John McEwen
Encyclopedia
Sir John "Black Jack" McEwen, GCMG
, CH (29 March 1900 – 20 November 1980), was an Australian politician and the 18th Prime Minister of Australia
. He is the last member of the Country Party
to serve as prime minister.
McEwen's stern demeanour earned him the nickname "Black Jack" (Sir Robert Menzies called him "Le Noir").
, Victoria, where his father was a pharmacist. He was educated at state schools and at 15 became a junior public service clerk. He enlisted in the Army immediately upon turning 18 but the First World War ended while he was still in training. He commenced dairy farming at Stanhope, Victoria
, near Shepparton
.
McEwen was active in farmer organisations and in the Country Party
. In 1934 he was elected to the House of Representatives
for the electorate of Echuca
, switching to Indi
in 1937 and Murray
in 1949. Between 1937 and 1941 he was successively Minister for the Interior
, Minister for External Affairs
and simultaneously Minister for Air
and Minister for Civil Aviation
. In 1940 when Archie Cameron
resigned as Country Party leader he contested the leadership ballot against Sir Earle Page
: the ballot was tied and Arthur Fadden
was chosen as a compromise.
When the conservatives returned to office in 1949 under Robert Menzies
after eight years in opposition, McEwen became Minister for Commerce and Agriculture
, then Minister for Trade and Industry
. He pursued what became known as "McEwenism" – a policy of high tariff protection for the manufacturing industry, so that industry would not challenge the continuing high tariffs on imported raw materials, which benefitted farmers but pushed up industry's costs. This policy was a part (some argue the foundation) of what became known as the "Australian Settlement' which promoted high wages, industrial development, government intervention in industry (both as an owner- Australian governments traditionally owned banks and insurance companies and the railways and through policies designed to assist particular industries) and decentralisation. In 1958 Fadden retired and McEwen succeeded him as Country Party leader.
When Menzies retired in 1966, McEwen became the longest-serving figure in the government, and he had an effective veto over government policy. When Menzies' successor, Harold Holt
, was officially presumed dead on 19 December 1967, the Governor-General Lord Casey
sent for McEwen and he was sworn in as Prime Minister, on the understanding that his commission would continue only so long as it took for the Liberals
to elect a new leader. Approaching 68, McEwen was the oldest person ever to be appointed Prime Minister of Australia, although not the oldest to serve – that was Robert Menzies
.
It had long been presumed that the Treasurer, William McMahon
, would succeed Holt as Liberal leader. However, McEwen sparked a leadership crisis when he announced that he and his Country Party colleagues would refuse to serve in a government led by McMahon.
McEwen is reported to have despised McMahon personally, and it is very possible that he disliked McMahon because of his rumoured homosexuality, which has been the subject of persistent rumours in Australia. But more importantly, McEwen was bitterly opposed to McMahon on political grounds, because McMahon was allied with free trade
advocates in the conservative parties and favoured sweeping tariff reforms: a position that was vehemently opposed by McEwen, his Country Party colleagues and their rural constituents.
Another key factor in McEwen's antipathy towards McMahon was hinted at soon after the crisis by the veteran political journalist Alan Reid
. According to Reid, McEwen was aware that McMahon was habitually breaching Cabinet confidentiality and regularly leaking information to favoured journalists and lobbyists, including Maxwell Newton
, who had been hired as a "consultant" by Japanese trade interests. This version of events was confirmed years later by the former Canberra lobbyist Richard Farmer, following the release of sealed Cabinet papers from the period.
McEwen's implacable opposition forced McMahon to withdraw from the leadership ballot and opened the way for the successful campaign to promote the Minister for Education and Science, Senator John Gorton
, to the Prime Ministership with the support of a group led by Defence Minister
, Malcolm Fraser
. Gorton replaced McEwen as Prime Minister on 10 January 1968. Gorton created the formal title Deputy Prime Minister for John McEwen, confirming his status in the government. McEwen resigned from parliament in early 1971, finally freeing the Liberals to replace Gorton with McMahon, which they did within two months.
At the time of his resignation, McEwen had served 36 years and 5 months and was the last serving parliamentarian from the Great Depression
era and the last parliamentary survivor of the Lyons
government.
Sir John died in 1980, in Melbourne, aged 80, by which time Malcolm Fraser
's government was abandoning McEwenite trade policies.
