Sir John McEwen was an Australian politician and farmer who served as the 18th prime minister of Australia, from 1967 to 1968, holding office as the leader of the Country Party.
55 Facts About John McEwen
2.
John McEwen was prime minister in a caretaker capacity following the disappearance of prime minister Harold Holt.
3.
John McEwen was orphaned at the age of seven and raised by his grandmother, initially in Wangaratta and then in Dandenong.
4.
John McEwen was nonetheless eligible for a soldier settlement scheme, and selected a property at Stanhope.
5.
John McEwen established a dairy farm, but later bought a larger property and farmed beef cattle.
6.
John McEwen was first elevated to cabinet by Joseph Lyons in 1937.
7.
John McEwen became deputy leader of the Country Party in 1940, under Arthur Fadden.
8.
John McEwen replaced Fadden as leader in 1958, and remained in the position until his retirement from politics in 1971.
9.
John McEwen served in parliament for 36 years in total, spending a record 25 years as a government minister.
10.
John McEwen came to have a major influence on economic policy, particularly in the areas of agriculture, manufacturing, and trade.
11.
John McEwen was 67 at the time, the oldest person to become prime minister and only the third from the Country Party.
12.
John McEwen was Australia's third shortest serving prime minister, after Earle Page and Frank Forde.
13.
John McEwen remained as deputy prime minister until his retirement from politics in 1971.
14.
John McEwen was born on 29 March 1900, at his parents' home in Chiltern, Victoria.
15.
John McEwen was the son of Amy Ellen and David James McEwen.
16.
John McEwen's mother was born in Victoria, and had English and Irish ancestry.
17.
John McEwen's father was of Ulster Scots origin, born in Mountnorris, County Armagh.
18.
John McEwen worked as a chemist, and served a term on the Chiltern Shire Council.
19.
John McEwen's mother died of lung disease in March 1902, just before his second birthday; she had given birth to a daughter, Amy, a few months earlier.
20.
John McEwen died from meningitis in September 1907, when his son was seven.
21.
John McEwen grew up in what he described as "pretty frugal circumstances", and in 1912 his grandmother moved the family to Dandenong, on the outskirts of Melbourne.
22.
John McEwen initially worked as a switchboard operator, for which he was paid 15 shillings per week.
23.
John McEwen began attending night school in Prahran, and in 1915 passed an examination for the Commonwealth Public Service and began working as a junior clerk at the office of the Commonwealth Crown Solicitor.
24.
John McEwen joined the Australian Army Cadets and completed a Royal Australian Navy course in radiotelegraphy, hoping to qualify for the newly opened Royal Military College, Duntroon.
25.
John McEwen passed the entrance exam, but instead chose to enlist as a private in the Australian Imperial Force, in order to be posted overseas sooner.
26.
John McEwen selected an 86-acre lot at Stanhope, on land that previously been a sheep station.
27.
John McEwen spent several months working as a farm labourer and later did the same as a stevedore at the Port of Melbourne, eventually saving enough money to return to Stanhope and establish his dairy farm.
28.
In 1926, John McEwen sold his property and bought a larger farm nearby, which he named Chilgala.
29.
John McEwen switched from dairy to beef cattle, and was able to expand his property by buying abandoned farms from the government.
30.
John McEwen had a reputation as one of the best farmers in the district, and came to be seen by the other soldier-settlers as a spokesman and leader.
31.
John McEwen represented them in meetings with government officials, and was secretary of the local Water Users' League, which protected the interests of irrigators.
32.
John McEwen was active in farmer organisations and in the Country Party.
33.
That seat was abolished in 1937, and John McEwen followed most of his constituents into Indi.
34.
John McEwen changed seats again in 1949, when Murray was carved out of the northwestern portion of Indi and McEwen transferred there.
35.
In 1940, when Archie Cameron resigned as Country Party leader, John McEwen contested the leadership ballot against Sir Earle Page: the ballot was tied and Arthur Fadden was chosen as a compromise.
36.
In 1958, following Fadden's retirement, John McEwen was elected unopposed as leader of the Country Party.
37.
John McEwen's cause was championed by a number of media outlets, including The Sun and The Australian.
38.
Holt replaced Menzies as prime minister in January 1966, with John McEwen continuing on his previous position.
39.
John McEwen's portfolio had been expanded after the 1963 election, with his department now called the Department of Trade and Industry.
40.
John McEwen enjoyed a "sound working relationship" with Holt, but without the same rapport he had had with Menzies.
41.
John McEwen issued a public statement criticising the decision, which he feared would damage primary industry.
42.
The Governor-General, Lord Casey, sent for John McEwen and commissioned him as interim Prime Minister, on the understanding that his commission would continue only so long as it took for the Liberals to elect a new leader.
43.
John McEwen contended that if Casey commissioned a Liberal as interim Prime Minister, it would give that person an undue advantage in the upcoming ballot for a full-time leader.
44.
John McEwen retained all of Holt's ministers, and had them sworn in as the John McEwen Ministry.
45.
John McEwen had been encouraged to remain Prime Minister on a more permanent basis but to do so would have required him to defect to the Liberals, an option he had never contemplated.
46.
However, John McEwen sparked a leadership crisis when he announced that he and his Country Party colleagues would not serve under McMahon.
47.
Gorton created the formal title Deputy Prime Minister for John McEwen, confirming his status as the second-ranking member of the government.
48.
John McEwen was the last serving parliamentarian from the Great Depression era, and hence the last parliamentary survivor of the Lyons government.
49.
John McEwen was awarded the Companion of Honour in 1969.
50.
John McEwen was knighted in 1971 after his retirement from politics, becoming a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George.
51.
On 26 July 1968, John McEwen married Mary Eileen Byrne, his personal secretary for 15 years, at Wesley Church, Melbourne; he was aged 68, she was 46.
52.
John McEwen had no children by any of his marriages.
53.
John McEwen suffered from severe dermatitis for most of his adult life.
54.
John McEwen was cremated, and his estate was sworn for probate at $2,180,479.
55.
John McEwen was receiving a small pension from the Department of Social Security at the time of his death.