William Branwhite Clarke,
FRS (2 June 179816 June 1878) was an English geologist and clergyman, active in Australia.
Early life and England
Clarke was born at
East Bergholt
East Bergholt is a village in the Babergh District of Suffolk, England, just north of the Essex border.
The nearest town and railway station is Manningtree, Essex. East Bergholt is north of Colchester and south of Ipswich. Schools include Eas ...
, in
Suffolk
Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
, the eldest child of William Clarke, schoolmaster, and his wife Sarah, ''née'' Branwhite. He was partly educated at his father's house, under the Rev. R. G. S. Brown, B.D., and partly at Dedham Grammar School. In October 1817 he went to Cambridge and entered into residence at Jesus College. In 1819 he entered a poem for the
Chancellor's Gold Medal
The Chancellor's Gold Medal is a prestigious annual award at Cambridge University for poetry, paralleling Oxford University's Newdigate Prize. It was first presented by Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh during his time as ...
; this was awarded to Macaulay, but Clarke's poem ''Pompeii'', published in the same year, was judged second. He took his
BA degree in 1821, and obtained his
MA degree in 1824. In 1821 he was appointed curate of
Ramsholt
Ramsholt is a small village and civil parish within the East Suffolk district, located in the county of Suffolk, England. It is situated on the northern shore of the River Deben.
The parish church of All Saints is one of 38 surviving round-to ...
in Suffolk, and he acted in his clerical capacity in other places until 1839. He was also master of the Free School of East Bergholt for about 18 months in 1830–1. Having become interested in geology through the teachings of
Adam Sedgwick
Adam Sedgwick (; 22 March 1785 – 27 January 1873) was a British geologist and Anglican priest, one of the founders of modern geology. He proposed the Cambrian and Devonian period of the geological timescale. Based on work which he did on W ...
, he used his opportunities and gathered many interesting facts on the geology of
East Anglia
East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...
which were embodied in a paper ''On the Geological Structure and Phenomena of Suffolk'' (Trans. Geol. Soc. 1837). He also communicated a series of papers on the geology of S.E. to the
Magazine of Nat. Hist. (1837–1838).
Career in Australia
In 1839, after a severe illness, Clarke left England for
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
, mainly with the object of benefiting by the sea voyage. He had been commissioned by some of his English colleagues to ascertain the extent and character of the carboniferous formation in New South Wales (Clarke's letter to
Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...
, 18 February 1852). He remained, however, in that country, and came to be regarded as the Father of Australian Geology.
Clarke was headmaster of
The King's School,
Parramatta
Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...
, in May 1839 until the end of 1840. Until 1870 he ministered to parishes from Parramatta to the
Hawkesbury River
The Hawkesbury River, or Hawkesbury-Nepean River, is a river located northwest of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The Hawkesbury River and its associated main tributary, the Nepean River, almost encircle the metropolitan region of Sydney. ...
, then of
Campbelltown, and finally of
Willoughby. He zealously devoted attention to the geology of the country, with results that have been of paramount importance. In 1841 he found specimens of gold, but he was not the first European who had obtained it in situ in the country. (This honour goes correctly to Government Surveyor James McBrien who found flakes at Locksley NSW in February 1823). Clarke described finding it both in the detrital deposits and in the quartz reefs west of the
Blue Mountains, the same area where McBrien had found it, and he declared his belief in its abundance. Mr R Lowe, Lieutenant William Lawson, an unnamed convict (who was flogged for the discovery), Dr
Johann Lhotsky
John Lhotsky (1795–1866) was a Galicia-born Austrians, Austrian naturalist, lecturer, artist and author. He wrote and published on the topics of zoology, botany, geology, geography and politics. Lhotsky was active in the early colonies of New S ...
, and "Count"
Paul Strzelecki
Paul may refer to:
*Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name)
*Paul (surname), a list of people
People
Christianity
* Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...
had also found gold in Australia before Clarke. It appears they mostly had found alluvial flakes, whereas Clarke had found it embedded in quartz rocks. Early in 1844 he showed the governor of New South Wales,
Sir George Gipps
Sir George Gipps (23 December 1790 – 28 February 1847) was the Governor of the British colony of New South Wales for eight years, between 1838 and 1846. His governorship oversaw a tumultuous period where the rights to land were bitterly conte ...
