Varney Parkes

Who was Varney Parkes?

Varney Parkes was an Australian politician and architect.

He was born in Ryde, the seventh child of Henry Parkes and Clarinda Varney. He attended public schools and then The King's School in Parramatta before working at the Bank of New South Wales and the Colonial Architect's Office. On 21 March 1883 he married Mary Cameron Murray, but she died five months later; on 24 December 1884 he married her older sister Isabella, with whom he had three surviving children. Parkes worked as an architect at Liverpool and Canterbury, and in partnership with C.H.E. Blackmann. He was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 1885 as the member for Central Cumberland. He left the Assembly in 1888 but was re-elected for East Sydney in 1891, switching to Canterbury in 1894. He served until 1900 and then a second term from 1907 to 1913 as a Liberal. In 1895 he was bankrupted, and not discharged until 1907. Parkes served as Postmaster-General from August 1898 to September 1899. He died in Sydney in 1935.