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Fast facts: John McEwen
Personal profile
Born:
29 March 1900, Chiltern, Victoria
Education:
Wangaratta state school (1907–13)
Employment:
farmer
Memberships:
Freemasons
Marriage:
Ann McLeod, 21 September 1921 Ballavoca, Tongala Victoria; Mary Byrne, 26 July 1968
Children:
none
Died:
20 November 1980, Toorak, Melbourne
Buried:
cremated
Honours:
Privy Council (1953); Companion of Honour (1969); GCMG (1971); Order of the Rising Sun 1st Class (1973)
Born:
c.1903
Memberships:
Country Party; Country Women’s Association
Died:
10 February 1967
Honours:
DBE (1966)
Political profile
Terms as PM:
19 December 1967 – 10 January 1968
Terms as MP:
House of Representatives: 23 October 1934 – 1 February 1971
Portfolios:
Interior: 29 November 1937 – 26 April 1939
External Affairs: 14 March – 28 October 1940
Air: 28 October 1940 – 7 October 1941
Civil Aviation: 28 October 1940 – 7 October 1941
Commerce and Agriculture: 19 December 1949 – 11 January 1956
Trade: 11 January 1956 – 18 December 1963
Trade and Industry: 18 December 1963 – 5 February 1971
Political memberships:
Country Party (leader parliamentary Party 26 March 1958 – 5 February 1971); Advisory War Council (28 October 1940 – 31 August 1945)
Quiz facts
- extremely frugal, as a farmer in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley in the 1920s he was known as ‘Second hand Jack’
- his feud with William McMahon was one of the parliament’s most bitter
- his 16-year coalition partnership with Robert Menzies was the parliament’s most enduring
- nicknamed ‘Black Jack’ by Robert Menzies, for his dark, ‘beetle-browed’ appearance and manner
- one of three Australian Prime Ministers awarded Japan’s Order of the Rising Sun, First Class (the others were Edmund Barton and Robert Menzies)