Digger buried 99 years in dirt grave is the father-in-law of our 18th Prime Minister

Fifteen-year-old Lara Dawson has discovered a Gallipoli digger, in an unmarked grave for the past 99 years, is related to Australia’s 18th Prime Minister.

An Adelaide teenager has discovered a Gallipoli war veteran – buried in an unmarked grave for 99 years – is the father-in-law of Australia’s eighteenth Prime Minister Sir John McEwen.

McEwen was appointed to lead the country in caretaker mode after the infamous 1967 disappearance at sea of then Liberal PM Harold Holt.

The World War I digger – Private Patrick Aloysius Byrne – died young, leaving behind two infant children, including a daughter who went on to marry McEwen.

The historic political connection made by 15-year-old Lara Dawson, from Adelaide’s western suburbs, will be recognised at an official ceremony later this year.

WW1 teen sleuth Lara Dawson at the unmarked grave of Pte Patrick Aloysius Byrne in West Terrace Cemetery. He died in 1922 and is related to former Prime Minister Sir John McEwen. Picture: Brenton Edwards

The Headstone Project SA ceremony will dedicate a military service headstone to Private Byrne, 99 years after he was buried in an unmarked, dirt plot at West Tce Cemetery.

By Lara’s side, will be the soldier’s descendants, Covid permitting. Her research has helped track down Private Byrne’s 65-year-old granddaughter Belinda Cullinan, in Sydney, who was unaware of his final resting place until now.

Mrs Cullinan said Lara’s research was the missing puzzle in her family tree. “It’s really wonderful because we know very little about my grandfather – he died when my father John was so young,” she told the Sunday Mail.

WWI digger Private Patrick Aloysius Byrne's granddaughter Belinda Cullinan, in 1959 in London, in the arms of her aunt and Byrne's daughter – Mary Eileen, who married Australia's 18th Prime Minister. Pic: supplied by family

Lara, a Year 10 Adelaide Botanic High School student, said it was a privilege to unearth the soldier’s story, and an “extraordinary” surprise to discover his connection to Australian political history.

“Even though I’ve never met him,” said Lara, “I feel as though I know him in a way”.

Pte Byrne – born in 1890 in Broken Hill – was aged 25 when he fought at Gallipoli in September and October 1915 in the seventh brigade, as part of the 27th Infantry Battalion.

After repeated illness made him unfit for service, Pte Byrne returned to Adelaide a year after battle in Gallipoli. He was awarded the 1914/15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. There is no known photograph of the soldier.

WWI digger Private Patrick Aloysius Byrne's daughter Mary Eileen with husband and Australia's eighteenth Prime Minister Sir John McEwen. Date unknown. Pic: supplied by family

Back in Adelaide, he married and had three children – Kevin, who died at nine months, John Harold (Mrs Cullinan’s father) and Mary Eileen. He died aged 32 at the Keswick Repatriation Hospital in 1922, with his war service a contributing factor to his early death.

His daughter Mary Eileen, who was eight months old when he died, married Sir John McEwen in 1968 after he briefly served as the 18th Prime Minister of Australia. He was appointed in caretaker mode from December 1967 to January 1968 following the disappearance and accidental drowning of Prime Minister Harold Holt. Holt’s body was never found.

1924: Two surviving children of WWI digger Private Patrick Aloysius Byrne's (L-R) son John Harold and daughter Mary Eileen aged about four and two years. Pte Byrne died two years earlier. Pic: supplied by family

Headstone Project SA investigations manager Ian Hopley and president John Brownlie said Lara was given a randomly selected name of one of about 60 possible WW1 veterans buried in unmarked graves across the state yet to be investigated

Mr Brownlie said the Headstone Project SA had dedicated several headstones in the past two years but needed more donations and volunteers to research and install headstones on hundreds more possible unmarked veterans’ graves across the state.

To help the Headstone Project continue its work visit www.theheadstoneproject.org.au