George Daniel Clark

Who was George Daniel Clark?

George Daniel Clark was an Australian politician.

Born in Colchester, Essex, 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. On 27 August 1875 he married Rosannah Jane Druce at Woolloomooloo, with whom he had five children. He subsequently moved to Sydney and became a messenger at the Sydney Observatory. Having joined the International Order of Good Templars around 1873, he edited the New South Wales Good Templar 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 for Balmain; he was elected for the Labor Party but refused to sign the pledge, subsequently joining the Free Traders. After his defeat in 1894 he rejoined the Labor Party and ran with its endorsement in several subsequent elections, without success. Clark died at Lakemba in 1933.