By: Helen Wyborn

Helen Wyborn — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 06:03:49 +0000

My Father Herbert Mc Ewen was born in Gawler in 1904 his parents were Dominic and Ethel (Nee’ Freeman) Mc Ewen. They had a farm outside Gawler. He primary school education was at Kangaroo Flats School, and secondary education at the Gawler High School, where he passed his Leaving School and won the Country Schoolboys Scholarship to the School of Mines in Adelaide and later the Adelaide University.
He graduated with a degree in electrical and civil engineering. He worked at the Adelaide Electric Supply Company which later became the South Australian Electricity Commission. In 1938 he was chosen to represent South Australia at the World Fair in New York (in 1939),showcasing Australian Electric consumer goods, he then travelled to London on the Queen Mary as Australian representative to London to a world conference organised by British General Electric.
World War 11 was declared while he was in London and all Merchant ships were commissioned for the war effort, in the meantime,because he was in the militia (Saturday afternoon Soldiers), he was sent to Sandhurst by the British Army,,By some stroke of luck he was able to get back to Australia on a convoy that was sending out ships to bring Australian soldiers back to the war in Europe. My father was only 35 years old at the time and he obtained the rank of Colonel before he was 40. He was Chief Ordinance Officer of the Australian Army, He went to New Guinea in 1944 and set up engineering workshops in Lae and Port Moresby. He was a big man and well liked , he was very tall and excelled in sports,especially, tennis and cricket. He scored a century in a special fundraising cricket match in Melbourne in 1943, called Officers versus the Men…a record amount was raised for what was called ‘The War Effort’ .
After the War he moved to Sydney with his wife and six children. He was offered the position of chief engineer of the Snowy Mountain Scheme, but sadly was diagnosed with terminal cancer, he was able to recommend a New Zealand friend who was an engineer on the Hydroelectric scheme in that country, That man – Sir William Hudson, was hugely successful in completing the scheme under budget and under-time and gave many young and new Australians a great start in life.
I am sure you will find there are many great Australians who had their start in lIfe in Gawler.
Helen Wyborn (nee’ Mc Ewen)

Comments on: Gawler

By: Helen Wyborn