Page last updated: 27 April   2006

Manning Clark

Born in Sydney 1915, Manning Clark won scholarships to Melbourne Grammar School and the University of Melbourne. He later attended Balliol College, Oxford, and in the early 1940s taught history at schools in England and in Australia. He was a senior lecturer a the University of Melbourne and, later Professor of History in the School of General Studies, Australian National University. In 1972 he became the first Professor of Australian History and had honourary doctorates awarded by the University of Melbourne, Newcastle and Sydney.

In June 1975 Manning Clark was made a Companion of the Order of Australia, in recognition of his writing of A History of Australia in six volumes, and was named Australian of the Year in 1980. Professor Clark died in May 1991.

More biographical information
Guide to the papers of Manning Clark in the National Library of Australia

Dymphna Clark

Dymphna Clark was born in Melbourne of Swedish and Flemish parents, from whom she inherited an extraordinary discipline and energy, and a love of European literature, food and music.

She completed honours at Melbourne University, where her father Augustin was Head of Germanic Languages, and then travelled to Germany as the 1938 Humboldt scholar. As the Nazi regime continued to rise she abandoned her doctoral studies and reunited with Manning Clark in Oxford, marrying him there in 1939. She had six children In addition to maintaining a large household she provided invaluable assistance to her husband's greatest works by editing, proof reading and research.

Dymphna Clark was a distinguished scholar in her own right. She was fluent in eight languages, could "get by" in another four, and lectured in German at the ANU. She established Manning Clark House, and enlivened the community with a passion for the environment. She was a driving force behind the formation of the Aboriginal Treaty Committee and drafted the Council's preamble for review by Parliament.

Dymphna Clark's major work is the translation of the botanist Charles Baron von Hugel's New Holland Journals 1833 - 34.

A simple house…
An interview with Dymphna Clark about 11 Tasmania Circle, Forrest, broadcasted on ABC radio circa 1994, and several times since.

Dymphna Clark - A Portrait
Roslyn Russell recalls the life of a distinguished linguist and Canberra personality. NLA News, April 2005 Volume XV Number 7.

Food for Thought at Manning Clark House
Edited by Sandy Forbes and Janet Reeves, designed by Peter Hislop. A truly fascinating book for many reasons, begun as a fund raiser for MCH, ending as a real tribute to Dymphna Clark and her friends.