JOHN MCEWEN

Party

McEwen's influence and power in the Coalition was such that after the disappearance of Harold Holt he advised Governor-General Richard Casey to appoint him as prime minister over Billy McMahon, the Liberal Party deputy leader.

McEwen indicated that neither he nor the Country Party would serve under McMahon with whom he had a longstanding and bitter feud. He would be prime minister until the Liberal Party elected a new leader, although his action had effectively vetoed McMahon from contesting the leadership ballot.

McEwen’s standing was such in the Coalition that after Holt’s memorial service Liberal Party officials held a meeting to discuss the amalgamation of the two parties with McEwen to stay on as prime minister.

McEwen as party leader evoked tremendous respect, loyalty and, on occasion, fear from his Country Party colleagues. Fellow ministers recalled that in Cabinet meetings when McEwen spoke everyone listened. McEwen was also astute with regard to the long-term viability of the Country Party, expanding its political base to include manufacturing interests and encouraging succession planning through mentoring younger potential leaders.  

Partnerships

McEwen had few close friends, but he did form bonds with men who, like him, were down- to-earth, practical and self-starters.

McEwen had such a rapport with William Gunn, who was chairman of the Australian Wool Corporation until 1973 and the dominant figure in the wool industry. Gunn was a highly effective political operator and enthusiastic protectionist who had worked closely with McEwen over many years on the divisive issue of achieving a reserve price system for wool.

Gunn and McEwen had first argued for a reserve price scheme in 1951 and in 1970 it was introduced. Both men knew what it was like to face protests from a rural constituency who were often hostile to government intervention.

It was not unknown for McEwen to phone Gunn at all hours for advice and a sympathetic ear. Mary McEwen said of their relationship, ‘they were simpatico’. McEwen’s respect for Gunn extended to encouraging him to stand for pre-selection in 1966 for the Country Party seat of Maranoa in Queensland and he even considered him a potential successor as party leader. Gunn did stand, but was not pre-selected. 

People

McEwen campaigned to his rural constituents, in the time-honoured tradition, on street-corners or open-air meetings conducted from the back of a truck. McEwen was an effective speaker who focused on a key message and argued it well. He did not waste words, in keeping with his no-nonsense political approach. The journalist Wallace Brown recalled that he would always establish his credentials with an audience, ending his speeches with, ‘I am a simple farmer like yourselves. I know your problems. In fact, I’m on my way back to my farm in Victoria now.’

As part of this strategy McEwen in his speeches would promote the Country Party in the Coalition and refer to the McEwen- Menzies government. Brown asked McEwen about this and he replied, ‘Bob knows what I’m up to. He also knows we have to keep winning in the bush.’ The approach did not always work; addressing dairy farmers over butter prices at Warwick in Queensland in 1955, McEwen and the chairman of the event angrily snatched the microphone from each other. The local newspaper described the meeting as the wildest since eggs were pelted at Prime Minister Billy Hughes in 1917.

Publications

Malcolm Brown, William Gunn, giant of wool trade, dies at 89, The Sydney Morning Herald, 18 April 2003

Wallace Brown, Ten Prime Ministers: life among the politicians, Longueville Books, Sydney, 2002

Paul Davey, The Country Party Prime Ministers: Their Trials and Tribulations, Chatswood, 2011

Peter Golding, Black Jack McEwen Political Gladiator, Melbourne University Press, Carlton South, 1996

Colin A. Hughes, Mr Prime Minister: Australian Prime Ministers 1901 – 1972, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1976

C.J. Lloyd, Sir John McEwen (1900-1980) Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1988

John McEwen, John McEwen: His Story, 1983

The Canberra Times, Mr McEwen in angry clash at dairy meeting, 11 October, 1955