Academic and former child migrant, David Plowman (1941-2013) was a prolific writer.

David was born in Malta and travelled to Australia in 1953 as part of the child migration scheme. He went to Tardun Farm School, and then on to the University of Western Australia. David completed his Honours degree in Economics from the University of Western Australia, which he followed with a Master of Arts in Industrial Relations at the University of Melbourne. His doctorate, on employer associations and wages in Australia, was completed through Flinders University in South Australia.

He subsequently became an academic specialising in industrial relations and was head of the School of Industrial Relations at the University of New South Wales.

When he returned to Perth in 1993, David Plowman was the Foundation Director of the Graduate School of Management at the University of Western Australia.

During his career, Plowman wrote and co-wrote more than 130 journal articles and many books and textbooks on Australian industrial relations.

Between 2002 and 2009, David was Chair of the Child Migrants of Malta (C-MOM) organisation which raised awareness of this demographic and was involved in successfully lobbying for memorial