Charles Thomas McGlew

Charles Thomas McGlew (1870–1931), a South Australian merchant and exporter, was the first to export barley from Australia.

Born at Redfern, Sydney, in 1870, he was a son of Cornelius Stanley McGlew (1839–1924), an English-born mining surveyor and inventor who is notable for his mineral discoveries in N.S.W. and Queensland, particularly of tin deposits, and whose name is perpetuated in McGlew Street, Stanthorpe, Queensland.

As a youth he was apprenticed as a shipbroker for the Orient Steam Navigation Company. He moved to South Australia in 1900 and commenced trading as a merchant and exporter. McGlew was a pioneer in the salt industry in South Australia, having established in 1903 the Standard Salt Company which from 1912 operated a busy refinery at Edithburgh, exporting to Russia among other places. In 1911 he purchased the rights to salt deposits at Esperance, W.A., establishing operations there also. This company was amalgamated with the Australian Salt Company in 1930.

In 1912, because of his export links, he was appointed Russian Consul for South Australia. In 1916, during World War I, at the age of 46 and despite having lucrative business interests, McGlew enlisted in the A.I.F. and was sent abroad as a second lieutenant with reinforcements of the 27th Battalion. He claimed that by volunteering his example secured 300 to 400 Russian recruits to the A.I.F. In France, a short term of service with the transport details of the battalion was terminated by exposure to gas and the rigors of the French winter, from which he never properly recovered. His services were retained in munitions and arsenal base depots of England and the Australian Commonwealth repatriation office in London after the cessation of hostilities, and he was promoted to the rank of captain before returning to Australia in 1920.

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