David, with his twin brother John (who outlived David and died in August 2007), was born in Leeds, England on 5th November 1920, son of George Herbert Cowling – then senior lecturer in English at Leeds University – and Muriel Margaret (née Wilson), also a teacher of English) who continued tutoring in the English department at Melbourne University until her eightieth year). With older siblings Richard and Margaret, the family migrated to Melbourne in 1927 when George was appointed to the chair of English language and literature. Leeds is a compact Yorkshire industrial city with the open country of the moors a mere stone’s throw beyond its boundaries. It seems likely that this fact together with the family vacations to Goathland in the North Yorkshire moors triggered David’s lifelong interest in rural matters.

Schooldays were spent at Melbourne Church of Englnd Grammar School where he was fortunate enough to be amongst a group of boys who were encouraged to engage in blue-water sailing under the tutelage of schoolmaster “Spudo” Giles from which derived his enthusiasm for “messing about in boats”.

David commenced his medical course at Melbourne University in 1938 and entered the Royal Melbourne Hospital Clinical School in late 1940, thus beginning a lifelong association with that institution. World War II was approaching and David joined the Melbourne University Rifles. By the time hostilities commenced he had undergone NCO training and passed out as corporal. Thus appeared another strand in David’s life tapestry. He completed the abbreviated wartime medical course in March 1943. Upon graduation he was appointed as Resident Medical Officer at Royal Melbourne Hospital until the following February when manpower authorities drafted him to locum positions in country Victoria. He enlisted in the Australian Army Medical Corps in May 1944. At first he was attached to 1 Armoured Brigade in Western Australia but was later seconded to 14th Field Regiment which was transferred east to the Sydney area. He volunteered for the British North Borneo Civilian Affairs Unit which involved him in the Labuan landings in July 1945 where he established a palm-thatch hospital once the beachhead had been secured. After VJ day (August 15) he transferred to Kuching. He returned briefly to Melbourne the following month on compassionate leave as Professor Cowling had suffered a second stroke following a femoral fracture. Soon after his return to Borneo, David was posted to Heidelberg Military Hospital. His father died in July 1946 and David remained at Heidelberg until his demobilization that December.

Following a refresher course at Royal Melbourne Hospital early in 1947 and attendance at the annual postgraduate medical lectures at Melbourne University, he was appointed a Resident Medical Officer at the “old” Melbourne Childrens’ Hospital in Carlton where he met Dr Nancy McNeil to whom he was married on 21st September 1948. He joined a general practice in Brunswick until mid 1949 when he was appointed assistant to the late Dr Hilda Gardner, Clinical Pathologist at Royal Melbourne Hospital (and incidentally sister to Lord Florey.)

1950 was an eventful year in David’s career; he was asked to serve as clinical supervisor at the hospital for most of the year whilst still spending as much time as he could in the laboratory with Dr Gardner. This must have been a huge task as Hilda was acknowledged as being a most demanding department head to work with or for. He successfully completed his Melbourne MD and was admitted to membership of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. The following year he returned to the laboratory full-time. After Dr Gardner’s death in 1953, David succeeded her as clinical pathologist at RMH, thus beginning a 29-years-long career as a laboratory director at the hospital.

By this time David was already contributing to the medical literature with papers on subjects as diverse as multiple myeloma, transfusion siderosis (with Kurt Schwarz), polyarteritis nodosa (with J. Douglas Hicks) and antibiotic sensitivity testing.

In 1955 David was granted a year’s study leave, most of which was spent in Professor (later Sir John) Dacie’s department at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School (Hammersmith Hospital) London and at the London School of Tropical Medicine. This experience led to an expansion of the range of diagnostic tests available at RMH especially in haematology; bioassay of vitamin B12 was one such innovation. On his return from leave he became a significant partner in the studies of the RMH Clinical Research Unit which, at that time, were focussed on gastrointestinal and liver disease – especially lupoid hepatitis.

Clinical pathology at that time included microbiology with a consequential watching brief on infection control It was current belief that the reservoir of infection for “hospital” strains of Staphylococcus aureus was in the ward dust most of which was attributable to lint fibres derived from wool blankets. Studies at RMH in conjunction with Dr Pressley of CSIRO Wool Research Laboratories demonstrated that most of the ward dust fibres were sourced from cotton bed linen. Furthermore, studies with the RMH laundry demonstrated a method for satisfactorily sterilizing hospital woollen blankets by washing in hot water with appropriate detergents. This was a great boon to the Australian wool industry. Another microbiological advance was the introduction (in conjunction with the Melbourne University Department of Microbiology) of the biphasic Castanada’s growth medium for the isolation of Brucella organisms.

