‘Big’Clarke

Description

William John Turner Clarke, known as Big Clarke, arrived in Hobart with his wife Elizabeth in 1829. He became the first man in the Australian colonies to amass one million pounds. He had pastoral leases in Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales and New Zealand. When he died in 1874 his estates were worth three million pounds. The psychological complexity of the man, his strengths and weaknesses, come through vividly in this major biography of him. The author is a great-grandson and writes not only from a deep knowledge of his subject derived through many years of research but also from access to family records and oral traditions throw a revealing light onto many hitherto obscure aspects of the Clarke story. The result is a balanced but fearlessly honest portrait of one of the key figures in Australia's financial and pastoral history.