George Daniel Clark (30 July 1848 – 21 February 1933) was an Australian politician. Born in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, to Daniel and Mary Ann Clark, he received limited schooling and worked on ships, which eventually took him to Australia around 1871, where he found employment with the

Australasian Steam Navigation Company The Australasian Steam Navigation Company (ASN Co) was a shipping company of Australia which operated between 1839 and 1887. Company history The company was started as the Hunter River Steam Navigation Company in 1839. In March 1851, the comp ...

. On 27 August 1875 he married Rosannah Jane Druce at

Woolloomooloo Woolloomooloo ( ) is a harbourside, inner-city eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 1.5 kilometres east of the central business district, in the local government area of the City of Sydney. It is in a low-lying, former dockla ...

, with whom he had five children. He subsequently moved to

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and became a messenger at the

Sydney Observatory The Sydney Observatory is a heritage-listed meteorological station, astronomical observatory, function venue, science museum, and education facility located on Observatory Hill at Upper Fort Street, in the inner city Sydney suburb of Millers P ...

. Having joined the

International Order of Good Templars The International Organisation of Good Templars (IOGT; founded as the Independent Order of Good Templars), whose international body is known as Movendi International, is a fraternal organization which is part of the temperance movement, promoting ...

around 1873, he edited the ''New South Wales Good Templar'' (renamed ''Australian Temperance World'' in 1896) from 1883 to 1917; he was also a foundation member of the New South Wales Institute of Journalist. In 1891 he was elected to the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...

as one of four members for Balmain; he was elected for the Labor Party but refused to sign the pledge, subsequently joining the Free Traders. In 1894 Balmain was split into Balmain North, Balmain South, Annandale and Leichhardt, each electing one member. Clark contested Leichardt as the Free Trade Candidate, but was unsuccessful. After his defeat he rejoined the Labor Party and ran as a with its endorsement in four state elections between 1898 and 1907, without success. He was also a Labor candidate at the 1906 Australian Senate election for NSW. Clark died at Lakemba on .

References

1848 births 1933 deaths Free Trade Party politicians Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly English emigrants to colonial Australia People from Colchester Politicians from Sydney Australian sailors Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales {{Australia-FreeTrade-politician-stub

See also

References