Andrew Inglis
Clark Portrait by Vandyck (Photographers: Hobart, Tas) photograph PIC
P2074 National Library of
Australia |
THE NATIONAL
LIBRARY OF AUSTRALIA'S FEDERATION
GATEWAY
CLARK, ANDREW INGLIS (1848-1907)
A barrister, politician and judge,
he was born on 24 February 1848 in Hobart Town.
At 24 he decided to
study law and in 1877 was called to the Bar. In 1878 he married Grace Paterson,
daughter of John Ross, a Hobart shipbuilder.
In the 1870s Clark was an
active member of the local debating and literary societies and, with a few
Unitarians, was prominent in the Minerva Club where contemporary problems were
discussed.
Clark stood for the House of Assembly in 1878 as the
protégé of Thomas Reibey. In the assembly he was one of the few
private members to introduce legislation and, although unable to amend the
Master and Servant Act, he carried the Criminal Law Amendment Act in 1880, he
also assisted to reframe the customs tariff.
Clark was a delegate to
the Federal Council in 1888, 1889, 1891 and 1894 and the Australasian
Federation Conference in Melbourne in 1890. Before the National Australasian
Federation Conference in Sydney in 1891 he circulated his own draft
constitution bill. This was practically a transcript of relevant provision from
the British North American Act, the United States Constitution and the Federal
Council Act, and was of great use to the drafting committee at the convention.
He became a member of the Constitutional Committee and chairman of the
Judiciary Committee. He assisted Samuel Griffith, Edmund Barton and C.C.
Kingston in revising Griffith's original draft of the adopted
constitution.
In 1894 as Attorney-General under Edward Braddon he
continued to introduce much legislation and in 1896 succeeded in amending the
Electoral Act by extending the franchise and introducing in Hobart and
Launceston proportional representation under what became know as the Hare-Clark
system in his honour. On 1 June 1891 Clark was appointed a judge of the Supreme
Court of Tasmania and senior judge on 1 May 1901. His Studies in Australian
Constitutional Law was published in Melbourne in 1901.
Clark died
on 14 November 1907 at his home in Hobart.
Books of
interest
Williams, John M. (1995). In
search of the federal citizen: Andrew Inglis Clark and the 14th amendment.
Canberra, A.C.T.: Federalism Research Centre, Australian National
University
An Australian democrat: the
life, work, and consequences of Andrew Inglis Clark. Edited by Marcus
Haward and James Warden. Hobart: Centre for Tasmanian Historical Studies,
University of Tasmania,1995.
The Tocsin (1897-1906)
located at mfm NX 238 |