John McEwen was born on the 29th of March 1900 at Chiltern, Victoria, to David McEwen and Amy Porter. Sadly, when John was 18 months old his mum passed away and later when he was seven his dad also passed away. John and his younger sister went to live with their grandmother in Wangaratta and then moved to Dandenong. John went to school at Wangaratta State School, then dropped out of school when he was 13, to help at home and then soon after started going to night school. John graduated from night school and joined the crown solicitor’s office in Melbourne when he was 16 (in 1916). Soon after John enlisted in the A.I.F., but didn’t get to travel over to France to join their army because WW1 had already ended. John then started his own farm and
