Andrew Inglis Clark

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

 

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