife Agnes joined him the following year.
Robert initially lived in the Clutha district and attempted to establish a practice there but had little success, finding the residents too ‘resilient’ to require the constant presence of a medical practitioner. He then moved to Glenkenich near Tapanui in West Otago. Trained in the 1850s, Robert applied rudimentary medical procedures at Glenkenich. One case, for instance, involved a man who had severely fractured his leg after a bush felling incident. As the local surgeon Robert was forced to amputate the man’s leg without any anaesthetic, using a knife and a saw. Remarkably, the patient survived and lived the rest of his life with a wooden leg, becoming a well-known figure in the local community.
Robert and his family eventually settled in Dunedin, first living in George Street and later in Hanover Street. He led a busy life as a surgeon in the budding settlement and became known for his expert tooth-pulling skills. Described as a ‘big, burly, reddish-bearded man’, he was noted as an excellent and careful doctor for the time. Robert and Agnes had an additional two children, Euphemia and Charles Halcrow, in New Zealand; however, they lost their first born son as a three year old in 1863. Robert himself died in 1880.
Dr Robert Cowie