Eden, George Edward John

**Fast Facts**
Type of person	Individual
Date of birth	1915
Place of birth	Adelaide
Principal occupation	Linesman
Date of death	1985
Place of decease	Willunga

George Edward John Eden, born in Adelaide on 5 November 1915, was the oldest son of Richard Eden and Martha Hunt who had married in July 1914. His brothers were Stanley Gilbert Eden (1920-2008) and Keith James Finch Eden (1922-).

Their father Dick was a driver who worked for Cobb & Co and the SA Brewery Co and moved around SA. Their mother suffered ill health after the birth of her children and was hospitalised for long periods until her death at Glenside in 1947.

George was the grandson of Edward and Mary Hunt of The Gums in Willunga. He was brought up by his uncle and aunt, Isaac and Mary Hunt of Willunga. He did odd jobs around Willunga before enlisting for war service in June 1940, arriving back from the Middle East in February 1943 and then serving in Borneo until 1945.

George Eden married schoolteacher Reva Doreen Roberts on 19 April 1944 while he was on leave from Army duty in Queensland. They had 5 children:

1. June Doreen Eden, b 1946

2. Coral Mary Eden, b 1947

3. George Spencer Eden, b 1950

4. Anthony Thomas Eden, b 1952

5. Lila Elizabeth Eden, 1957

After George left the Army, the couple lived in rented rooms in Adelaide and George worked as a linesman with the PMG. In early 1947 George and Reva moved to old Willunga Hill to live with Uncle Isaac Hunt following his wife Mary’s illness. George inherited the farm when Isaac died in 1948. George transferred his job to McLaren Vale and finished his working life as a pole inspector for Telecom. He also worked on the farm, fencing, shearing, producing meat, milk and cream, and substantially renovating the farmhouse in the mid-1950s.

Reva Eden became involved in local groups and was on the Committee of the CWA and the RSL Women’s Auxiliary. She was a skilled dressmaker, good at sewing, knitting, smocking and handicraft. After their children started school, in 1963 she went back to teaching, working as a laboratory assistant at Willunga High School.

George Edward John Eden died at Willunga on 23 June 1985, aged 69 years. His widow Reva Eden died on 6 April 2008, aged 84 years. Both are buried at the Uniting Church cemetery, Willunga.