David’s next sabbatical foray in 1963 was mainly spent in Cambridge working with Dr Quaglino and Professor Hayhoe developing skills in immunochemical and leucocyte culture techniques. He visited a number of European centres and on his homeward journey called at laboratories in Boston, New York and Washington D.C. In the course of his last study tour in 1971 he interviewed Dr Ron Morahan who was appointed to head the microbiology laboratory at RMH after it was amicably hived off from clinical pathology, leaving haematology to continue as a stand-alone service under David.

Concurrent with this period of rapid expansion in all diagnostic services, there were changes in the ways full-time medical specialists were employed in teaching hospitals around Australia. In the mid-fifties it became apparent that salaried practitioners needed to be better represented in medical politics and “industrial” matters. After a long gestation and difficult labour the salaried medical officers’ subdivision of the Victorian branch of the AMA was born. David was an early chairman of the subdivision and its representative on AMA State Branch Council where his impact was such that he was subsequently elected to Council in his own right by the general body of members. This was the period when, for the first time, senior staff doctors were brought under the umbrella of a wages board – another activity which involved David.

It goes without saying that David played a significant role in the teaching activities of the laboratory for undergraduate and postgraduate medical students and of non medical laboratory staff. He taught on campus at Melbourne University (mainly in microbiology) and within the Royal Melbourne Hospital Clinical School. He was particularly active in the formal ward rounds of the clinical research unit allied to the Hall Institute. Many present-day haematologists received much of their laboratory training under his tutelage. In 1982, after attendance at the International Haematology Congress in Budapest, he made a number of visits to centres in the UK and New Zealand studying their approach to the teaching of pathology disciplines.

David had enormous regard for laboratory technologists and their training. The first steps in organized professional training of these key personnel, in Victoria, were taken by the Australian Institute of Medical Laboratory Technologists whose diploma was awarded to successful trainees on satisfactory completion of basic science subjects taken at technical colleges followed by specialist advanced training at venues approved by the institute. Dr Cowling was a member of the Institute advisory committee overseeing haematology and, for many years, the RMH hosted the haematology classes. Eventually the course metamorphosed into a tertiary diploma (now degree) course undertaken at RMIT University. The Institute (now AIMLS) developed an advanced fellowship qualification at federal level and David served as a member of the AIMLS federal examining council for a long time.

David continued with the military long after post-war demobilization. As a CMF colonel he served as DDMS and was awarded the ED. He was adviser on pathology matters to the army and a member of the Defence Pathology Advisory Committee. He played a big part in establishing the laboratory technicians' training facility in Brisbane at the time of Vietnam hostilities during which he also served a term in charge of the laboratory at Vung Tau hospital.

Another organization which called on his services was Australian Red Cross. He was a member of its blood transfusion advisory committee from 1954 and was its chairman at the time of the emergence of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980’s.

Early in 1983 (unsurprisingly, given his strenuous activities and long history of smoking) David suffered a myocardial infarction and took early retirement from RMH but his laboratory activities continued until age seventy through his association with a private laboratory in Frankston and as a much valued visiting specialist in the laboratories at Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital.

Post-retirement, David and Nancy enjoyed life at their Shoreham farm growing Angus cattle and sharing the delights of their garden. Latterly he suffered increasingly with a malignant lymphoma, surviving several increasingly disabling recurrences until his eventual death on 15th April 2002.

This account has inevitably mainly related to his professional life which was multi-stranded. David enjoyed a rich life outside his profession involving home, family and hobbies. He was ever-appreciative of Nancy’s supporting role and proud of his children: Michael, Ann, Alison (Sally) and Janet.

David enjoyed a Christian home background: church membership he took seriously and, in retirement, he edited a quarterly journal for St George’s Anglican church at Red Hill. An autobiographical account which he later penned contains philosophical asides, one of which provides a sort of epilogue to this brief account of his very full life:

"the hope for an after-life is integral to many religions. As I get older it is a hope that brings courage for the future and loving memories that we hope to recapture. And it is a hope about which Jesus reassures us. So at this time all these sorts of thoughts and quite a bit of reading gave me fresh hope in Christianity as the light along the way. I began to see Christianity as a guide for the journey through life. I may say that I was never good at talking about religion and it seems a pity that it has become so difficult to talk about it today.”