A.I.Clark: Republican and Colonial Patriot

Andrew Inglis Clark is not a household name even in his own state of Tasmania. But he was a distinguished member of the impressive generation of colonial politicians who were the founding fathers of federation. Clark's most important contribution was in producing a draft Constitution which, submitted to the 1891 Federal Convention, became the foundation for the final version of the document agreed to at the later conventions of 1897 and 1898. He was also a member of that group of native-born leaders who came to prominence in the late nineteenth century and which included Alfred Deakin, Edmund Barton, Charles Cameron Kingston and John Forrest.