Evelyn Owen

Private Evelyn Ernest Owen (15 May 1915 – 1 April 1949) was an Australian soldier and inventor who created the Owen gun, which was used by the Australian Army during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

Early life Evelyn Owen was born on 15 May 1915 in Wollongong, New South Wales. He attended Wollongong High School but was not particularly academically inclined. Having an independent streak, he set up a ready-mixed mortar business with his brother; this venture subsequently failed.

Despite his lack of a technical background, Owen had a keen interest in firearms. This interest led him to develop a submachine gun, which he believed would be widely used in modern warfare.

Owen, disappointed with the lack of interest in his firearm, enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in May 1940. He was assigned to the 2/17th Battalion. However, just before embarking for the Middle East with his unit, he managed to interest the manager of the Port Kembla plant of Lysaght's Newcastle Works, Vincent Wardell, in the gun. Wardell believed that the gun could be quickly manufactured in Australia in quantity and raised the matter with Lysaght's owner, Essington Lewis. Lewis arranged for Owen to meet with a representative of the army's Central Inventions Board, Captain C. M. Dyer.

In late June 1941, Owen was discharged from the AIF and began work at Lysaght who manufactured his gun. In September 1941 his gun was ready for testing against similar weapons: the American Thompson Machine Gun, the Sten and the German Bergmann. The Owen proved superior to the other weapons and having been variously immersed in water, mud and sand, it also proved itself almost impossible to jam while the other weapons faltered and eventually became unworkable. As a result of the success of the trials, the initial order of 100 firearms was increased to 2,000.

The gun was eventually patented in 1943, and Owen, the patentee, received royalties per gun built. He later sold the rights to the patent to the Commonwealth of Australia. More than 45,000 Owen guns were produced during the Second World War and they continued in use during the Korean War, the Malayan Emergency and in the early years of the Vietnam War.