Black Jack McEwen Mystery Cache

You will need to solve the relatively easy card puzzle below to work out the coordinates for your starting point (you need to work at the real numbers for the zeros). You should not have too much trouble with this one and we added it just to keep with the theme of the cache name. The final location is a couple of KM's out of town but will not take you too much out of your way. Please enjoy!

McEwen was born at Chiltern, Victoria, where his father was a pharmacist. He was educated at state schools and at 15 became a junior public service clerk. He enlisted in the Army immediately upon turning 18 but the First World War ended while he was still in training. He commenced dairy farming at Stanhope, near Shepparton.

McEwen was active in farmer organisations and in the Country Party. In 1934 he was elected to the House of Representatives for the electorate of Echuca, switching to Indi in 1937 and Murray in 1949. Between 1937 and 1941 he was successively Minister for the Interior, Minister for External Affairs and simultaneously Minister for Air and Minister for Civil Aviation. In 1940 when Archie Cameron resigned as Country Party leader he contested the leadership ballot against Sir Earle Page: the ballot was tied and Arthur Fadden was chosen as a compromise.

When the conservatives returned to office in 1949 under Robert Menzies after eight years in opposition, McEwen became Minister for Commerce and Agriculture, then Minister for Trade and Industry. He pursued what became known as "McEwenism" - a policy of high tariff protection for the manufacturing industry, so that industry would not challenge the continuing high tariffs on imported raw materials, which benefited farmers but pushed up industry's costs. This policy was a part (some argue the foundation) of what became known as the "Australian Settlement' which promoted high wages, industrial development, government intervention in industry (both as an owner- Australian governments traditionally owned banks and insurance companies and the railways and through policies designed to assist particular industries) and decentralisation. In 1958 Fadden retired and McEwen succeeded him as Country Party leader.

When Menzies retired in 1966, McEwen became the longest-serving figure in the government, and he had a right of veto over government policy. When Menzies' successor, Harold Holt, was officially presumed dead on 19 December 1967, the Governor-General Lord Casey sent for McEwen and he was sworn in as Prime Minister, on the understanding that his commission would continue only so long as it took for the Liberals to elect a new leader. Approaching 68, McEwen was the oldest person ever to be appointed Prime Minister of Australia.

It had long been presumed that the Treasurer (finance minister), William McMahon, would succeed Holt as Liberal leader. However, McEwen sparked a leadership crisis when he announced that he and his Country Party colleagues would refuse to serve in a government led by McMahon.

McEwen is reported to have despised McMahon personally, and it is very possible that he disliked McMahon because of his rumoured homosexuality, which has been the subject of persistent rumours in Australia. But more importantly, McEwen was bitterly opposed to McMahon on political grounds, because McMahon was allied with free trade advocates in the conservative parties and favoured sweeping tariff reforms: a position that was vehemently opposed by McEwen, his Country Party colleagues and their rural constituents.

Another key factor in McEwen's antipathy towards McMahon was hinted at soon after the crisis by the veteran political journalist Alan Reid. According to Reid, McEwen was aware that McMahon was habitually breaching Cabinet confidentiality and regularly leaking information to favoured journalists and lobbyists, including Maxwell Newton, who had been hired as a "consultant" by Japanese trade interests. This version of events was confirmed years later by the former Canberra lobbyist Richard Farmer, following the release of sealed Cabinet papers from the period.

McEwen's implacable opposition forced McMahon to withdraw from the leadership ballot and opened the way for the successful campaign to promote the Education Minister, Senator John Gorton, to the Prime Ministership with the support of a group led by Defence Minister, Malcolm Fraser. Gorton replaced McEwen as Prime Minister on 10 January 1968. Gorton created the formal title Deputy Prime Minister for John McEwen, confirming his status in the government. McEwen retired in early 1971, finally freeing the Liberals to replace Gorton with McMahon, which they did within two months.

McEwen died in 1980, in Melbourne, aged 80, by which time Malcolm Fraser's government was abandoning McEwenite trade policies.

John McEwen, thirty-seven years a politician, twenty-three days a Prime Minister and always a farmer, was an extraordinary mix of a man. His staff revered him and his adversaries feared him. There was no one, friend or foe, who did not respect him.

The Puzzle

Way Point 1

There is a clock near your location. At this clock there is a plaque that recognises the Korean war. It mentions 'active service' and 'peacekeeping'. How many emblems are along the top of this plaque?

1 = The final coordinates are: S36 28.196 E144 58.910
3 = The final coordinates are: S36 29.931 E144 58.491
5 = The final coordinates are: S36 28.189 E144 59.655
7 = The final coordinates are: S36 29.065 E144 59.385

The Cache Hide

When the Winter brother's partnership dissolved, William received the 30,000 acre property of Stanhope and by 1888 he had spent 50,000 pounds on permanent improvements and the erection of the large mansion. By this time he had also entered politics, built Noorilim at Murchison and its replica in Dandenong Road, Armadale. He left Stanhope to the care of managers, lease holders and tenant farmer.

Following his death in 1902, the Stanhope estate was divided amongst his family with the homestead going to his son William Jnr. In 1913 the property was sold to the Closer Settlement Board which re-sold the homestead block to Mr. Baker who moved there in 1914, however, tragedy struck and he died within weeks of arrival. Mrs. Baker, with her children, stayed on to run the property. At this time the Stanhope Homestead was a magnificent stone residence containing 20 rooms complete with an ornate ballroom. None of the children married and remained at the property until their death. Tom was the last of the children that lived there and had made the kitchen his main living quarters, even moving his bed their. Tom was not able to maintain the once grand property and it began to fall into a state of disrepair. When Tom passed away the property was taken over by Fonterra with the mansion continuing to deteriorate and most of the furnishings, machinery, and other items that were not bolted down being pilfered. Unfortunately, this is as close as the general public can get now and it is a shame that the mansion is now far beyond restoration.

The Stanhope Homestead was also renowned for having one of the largest Moreton Bay Fig Trees in Australia, hopefully it is still surviving.

The cache is hidden in a standard geocaching spot with the best view of the homestead that we could get. Take note of the slight bump you cross as you head to GZ, this is the remains of the Stanhope-Rushworth rail line. As usual, keep an eye for snakes if it is that time of year. You are looking for an ammo container with the usual swaps, log book, and pen. There will be a scratchie for the FTF, however, I forgot to put it in the cache so I will catch up with cacher once logged.