McEwen was awarded the Companion of Honour
(CH) in 1969. He was knighted in 1971 after his retirement from politics, becoming a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
(GCMG). The Japanese appointed conferred the Grand Cordon, Order of the Rising Sun
in 1973.
(DBE). After a long illness Dame Anne McEwen died on 10 February 1967. At the time of becoming Prime Minister in December of that year, John McEwen was a widower, being the first Australian Prime Minister who was unmarried during his term of office. (The next such case was Julia Gillard
, Prime Minister from 24 June 2010, who has a domestic partner but is unmarried.) On 26 July 1968 McEwen married Mary Eileen Byrne, his personal secretary; he was aged 68, she was 46.
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
, CH (29 March 1900 – 20 November 1980), was an Australian politician and the 18th Prime Minister of Australia
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
. He is the last member of the Country Party
National Party of Australia
The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...
to serve as prime minister.
McEwen's stern demeanour earned him the nickname "Black Jack" (Sir Robert Menzies called him "Le Noir").
Early life
McEwen was born at ChilternChiltern, Victoria
Chiltern is a town in Victoria, Australia, located in the north east of the state between Wangaratta and Wodonga, in the Shire of Indigo. At the 2006 census, Chiltern had a population of 1063. The town is close to the Chiltern-Mount Pilot National Park...
, Victoria, where his father was a pharmacist. He was educated at state schools and at 15 became a junior public service clerk. He enlisted in the Army immediately upon turning 18 but the First World War ended while he was still in training. He commenced dairy farming at Stanhope, Victoria
Stanhope, Victoria
Stanhope is a small town in north central Victoria, Australia. Stanhope is from Shepparton. It lies north of the state capital Melbourne and south east of Canberra the capital city of Australia...
, near Shepparton
Shepparton, Victoria
Shepparton is a city located on the floodplain of the Goulburn River in the north east of Victoria, Australia approximately north-east of Melbourne. It is the fifth largest city in Victoria, Australia. The estimated population of Shepparton's statistical area is 48,926.It began as a sheep station...
.
Political career
National Party of Australia
The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...
. In 1934 he was elected to the House of Representatives
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....
for the electorate of Echuca
Division of Echuca
The Division of Echuca was anAustralian Electoral Division in Victoria.The division was created in 1900 and was one of the original 75 divisions contested at the first federal election. It was abolished in 1937. It was named for the town of Echuca. It was located in the Murray Valley area,...
, switching to Indi
Division of Indi
The Division of Indi is an Australian Electoral Division in Victoria. It is located in north-eastern Victoria. Its northern border is formed by the Murray River...
in 1937 and Murray
Division of Murray
The Division of Murray is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Victoria. It is located in the north of the state, adjoining the Murray River, which forms Victoria's border with New South Wales...
in 1949. Between 1937 and 1941 he was successively Minister for the Interior
Minister for Home Affairs (Australia)
The Australian Minister for Home Affairs has been Brendan O'Connor since 6 June 2009. The Home Affairs portfolio brings together agencies such as the Australian Customs Service , the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, which were previously the...
, Minister for External Affairs
Minister for Foreign Affairs (Australia)
In the Government of Australia, the Minister for Foreign Affairs is responsible for overseeing the international diplomacy section of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In common with international practice, the office is often informally referred to as Foreign Minister...
and simultaneously Minister for Air
Minister for Defence (Australia)
The Minister for Defence of Australia administers his portfolio through the Australian Defence Organisation, which comprises the Department of Defence and the Australian Defence Force. Stephen Smith is the current Minister.-Ministers for Defence:...
and Minister for Civil Aviation
Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government (Australia)
The Australian Minister for Infrastructure and Transport is the Hon Anthony Albanese. On 3 December 2007 he replaced the Minister for Transport and Regional Services, the Hon Mark Vaile, who held office since August 2006, and the Minister for Local Government, Territories and Roads, the Hon Jim...
. In 1940 when Archie Cameron
Archie Cameron
Archie Galbraith Cameron , was an Australian politician. He was Leader of the Country Party 1939-40, and Speaker of the House of Representatives 1950-56.-Biography:...
resigned as Country Party leader he contested the leadership ballot against Sir Earle Page
Earle Page
Sir Earle Christmas Grafton Page, GCMG, CH was the 11th Prime Minister of Australia, and is to date the second-longest serving federal parliamentarian in Australian history, with 41 years, 361 days in Parliament.-Early life:...
