Clarke, Andrew (1824 - 1902)

Summary

Sir Andrew Clarke was Surveyor-General of the Colony of Victoria and was a member of both Victoria's Legislative Council and Assembly. He was also heavily involved in many societies and organisations including holding office as inaugural President of both the Philosophical Society of Victoria (1854), and the Philosophical Institute of Victoria (1855-1857). As a member of the Legislative Council, Clarke was involved in drafting the colony's new Constitution and the Municipal Institutions Act. He also instigated the creation of the Museum of Natural History, selected the sites of the Botanic Gardens and St Paul's Anglican Cathedral, instigated the recording of meteorological data, and set about establishing a pure water supply for Melbourne. Clarke returned to the United Kingdom in c.1859 but continued to work on special commissions for the Victorian and Tasmanian governments and served as their Agent-General for varying periods. Up to 1886 Clarke had a distinguished career in the colonial service and for the British army.

Details

Chronology

1844

Education - Graduated from the Royal Military Academy, UK

1844 - 1886

Career position - Member of the Royal Engineers, UK

26 Jan 1847 - 26 Jan 1848

Life event - Posted to Australia (Hobart Town)

1848 - 1849

Career position - Posted to New Zealand

1849 - 1853

Career position - Returned to Hobart as Private Secretary to the Lieutenant-Governor

1853 - 1856

Career position - Official Member of the Legislative Council of Victoria

1853 - 1858

Career position - Surveyor-General of the Colony of Victoria

1854 - 1855

Career position - President, Philosophical Society of Victoria

1854 - 1855

Career position - Vice-President of the Victorian Institute for the Advancement of Science

1855 - 1857

Career position - President, Philosophical Institute of Victoria

1856 - 1858

Career position - Elected to the Legislative Assembly of Victoria

1858 -

Life event - Returned to England

1858

Career position - Member, Board of Science, Colony of Victoria

1858 - 1859

Award - Honorary Member, Philosophical Institute of Victoria

1859 - 1902

Award - Honorary Member, Royal Society of Victoria

4 Apr 1865

Career event - Associate (AssocInstCE), Institution of Civil Engineers, London

1869

Award - Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB)

1873

Award - Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG)

1885

Award - Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG)

1 Dec 1896

Award - Honorary Member (Hon MInstCE), Institution of Civil Engineers, London

Related entries

Published resources

Books

• Clarke, Andrew: edited by R. H. Veitch, Life of Lieut.-General the Hon. Sir Andrew Clarke, G.C.M.G., C.B., C.I.E., Colonel-Commandant of Royal Engineers, Agent-General of Victoria, Australia (London: John Murray, 1905), 353 pp. Details
• Cumming, D. A., Some Public Works Engineers in Victoria in the Nineteenth Century (Melbourne: University of Melbourne, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, 1985), 59 pp. pp.6-7. Details

Book Sections

• Malone, Betty, 'Clarke, Sir Andrew (1824-1902)' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 3: 1851 - 1890 A-C, Douglas Pike, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1969), pp. 409-411. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A030386b.htm. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q4756615. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/4040987. Details
• Institution of Civil Engineers, London, 'Application: 9506, 1896 [HonMInstCE]', Civil Engineer Membership Forms, 1818-1930, ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/3585/. Details
• Institution of Civil Engineers, London, 'Application: 1940, 1865 [AssocInstCE]', Civil Engineer Membership Forms, 1818-1930, ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/3585/. Details
• 'Clarke, Andrew (18240727-19020329)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1476021. Details

See also

• Board of Science [Establishment and initial Board members] (Melbourne: Victorian Government, 1858), 1065 pp, https://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/view.cgi?year=1858&class=general&page_num=1065. Details
• Federation and Meteorology, 2001, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/fam/index_c.html. Details
• Science and the making of Victoria, with Royal Society of Victoria, 2001, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/smv/index_c.html. Details
• Harper, Brian C. S., Engineering challenges in nineteenth century Victoria (Port Melbourne: the author, 2016), 256 pp. pp.4-7, 10-11, 16-7, 25-6, 143-7, 165, 168-9, 173, 206-7, 225. Details
• Serle, Percival, Dictionary of Australian biography (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1949). Details
• Thomson, Kathleen and Serle, Geoffrey, A biographical register of the Victorian parliament 1859 - 1900 (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1972), 238 pp. https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/114931/2/b14277530.pdf. Details