Norman Kirkwood Ewing (26 December 1870 – 19 July 1928) was an Australian lawyer, politician and judge. He was born in New South Wales and moved to Western Australia in the 1890s. He served in the

Western Australian Legislative Assembly The Western Australian Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Western Australia, an Australian state. The Parliament sits in Parliament House, Perth, Parliament House in the Western Australian capi ...

from 1897 to 1901 and was elected to the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

at the inaugural federal election in 1901. He resigned from the Senate in 1903 and moved to Tasmania in 1905, serving in the

Tasmanian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Tasmanian Legislative Council, Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House, Hobart, Parliament Hou ...

from 1909 to 1915. His last public role was as a judge on the

Supreme Court of Tasmania The Supreme Court of Tasmania is the highest State court in the Australian State of Tasmania. Together with the Magistrates Court, it forms the judiciary in Tasmania. In the Australian court hierarchy, the Supreme Court of Tasmania is in the mid ...

from 1915 until his death in 1928.

Early life

Ewing was born on 26 December 1870 in

Wollongong, New South Wales Wollongong ( ; Dharawal: ''Woolyungah'') 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 water' or 'sound ...

. The son of

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

clergyman Thomas Campbell Ewing and Elizabeth née Thomson, one of his uncles was John Thomson, who himself became a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly. His brothers were John Ewing and Sir

Thomas Ewing Thomas Ewing Sr. (December 28, 1789October 26, 1871) was a National Republican and Whig politician from Ohio. He served in the U.S. Senate and also served as the fourteenth secretary of the treasury and the first secretary of the interior. ...

, who were also members of parliament (though in different jurisdictions). Ewing was educated at Illawarra College in

Wollongong Wollongong ( ; Dharawal: ''Woolyungah'') 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 water' or 'sound ...

, then Oakwoods at

Mittagong Mittagong () is a town located in the Southern Highlands (New South Wales), Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, in Wingecarribee Shire. The town acts as the gateway to the Southern Highlands when coming from Sydney. Mittagong is si ...

, and finally night school in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. Articled to Fitzhardinge, he became a

solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...

in 1894, practising initially at

Murwillumbah Murwillumbah ( ) is a town in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia, in the Tweed Shire, on the Tweed River. Sitting on the south eastern foothills of the McPherson Range in the Tweed Volcano valley, Murwillumbah is 848&nbs ...

Politics

In 1895, he contested 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 House ...

seat of Tweed as an , but was unsuccessful. Later that year, Ewing moved to

Perth, Western Australia Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. He was admitted to the bar the following year, and in 1897 established the firm of Ewing and Downing. That year he published ''The Practice of the Local Courts of Western Australia''. On 4 May 1897, Ewing was elected to the

seat of Swan as an independent. He held the seat of Swan until March 1901, when he resigned it to take up a short-term seat in the first

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the Australian House of Representatives, House of Representatives. The powers, role and composition of the Senate are set out in Chap ...

, which he had won on a

Free Trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold Economic liberalism, economically liberal positions, while economic nationalist politica ...

ticket. His term was due to continue until 31 December 1903. In 1902, while still a Senator, Ewing stood unsuccessfully for the position of Mayor of Perth. He resigned as Senator eight months early on 17 April 1903, becoming the first member of either house of the Australian Parliament to resign his seat. In June 1904 he was an independent candidate for the Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of Canning, but was unsuccessful. In 1905, Ewing moved to

Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

, where he established the firm of Ewing and Seager. In the federal election of 12 December 1906, he contested a Tasmanian seat in the Senate as an Anti-Socialist, but was defeated by a small margin. He then turned to Tasmanian state politics, winning the

seat of Franklin in April 1909. He held the seat for over six years, for the last year of which he was

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

Supreme Court of Tasmania

Ewing was made a

King's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

in 1914, and in September the following year resigned his seat in

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

to accept an appointment as a

Judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

of the

. As Judge of the Supreme Court, he was involved in the 1915 Tasmanian

Royal Commission A royal commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue in some monarchies. They have been held in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia. In republics an equi ...

into the

public debt A country's gross government debt (also called public debt or sovereign debt) is the financial liabilities of the government sector. Changes in government debt over time reflect primarily borrowing due to past government deficits. A deficit occu ...

sinking fund; charges brought against Victor Ratten in 1918. He was appointed a Deputy Judge of the

Supreme Court of the Northern Territory The Supreme Court of the Northern Territory is the superior court for the Australian Territory of the Northern Territory. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the territory in civil matters, and hears the most serious criminal matters. It is a ...

and chair of the 1919–20 Royal Commission into the administration of the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

, known as the Darwin Rebellion. He also conducted the 1920 Royal Commission in New South Wales into the imprisonment of twelve Industrial Workers of the World members. From November 1923 to June 1924, Ewing was appointed Administrator of Tasmania, while awaiting the arrival of the new

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Captain Sir

James O'Grady Sir James O'Grady, (6 May 1866 – 10 December 1934) was a trade unionist and Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was the first colonial governor appointed by the Labour Party from within its own ranks. Early life O'Grady was ...

. In 1924 he had a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

, and thereafter worked only intermittently. He died at Launceston on 19 July 1928, and was buried at Carr Villa cemetery.

Personal life

In 1897, Ewing married Maude Stone, the daughter of Western Australian judge

Edward Albert Stone Sir Edward Albert Stone (9 March 1844 – 2 April 1920) was an Australian lawyer, lieutenant governor, politician and the fourth Chief Justice of Western Australia.F. M. Robinson,Stone, Sir Edward Albert (1844 - 1920), ''Australian Dictionary ...

. The couple had a son and a daughter together and adopted another daughter. Their first daughter Ethel was killed in a horse riding accident in 1925.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ewing, Norman Kirkwood 1870 births 1928 deaths People from Wollongong Judges of the Supreme Court of Tasmania Judges of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory 20th-century Australian judges Australian King's Counsel Free Trade Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian Senate for Western Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly Protectionist Party politicians Industrial Workers of the World in Australia Leaders of the opposition in Tasmania 20th-century Australian politicians Burials in Tasmania