Henry Clarke : Short Biography

Henry Clarke was born on 22 June 1822 at Maghera, County Derry, Northern Ireland.  He was the son of William Clarke and Sarah Clarke nee Johnston.  Henry said that his parents were 'descendants of Scotch colonists who went over to Ireland early in the seventeenth century'.  He had a brother, Joseph Johnston Clarke (c1821-1859), who also emigrated to  Australia but lived in Melbourne, Victoria.

Henry Clarke arrived in the colony of New South Wales as an assisted immigrant on the “United Kingdom” on 9th September 1841.  He was 19 years old, his calling was “farm labourer”, his religion was Protestant and he could both read and write.  His native place was Londonderry. Along with many other immigrants on this ship, he was imported by Messrs A B Smith & Co for a bounty of £19.  He settled in Broulee on the south coast of New South Wales and lived there until 1845, working as a farm labourer, farm manager, and farmer.  Henry said 'When 19 years old, like many others, I thought I could improve my position by emigrating to Australia, and consequently left Liverpool on my birthday in 1841.  I arrived in Sydney after a voyage of 100 days, then considered a remarkably quick passage.  Business matters were not by any means in a flourishing condition on my landing, and, as there was nothing I could get to do, I decided to try my luck in the Southern districts.  I left for Broulee, which as the port before Moruya was established, in a small vessel of 16 tons called the ‘Alligator’.  Coastal travelling in those days was very different to what it is now.  I remember our sleeping accommodation consisted of soogee bags, and the trip took 14 days.'  He said ’'Farming was not what it is now – the blacks were pretty bad, settlement was sparse, and getting produce away was a big undertaking'.

In 1845 Henry returned to Sydney and set up as a produce agent, acting on behalf of farmers to sell their produce to wholesalers and retailers.  He said 'I was engaged in farming and agricultural pursuits in the South till 1845, when I came to Sydney and started a produce business, and I think I was about the second or third man to start here.  Though the depression in the forties was very severe, owing to rash speculation, the gold discoveries changed matters entirely, and a new era of prosperity set in.'  By 1847 he also owned at least one ship.

Henry married Jane Rayner on 30 November 1847.  They had eleven children, of whom three died in infancy:  William John Clarke (1848-1849); Georgiana Sarah Clarke (1850-1925); Henry Joseph Clarke (1852-1854); William Arthur Clarke (1854-?); Henry Clarke (1857-1858); Charlotte Jane Clarke (1859-1916); Florence Caroline Clarke (1861-1924); Frederick Rayner Clarke (1863-1920); Agnes Maud Clarke (1865-1935); Arthur J Clarke (1867-?); Ada Blanche Clarke (1869-1939).

In 1848 Henry started a shipping agency and by the time of the gold rush in the 1850s he and his partner had several ships running between Sydney and Melbourne. He and his growing family were living in Sydney.

By 1861 Henry was wealthy enough to take his family back to Ireland for a year.  Henry said: ’By 1861 I had amassed a fair fortune, and decided on a trip to England.  I left in the ‘Star of Peace’, and, after remaining at home for twelve months, I returned with my wife and three children in the ‘George Marshall’ '.  Their daughter Florence was born on the journey home.  Their ship was wrecked on the Endeavour Reef and beached on Flinders Island, where the passengers remained for a fortnight before they were rescued by a steamship.

After arriving home from Ireland Henry became a grazier. His property, Bergalia, near Moruya on the south coast of New South Wales was about 4000 acres.  He held it for three years, until 1865, and then returned to Sydney to resume his business of produce agent, merchant, commission agent and ship owner which he continued until 1894 and then passed on to his son.  Henry said:  'The chief reason for my return was the education of my children, and as I have now two hundred odd grandchildren, and two great grandchildren, this was, I think, a desirable course, the educational facilities in the country at that time being very different to what they are now.'

In 1869 Henry contested the seat of Eden in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly and continued as a member of the Legislative Assembly until 1904, apart from a break in 1894-1895.  His biography says: 'He was an exemplary parliamentarian:  he was usually present at divisions, created no disorder and preferred work to talk.  He was a protectionist and well fitted to care for his constituents, who returned him, often unopposed, until 1904, except in 1894 when he lost his seat to a free trader for a year.  In his thirty-four years in the Legislative Assembly Clarke introduced only one bill which became the Illawarra Steam Navigation Act of 1887.  Clarke twice refused office but served as postmaster-general briefly in the short Dibbs ministry of 1889.  In the assembly he ‘commanded the resp[ect of all parties, and although he had not powers of oratory he was listened to with attention’.  In his last years Clarke was known as ‘father of the house’:  he was its oldest member and had sat far longer than anyone else.'

From 1870 until Henry's death in 1907 the family lived at 'Avoca' in Avoca Street, Randwick.  In 1902 he was seriously injured when he was hit by a cable tram, but recovered from his injuries.  Henry died on 22 November 1907 at his home.  He suffered a paralytic seizure a few weeks earlier.  His cause of death was "haemorrhage into brain and exhaustion".  He was buried at Long Bay Cemetery (graves from this cemetery were later relocated to Randwick Cemetery).