Andrew Inglis Clark | |
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Judge of the Tasmanian Supreme Court | |
In office 1 June 1898 – 14 November 1907 Serving with John McIntyre | |
Chief Justice | John Stokell Dodds |
Preceded by | Robert Patten Adams |
Succeeded by | Herbert Nicholls |
Member of the Federal Council of Australasia | |
In office 3 January 1888 – 1 January 1901 | |
Monarch | Victoria |
Preceded by | Position established |
16th Leader of the Opposition in Tasmania | |
In office November 1897 – May 1898 | |
Premier | Edward Braddon |
Preceded by | Elliott Lewis |
Succeeded by | Stafford Bird |
13th Attorney-General of Tasmania | |
In office 14 April 1894 – 23 October 1897 | |
Premier | Edward Braddon |
Preceded by | Elliott Lewis |
Succeeded by | Don Urquhart |
In office 29 March 1887 – 17 August 1892 | |
Premier | Philip Fysh |
Preceded by | Richard Lucas |
Succeeded by | Elliott Lewis |
Member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly | |
In office 20 January 1897 – 17 June 1898 Serving with
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Preceded by | Electorate established |
Succeeded by | Charles Hoggins |
Constituency | Hobart |
In office 4 March 1887 – 20 January 1897 Serving with
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Preceded by | John Stokell Dodds |
Succeeded by | Robert Patterson (1903) |
Constituency | South Hobart |
In office 26 July 1878 – 29 May 1882 | |
Preceded by | Charles Hamilton Bromby |
Succeeded by | William Henry Archer |
Constituency | Norfolk Plains |
Personal details | |
Born | Andrew Inglis Clark 24 February 1848 Hobart, Van Diemen's Land |
Died | 14 November 1907 Hobart, Tasmania, Australia | (aged 59)
Resting place | Queenborough Cemetery, Sandy Bay, Hobart, Tasmania |
Citizenship | |
Political party | Independent |
Spouse |
Grace Paterson Ross (m. 1878) |
Children | 8 |
Parent |
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Residence(s) | Rosebank, Battery Point, Hobart, Tasmania |
Education | Hobart High School |
Alma mater | Christ's College, Hobart (AA)[a] |
Occupation |
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Known for |
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Andrew Inglis Clark (24 February 1848 – 14 November 1907) was an Australian founding father and co-author of the Australian Constitution; he was also an engineer, barrister, politician, electoral reformer and jurist. He initially qualified as an engineer, but he re-trained as a barrister to effectively fight for social causes which deeply concerned him. After a long political career, mostly spent as Attorney-General and briefly as Opposition Leader, he was appointed a Senior Justice of the Supreme Court of Tasmania. Despite being acknowledged as the leading expert on the Australian Constitution, he was never appointed to the High Court of Australia.
He popularised the Hare-Clark voting system, and introduced it to Tasmania. In addition Clark was a prolific author, though most of his writings were never published, rather they were circulated privately.[1] Clark was also Vice-Chancellor of the University of Tasmania. Throughout his life, Clark was a progressive. He championed the rights of workers to organise through trades unions, universal suffrage (including women's suffrage) and the rights to a fair trial – all issues which today we take for granted, but were so radical in the 1880s that he was described as a 'communist' by the Hobart Mercury.[1]
In one summation, "Clark was an Australian Jefferson, who, like the great American Republican, fought for Australian independence; an autonomous judiciary; a wider franchise and lower property qualifications; fairer electoral boundaries; checks and balances between the judicature, legislature and executive; modern, liberal universities; and a Commonwealth that was federal, independent and based on natural rights."[2] Less favourably, a contemporary, J.B. Walker, privately judged him an "eloquent, impressive, dignified ... doctrinaire politician ... wanting in practical ability".[3]
Yet he also had a rich and warm home life. He is described as "never too busy to mend a toy for a child, and his wife once wrote on hearing of his imminent return from America: 'to celebrate your return I must do something or bust'".[1]
The Australian federal Division of Clark is named after him.
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