Sir Thomas Thomson Ewing

KCMG KCMG may refer to * KC Motorgroup, based in Hong Kong, China * Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, British honour * KCMG-LP, radio station in New Mexico, USA * KCMG, callsign 1997-2001 of Los Angeles radio station KKLQ (FM) ...

(9 October 185615 September 1920) was an Australian politician. He began his career in the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

(1885–1901) before winning election to the

Division of Richmond The Division of Richmond is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. History The division was proclaimed in 1900, and was one of the original 65 divisions to be contested at the first federal election. The division i ...

at the inaugural 1901 federal election. He held ministerial office in the second Deakin Government as

Vice-President of the Executive Council The Vice-President of the Executive Council is the minister in the Government of Australia who acts as the presiding officer of meetings of the Federal Executive Council when the Governor-General is absent. The Vice-President of the Executiv ...

(1905–1906),

Minister for Home Affairs An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergenc ...

(1906–1907), and

Minister for Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

(1907–1908).

Early life

Ewing was born at

Pitt Town, New South Wales Pitt Town is a historic town and suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Pitt Town is 59 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Hawkesbury. It is bound ...

to clergyman Thomas Campbell Ewing and Elizabeth, née Thomson. Despite an intention to study for the Bar, he joined a surveyor's party at the age of 17, and became a licensed surveyor with the

New South Wales Department of Lands The New South Wales Land and Property Information (NSW LPI), a division of the Department of Finance, Services and Innovation in the government of New South Wales, was the division responsible for land titles, property information, valuation, sur ...

in 1877. He married Margaret Russell MacCabe on 1 October 1879 at

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wa ...

, with whom he had three sons and two daughters, known as, Francis Peter Ewing born 1880, olive Margaret Ewing born in 1882, Thomas Campbell Ewing born in 1884, Helen M Ewing born in 1892, Colin Ewing born in 1894.

State politics

In 1885 Ewing left the Lands Department to stand, successfully, for the

, representing the seat of

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

. Although he was a "theoretical" supporter of

free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econ ...

, he became a supporter of moderate

protectionism Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulatio ...

, and, while a supporter of

female suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

, was an opponent of non-European immigration. In 1894 he transferred to the seat of Lismore, and became known as an independently minded member. A popular member, he became involved in Sydney's

hydro-electricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...

scheme,

fiscal policy In economics and political science, fiscal policy is the use of government revenue collection (taxes or tax cuts) and expenditure to influence a country's economy. The use of government revenue expenditures to influence macroeconomic variab ...

and

Federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-govern ...

, where he was a supporter of

Sir Henry Parkes Sir Henry Parkes, (27 May 1815 – 27 April 1896) was a colonial Australian politician and longest non-consecutive Premier of the Colony of New South Wales, the present-day state of New South Wales in the Commonwealth of Australia. He has be ...

, Sir George Dibbs and Sir Patrick Jennings.

Federal politics

Ewing moved to federal politics in 1901, entering the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members o ...

as the

Protectionist Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...

member for

. In the second administration of Alfred Deakin he was

(1905–06),

(1906–07), and

(1907–08). A strong supporter of the

White Australia Policy The White Australia policy is a term encapsulating a set of historical policies that aimed to forbid people of non-European ethnic origin, especially Asians (primarily Chinese) and Pacific Islanders, from immigrating to Australia, starting i ...

and of compulsory military training, Ewing organised a scheme for such compulsory training, which was the basis of the 1909 Defence Act. Ewing retired from politics in 1910 due to ill health, and began farming on the Tweed River. Ewing was an amiable and well-liked politician who had a gift for telling stories, of which he wrote many. He also wrote scholarly works and published ''Progress of Australasia During the Nineteenth Century'' with Sir Timothy Coghlan in 1903, and ''Review of the Rival Railway Schemes for the Connection of the Tableland of New England with a Deep Sea Port on the North Coast'' in 1913. Often scornful of the "titled mediocrities" of parliament, he was nonetheless knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1908; this was said to have been recommended by Alfred Deakin as a joke, and, according to colleague

Richard Crouch Richard Armstrong Crouch (19 June 1868 – 7 April 1949) was an Australian politician. His two periods as a member of the House of Representatives (1901–1910, 1929–1931) were separated by the First World War, during which he became an anti- ...

, Ewing took it as such.

Later life

Ewing had little part in public life after his 1910 retirement. He died of heart and kidney disease in a

Darlinghurst Darlinghurst is an inner-city, eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Darlinghurst is located immediately east of the Sydney central business district (CBD) and Hyde Park, within the local government area of the City of Sydney. ...

hospital on 15 September 1920. His younger brothers

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and

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also had distinguished political careers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ewing, Thomas Thomson 1856 births 1920 deaths Australian Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Australian politicians awarded knighthoods Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Richmond Members of the Cabinet of Australia Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Protectionist Party members of the Parliament of Australia Commonwealth Liberal Party members of the Parliament of Australia Defence ministers of Australia 20th-century Australian politicians