Alexander Barrowman was a descendant of the large Hutchinson-Dunn family, prominent early graziers in the south east of South Australia. His mother, a teacher, died when he was an infant. The youngest of four brothers, Barrowman's only schooling was at the Primary School at Robe, which was then a small and remote seaside town. Later, in Adelaide, he worked as a wireless operator at radio 5DN (1926-1929). He then became a freelance journalist and writer until the onset of World War II. Barrowman volunteered and spent several years in the RAAF driving motor transports in Darwin, Bathurst Island and New Guinea.
After the war Barrowman settled permanently in Robe, becoming involved in the life of the town, and he later ran a small general store with a private museum attached. He had a wide range of interests and was particularly drawn to the history of the south east of South Australia. He had some articles and letters published in country newspapers and, in 1971, self-published a collection of essays and poems, Old Days and Old Ways. He also published a Souvenir of Historic Robe in 1979.