: the ballot was tied and Arthur Fadden
Arthur Fadden
Sir Arthur William Fadden, GCMG was an Australian politician and, briefly, the 13th Prime Minister of Australia.-Introduction:...
was chosen as a compromise.
When the conservatives returned to office in 1949 under Robert Menzies
Robert Menzies
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....
after eight years in opposition, McEwen became Minister for Commerce and Agriculture
Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (Australia)
The current Australian Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry is Senator the Hon Joe Ludwig.-Portfolio responsibilities:The minister administers his portfolio through the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and its component bodies:...
, then Minister for Trade and Industry
Minister for Trade (Australia)
The Australian Minister for Trade has been Dr. Craig Emerson since 14 September 2010.-Portfolio:Currently the Minister for Trade administers the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade jointly with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, although prior to 1987 there was a separate Department of Trade...
. He pursued what became known as "McEwenism" – a policy of high tariff protection for the manufacturing industry, so that industry would not challenge the continuing high tariffs on imported raw materials, which benefitted farmers but pushed up industry's costs. This policy was a part (some argue the foundation) of what became known as the "Australian Settlement' which promoted high wages, industrial development, government intervention in industry (both as an owner- Australian governments traditionally owned banks and insurance companies and the railways and through policies designed to assist particular industries) and decentralisation. In 1958 Fadden retired and McEwen succeeded him as Country Party leader.
When Menzies retired in 1966, McEwen became the longest-serving figure in the government, and he had an effective veto over government policy. When Menzies' successor, Harold Holt
Harold Holt
Harold Edward Holt, CH was an Australian politician and the 17th Prime Minister of Australia.His term as Prime Minister was brought to an early and dramatic end in December 1967 when he disappeared while swimming at Cheviot Beach near Portsea, Victoria, and was presumed drowned.Holt spent 32 years...
, was officially presumed dead on 19 December 1967, the Governor-General Lord Casey
Richard Casey, Baron Casey
Richard Gardiner Casey, Baron Casey KG GCMG CH DSO MC KStJ PC was an Australian politician, diplomat and the 16th Governor-General of Australia.-Early life:...
sent for McEwen and he was sworn in as Prime Minister, on the understanding that his commission would continue only so long as it took for the Liberals
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
to elect a new leader. Approaching 68, McEwen was the oldest person ever to be appointed Prime Minister of Australia, although not the oldest to serve – that was Robert Menzies
Robert Menzies
Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, , Australian politician, was the 12th and longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia....
.
It had long been presumed that the Treasurer, William McMahon
William McMahon
Sir William "Billy" McMahon, GCMG, CH , was an Australian Liberal politician and the 20th Prime Minister of Australia...
, would succeed Holt as Liberal leader. However, McEwen sparked a leadership crisis when he announced that he and his Country Party colleagues would refuse to serve in a government led by McMahon.
McEwen is reported to have despised McMahon personally, and it is very possible that he disliked McMahon because of his rumoured homosexuality, which has been the subject of persistent rumours in Australia. But more importantly, McEwen was bitterly opposed to McMahon on political grounds, because McMahon was allied with free trade
Free trade
Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...
advocates in the conservative parties and favoured sweeping tariff reforms: a position that was vehemently opposed by McEwen, his Country Party colleagues and their rural constituents.
Another key factor in McEwen's antipathy towards McMahon was hinted at soon after the crisis by the veteran political journalist Alan Reid
Alan Reid (journalist)
Alan Douglas Reid , nicknamed the Red Fox, was an Australian political journalist, who worked in the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery from 1937 to 1985...
. According to Reid, McEwen was aware that McMahon was habitually breaching Cabinet confidentiality and regularly leaking information to favoured journalists and lobbyists, including Maxwell Newton
Maxwell Newton
Maxwell Newton was an Australian media publisher. He was a founding editor of The Australian. He was the publisher of the Melbourne Observer from 1971 to 1977 and, during a similar time frame, the Canberra Post....
, who had been hired as a "consultant" by Japanese trade interests. This version of events was confirmed years later by the former Canberra lobbyist Richard Farmer, following the release of sealed Cabinet papers from the period.
