Arthur Ewen

Arthur Ewen

Headstone Information
Date of Birth	April 1896
Age at Death	41 years

Early Life

Arthur Clifford (Cliff) Ewen was born in Hackney Middlesex April 1896. Cliff was the second eldest of 10 children to Arthur and Annie Ewen.

War Service

Served with the Red Cross in WW1 and was awarded an active service medal, the British War Medal and British Red Cross & St John of Jerusalem Medal.

Marriage

Married Dorothy Phyllis Baldock (23 March 1904 - 30 July 1985) in June 1923.

Emigration

Cliff emigrated to Australia on 4 September 1926 on the Orient Line bound for the Port of Fremantle. Followed by his wife Dorothy who departed the port of Liverpool in October 1927 with Daughters Phyllis and Kathleen on the ship Vedic.

Residences

Cliff made a family home on Sixth Road, Armadale.

Family

Had 4 children, Phyllis, Kathleen, Ella and Milton born between 1925 - 1934. Phyllis and Ella were lifelong residents of Armadale. Phyllis was a cook at the Railway Hotel and at Dale Cottages where she and Ella later became residents.

Phyllis married John Hand who operated a Butcher shop in Jull Street (the Hand family were understood to have previously established a slaughterhouse in Orchard Avenue where council offices are now located).

Ella served at the Armadale Hospital and also was a volunteer Ambulance driver. She married George Valli, a timber cutter, the son of pioneering Jarrahdale family, moving to Armadale in 1930.

Kathleen began a nursing career and joined the Air Force.

Milton worked for the Cunningham family and also in Harrisons Store. Later became a policeman and returned to Armadale initially as a Sergeant and later Regional Police Superintendent for the district.

Work

Cliff was involved in the carting of cement for the Canning Dam, primarily carting from the Armadale railway station to the Dam in 1933. He later worked for Bunning Bros.

Death

Arthur Clifford Ewen was killed in an accident while working in Donnybrook on 12 June 1937. A fall from a log-hauling truck gave Mr Ewen injuries from which he died five hours later in Bunbury. He had been employed by Bunning Bros Ltd.

Buried at Kelmscott Public Cemetery (Third Road) on 15 June 1937, Mr Ewen was the final burial at the Cemetery and is the sole remaining burial at the site, marked by a native bush reserve at the entrance to John Dunn oval, giving Mr Ewen a notably unique place in Kelmscott's history.

Mr Ewen had been interred in the Undemoninational section (also known as Salvation Army section) of the Cemetery, with the ceremony conducted by Major Harry Hunter. 19 years later on 11 February 1956, as a result of consolidation of the Cemetery site, Mr Ewen's remains were re-interred in a Congregational section by Reverend Hobby.

In later years when the area zoning was changed and the site became a recreation reserve, Mr Ewen's remains stayed on site and were not relocated as the other nine burials had been.

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  Cliff Ewen Memorial Plaque installed at John Dunn Bushland in 2023

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  Cliff Ewen Memorial Plaque in context at John Dunn Bushland