, some specimens of gold he had found. Sir George asked him where he had got it, and when Clarke told him said "Put it away or we shall have our throats cut". Clarke, in his evidence before the select committee on his claims, which sat in 1861, stated that he knew of the existence of the gold in 1841. Clarke, however, agreed with Gipps that it may not be wise to announce the presence of gold in the colony. Clarke continued his clerical duties, but was occasionally lent to the government to carry out geological investigations. In 1849 he made the first discovery of
tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal.
Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...
in Australia and in 1859 he made known the occurrence of diamonds. He discovered secondary (
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...
) fossils in Queensland in 1860, he was also the first to indicate the presence of
Silurian
The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleozo ...
rocks, and to determine the age of the coal-bearing rocks in New South Wales. In 1869 he announced the discovery of remains of ''
Dinornis
The giant moa (''Dinornis'') is an extinct genus of birds belonging to the moa family. As with other moa, it was a member of the order Dinornithiformes. It was endemic to New Zealand. Two species of ''Dinornis'' are considered valid, the North ...
'' in
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
. He finished the preparation of the fourth edition of his ''Remarks on the Sedimentary Formations of New South Wales'' on his eightieth birthday, and died a fortnight later on 16 June 1878. He was buried in the St Thomas cemetery, the graveyard of the North Shore church he was rector of for many years; and his widow and some descendants and relatives are close by.
Legacy
Clarke was a trustee of the
Australian Museum
The Australian Museum is a heritage-listed museum at 1 William Street, Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. It is the oldest museum in Australia,Design 5, 2016, p.1 and the fifth oldest natural history museum in the ...
at Sydney, and an active member of the
Royal Society of New South Wales
The Royal Society of New South Wales is a learned society based in Sydney, Australia. The Governor of New South Wales is the vice-regal patron of the Society.
The Society was established as the Philosophical Society of Australasia on 27 June ...
of which he was vice-president 1866–1878;
the
Clarke Medal
The Clarke Medal is awarded by the Royal Society of New South Wales, the oldest learned society in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere, for distinguished work in the Natural sciences.
The medal is named in honour of the Reverend William Bran ...
awarded by the Society is named in his honour. In 1860 he published ''Researches in the Southern Gold Fields of New South Wales''. He was elected
Fellow of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
in 1876, and in the following year was awarded the
Murchison Medal
The Murchison Medal is an academic award established by Roderick Murchison, who died in 1871. First awarded in 1873, it is normally given to people who have made a significant contribution to geology by means of a substantial body of research and ...
by the
Geological Society of London
The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe with more than 12,000 Fellows.
Fe ...
. His contributions to Australian scientific journals were numerous. He died near Sydney. His name is commemorated in the
William Clarke College
William Clarke College is an independent, P-12, co-educational Anglican College located in Kellyville in Sydney's north west (Hills District), Australia.
History
Local church congregations wanted to establish an independent, affordable, c ...
school at Kellyville, NSW and the WB Clarke Geoscience Centre at Londonderry, NSW operated by the Geological Survey of New South Wales.
His works in geology included the field of
palaeontology
Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...
and his collections and receipt of fossil material formed the foundation of research on Australia's extinct flora and fauna. Clarke did not describe the specimens he avidly collected throughout his life, these were instead forwarded to societies in England for their scientific examination. The results of his contemporaries studies and descriptions of Australian palaeontology and geology were incorporated into his own publications, and he remained current with advances in these fields despite his remote location.
See also
*
Australian gold rushes
During the Australian gold rushes, starting in 1851, significant numbers of workers moved from elsewhere in Australia and overseas to where gold had been discovered. Gold had been found several times before, but the colonial government of Ne ...
*
William Clarke College
William Clarke College is an independent, P-12, co-educational Anglican College located in Kellyville in Sydney's north west (Hills District), Australia.
History
Local church congregations wanted to establish an independent, affordable, c ...
References
General references
*
*
*Ann Mozley,
Clarke, William Branwhite (1798–1878), ''
Australian Dictionary of Biography
The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...
'', Volume 3,
MUP, 1969, pp 420–422.
*
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, William Branwhite
1798 births
1878 deaths
People from East Bergholt
Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge
19th-century English Anglican priests
English geologists
Australian Anglican priests
Australian geologists
Fellows of the Royal Society
Australian people of English descent
19th-century Australian scientists