Clarke family papers, ca. 1905-1999

MLMSS 9198

fonds

ca. 1905-1999

Textual Records, Graphic Materials, Cartographic Materials, Objects, Clippings, Ephemera, Photographs, Nonmusical Sound Recordings

862545

0.82 metres of textual material and photographs (5 boxes)

Donald (Don) Ashley Clarke (1898-1981) was born in the village of Silverstone, Northamptonshire, arriving in Sydney in 1920. Bernice (Bernie) Muriel Rowell (1900-1969) was born in Sydney. In February 1923 the couple married and in March Don was ordained as a Methodist minister before they sailed to Samoa as missionaries. After their return to Australia in 1926 they were posted to various NSW country towns. During World War II Don served in the Army and the Air Force while Bernie worked as house manager of hospitals and hostels in Australia and Noumea. Their various post-war positions took them to suburban Sydney and Singleton before their retirement to Terrigal in 1960, although Don continued to work as a relief minister, hospital chaplain, school religious instructor and lecturer to nurses.

The papers document the lives of Bernie and Don Clarke and their family, including their term as missionaries in Samoa, their experiences during World War II and their lives in Australia before and after World War II. Material includes correspondence, photographs, family history documents, diary entries and memoirs, newscuttings and books.

BOX 1
Correspondence, arranged in labelled bundles of letters: Bernie and Don courtship and honeymoon, replies to wedding invitation, 1922-1923; Samoa 1923; Samoa 1924; Samoa 1925; Samoa 1926-1927; Lucy and John Ashley Clarke, 1923-1926; Narrandera, 1927-1929; Morpeth, 1930-1931; Grafton, 1934-1938; Forbes and Dubbo, 1940-1942; Rowells and Carpenters, 1921-1938; Miscellaneous, 1921-1951

BOX 2
Correspondence, arranged in labelled bundles of letters: Clarke letters, 1920-1975 (includes letter of thanks from Russell Drysdale, 1969); letters to Don including 1940 drivers licence, 1919-1973; Don – Neringah and Wesley Gardens, 1975-1980; American Red Cross, New Caledonia, 1944; American Red Cross, New Caledonia, 1944-1945

Documents concerning Don Clarke: appointment as 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Buckinghamshire Hussars, 1917, as Lieutenant in the Australian Reserve, 1941, as an officer of the Royal Australian Air Force, 1944 and Certificate of Service, 1946; reception into United Grand Lodge of Masons, 1923; Diploma in Social Studies, University of Sydney, 1949; Boy Scouts certificates and correspondence, 1939-1940

Large photographs including family in England, Samoa and Australia, 1905-ca. 1937

BOX 3
Bundle of notes and diary entries by Bernie Clarke, 1943-1965
Papers relating to Don Clarke’s war service, 1914-1940
Folder of family papers including Clarke family chronology, birth, marriage and death certificates, invoices, programs, church histories, newscuttings including obituaries for Don and Bernie Clarke, issue of ‘Woman’ magazine containing article on Bernie Clarke, 1920-1981
Map of Silverstone and district, hand drawn on cardboard By Don Clarke, no date
Folder of papers including banking and insurance papers, newscuttings, Borough of Kettering coat of arms, 1927-1975
Manuscript and typescript memoirs by Don Clarke in exercise books and loose, no date
Papers relating to the estate of John Ashley Clarke, 1945-1948
Papers relating to Thomas Bowden and the Bowman family of Singleton, ca. 1969
Notes for Sociology lectures given by Don Clarke, ca. 1960-1968
Transcript of Don Clarke’s oral history interview with Hazel de Berg for the National Library of Australia, 1977-1979

BOX 4
Photographs in labelled envelopes including: Clarke family of Silverstone, Cartwrights, John Denney; Rowell family, Carpenters; ‘Marran’, ‘Mobla’, Hoskings; Bernie and Don Clarke; Aulsebrook family; Samoa; Narrandera and Pennant Hills, 1927-1930; Morpeth, 1930-1934; Grafton, 1934-1938; Forbes, 1938-1941; Bernice Clarke, New Caledonia, 1944; May St, St Peters, 1947-1948; Caxton Park, ca. late 1940s; ‘Glenholme’, Yagoona; Clarke photos war years, 1914-1918, 1939-1945; Clarke post-war photos; Thompson children; Don’s voyage to Australia; Beryl and friends
Aulsebrook photograph album containing 11 unidentified photographs
Album containing 39 unidentified photographs
Unidentified photographs and negatives, no dates

BOX 5
Three spiral-bound volumes ‘Bernie and Don: The story of the Clarke family 1898 to 1981’ Vol. 1, Vol. 2 and Addendum
Three CDs labelled ‘The Clarke Family Collection, Bernie and Don – the story of the Clarke family 1898 to 1981 and associated documents and images’, ‘Bernie and Don – the story of the Clarke family 1898 to 1981 Addendum’ and ‘Clarke family oral history 1999’
Army issue protractor
Printer’s block used for Don Clarke’s bookplate

Printed material:
‘Old Oak – the story of a forest village’ / Rev. J. E. Linnell, 1932
‘The World of Robert Flaherty’ / Richard Griffith, 1953
‘Don Quixote’ ballet film program, no date
Maps: Australian Army Education Service Map Review No. 3, 1944; Ordnance Survey Map of Banbury, England; photocopied map showing location of Silverstone, England

Sound recordings:
The children of Reverend Donald Ashley Clarke interviewed by Sarah Szacsvay, 1999 - Call No. MLOH 632

Copyright status:: In copyright - This collection has multiple rights owners
Approval for reproduction required: of copyright owner

Information upgraded as part of the Manuscripts Unprocessed eRecords Project 2013-2014