Andrew Inglis Clark

The Honourable Andrew Inglis Clark
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
Appointed
In office 3 January 1888 – 1 January 1901 Serving with Samuel Griffith Robert Hamilton Adye Douglas Thomas Joseph Byrnes Robert Frederick Sholl Alexander Matheson
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 Philip Fysh John Bradley Edward Mulcahy Alfred Crisp William Page
Preceded by	Electorate established
Succeeded by	Charles Hoggins
Constituency	Hobart
In office 4 March 1887 – 20 January 1897 Serving with William Belbin Edward Giblin John Bradley
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(1907-11-14) (aged 59) Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Resting place	Queenborough Cemetery, Sandy Bay, Hobart, Tasmania
Citizenship	British Australian
Political party	Independent
Spouse	Grace Paterson Ross ​ (m. 1878)​
Children	8
Parent	Alexander Clark (father)
Residence(s)	Rosebank, Battery Point, Hobart, Tasmania
Education	Hobart High School
Alma mater	Christ's College, Hobart (AA)[a]
Occupation	Engineer Lawyer Politician
Known for	Contribution to Federation of Australia Contribution to Australian Republicanism Contribution to the Australian Constitution Electoral reform in Australia

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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