McEwen's implacable opposition forced McMahon to withdraw from the leadership ballot and opened the way for the successful campaign to promote the Minister for Education and Science, Senator John Gorton
John Gorton
Sir John Grey Gorton, GCMG, AC, CH , Australian politician, was the 19th Prime Minister of Australia.-Early life:...
, to the Prime Ministership with the support of a group led by Defence Minister
Minister for Defence (Australia)
The Minister for Defence of Australia administers his portfolio through the Australian Defence Organisation, which comprises the Department of Defence and the Australian Defence Force. Stephen Smith is the current Minister.-Ministers for Defence:...
, Malcolm Fraser
Malcolm Fraser
John Malcolm Fraser AC, CH, GCL, PC is a former Australian Liberal Party politician who was the 22nd Prime Minister of Australia. He came to power in the 1975 election following the dismissal of the Whitlam Labor government, in which he played a key role...
. Gorton replaced McEwen as Prime Minister on 10 January 1968. Gorton created the formal title Deputy Prime Minister for John McEwen, confirming his status in the government. McEwen resigned from parliament in early 1971, finally freeing the Liberals to replace Gorton with McMahon, which they did within two months.
At the time of his resignation, McEwen had served 36 years and 5 months and was the last serving parliamentarian from the Great Depression
Great Depression in Australia
Australia suffered badly during the period of the Great Depression of the 1930s. The Depression began with the Wall Street Crash of October, 1929 and rapidly spread worldwide. As in other nations, Australia suffered years of high unemployment, poverty, low profits, deflation, plunging incomes, and...
era and the last parliamentary survivor of the Lyons
Joseph Lyons
Joseph Aloysius Lyons, CH was an Australian politician. He was Labor Premier of Tasmania from 1923 to 1928 and a Minister in the James Scullin government from 1929 until his resignation from the Labor Party in March 1931...
government.
Sir John died in 1980, in Melbourne, aged 80, by which time Malcolm Fraser
Malcolm Fraser
John Malcolm Fraser AC, CH, GCL, PC is a former Australian Liberal Party politician who was the 22nd Prime Minister of Australia. He came to power in the 1975 election following the dismissal of the Whitlam Labor government, in which he played a key role...
's government was abandoning McEwenite trade policies.
Honours
Order of the Companions of Honour
The Order of the Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded by King George V in June 1917, as a reward for outstanding achievements in the arts, literature, music, science, politics, industry or religion....
(CH) in 1969. He was knighted in 1971 after his retirement from politics, becoming a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
(GCMG). The Japanese appointed conferred the Grand Cordon, Order of the Rising Sun
Order of the Rising Sun
The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji of Japan. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese Government, created on April 10, 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight from the rising sun...
in 1973.
Personal
On 21 September 1921 he married Annie Mills McLeod; they had no children. In 1966, she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British EmpireOrder of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(DBE). After a long illness Dame Anne McEwen died on 10 February 1967. At the time of becoming Prime Minister in December of that year, John McEwen was a widower, being the first Australian Prime Minister who was unmarried during his term of office. (The next such case was Julia Gillard
Julia Gillard
Julia Eileen Gillard is the 27th and current Prime Minister of Australia, in office since June 2010.Gillard was born in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales and migrated with her family to Adelaide, Australia in 1966, attending Mitcham Demonstration School and Unley High School. In 1982 Gillard moved...
, Prime Minister from 24 June 2010, who has a domestic partner but is unmarried.) On 26 July 1968 McEwen married Mary Eileen Byrne, his personal secretary; he was aged 68, she was 46.
Further reading
- Hughes, Colin AColin HughesColin Anfield Hughes is an Australian academic specializing in electoral politics and government.He received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from Columbia University and his Ph.D from the London School of Economics. In 1966, along with John S...
(1976), Mr Prime Minister. Australian Prime Ministers 1901–1972, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Victoria, Ch.20. ISBN 0 19 550471 2
External links
- C. J. Lloyd, 'McEwen, Sir John (1900–1980)', Australian Dictionary of BiographyAustralian Dictionary of BiographyThe Australian Dictionary of Biography is a national, co-operative enterprise, founded and maintained by the Australian National University to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's history....
, Vol. 15, Melbourne University Press, 2000, pp 205–208 - John McEwen at the National Film and Sound Archive