Step back in time: Heritage enthusiast Evan Lloyd spoke about the contribution of architect John Augustus Kenny Clarke to Greater Shepparton at the Bruce Wilson Memorial Heritage Lecture on August 10.
Photo by
Rechelle Zammit
The Greater Shepparton Biennial Bruce Wilson Memorial Heritage Lecture was held on August 10. The lecture’s keynote speaker was Goulburn Valley farmer and heritage enthusiast Evan Lloyd, who spoke about architect John Augustus Kenny Clarke. Mr Clarke and his family were heavily involved in the community but he is best known for the many buildings he designed in and around Greater Shepparton.
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The following is a heavily edited version of the lecture. The full lecture can be viewed via the Greater Shepparton City Council website.
John Augustus Kenny Clarke grew up in Melbourne, first arriving in the Goulburn Valley as a draftsman with the Victorian Railways Engineering branch surveying the Dookie railway line that was built in 1887-88.
He returned to Melbourne but fate intervened.
Mr Clarke was a big fan of the then-revolutionary invention, the bicycle.
“Clarke was important to the founding of the Melbourne Bicycle Club in 1878,” Mr Lloyd said.
“The club organised social riding events, competitions and brought cycling to the public (and) created what is now the world’s oldest handicapped track race, the Austral Wheel Race.”
This love of cycling may have also led to Mr Clarke meeting the love of his life and returning to the Goulburn Valley.
“(A story in) The Geelong Advertiser of April 1, 1878 ... included a bike race in which Clarke came second and AB Mason, his future brother-in-law, came third ... his brother, AC Mason ... also raced bikes,” Mr Lloyd said.
The Mason family was heavily involved in Shepparton’s burgeoning orchard and irrigation industries; Mr Clarke would eventually marry the brothers’ youngest sister, Beatrice, a well-regarded horsewoman, in 1890.
Encouraged by the Masons to shift to Shepparton and get into horticulture, the couple sold up and made the move from Melbourne later that year.
The buildings
Early days: The Terminus Hotel, Shepparton.
Mr Clarke’s career as a local architect soon took off.
The first home he designed was for he and his wife and was known as ‘Nettlegoe’ (named after the many nettles that had to be cleared from the site before building started). The second house, ‘Ivanhoe’, was designed for his brother-in-law. Both homes still exist.
“So now in 1891, Clarke has built his display homes to demonstrate his architectural prowess and his orchard is becoming established,” Mr Lloyd told lecture attendees.
“Between 1892 and 1935 there are some 100 projects that seem attributable to Clarke. And, as many jobs would not have gone through the tender notice process, nor got a mention in a newspaper, the number will be higher.
“They are not all complete buildings. Many were alterations or additions, big or small.”
Mr Lloyd ran through some of the key buildings attributed to Mr Clarke including: a new building for The News in High St in 1893; works on the Fairley’s department store in Maude St in 1903 and 1906; the original fire station in 1902, also in Maude St; numerous churches, including St Brendan’s in Knight St; and a new hall beside the old Mechanic’s Institute in Wyndham St in 1905.
It appeared Mr Clarke also worked on or designed many of Shepparton’s pubs, including the Shepparton Hotel (1900), the Union Hotel in 1902 (now the Hotel Australia) and the Terminus in 1916.
Through his involvement with the Shepparton Agricultural Society, Mr Clarke was also responsible for the development of the current site.
On show: The grandstand designed by JAK Clarke at the Shepparton Showgrounds was moved in 2005 during redevelopment of the site.
“In January 1902, the Australasian described the Shepparton Agricultural Show as ‘one of the most important in rural Victoria. The showground is extensive, and is being brought steadily up to date. The new buildings are skilfully designed by Mr JAK Clarke to suit the purpose they have to serve’,” Mr Lloyd said.
Mr Clarke is believed to be responsible for at least four buildings on the Mooroopna Hospital site — a laundry and three of the wards, including the infectious ward, which was built just in time to deal with an influenza epidemic in 1917 and a diphtheria outbreak in 1918.
Mr Lloyd pointed out that some buildings attributed to Mr Clarke — such as the old post office and the old shire hall — could not have been built by him, as they were designed and built in the 1870s and 1880s while he was still with the railways.
The houses
Mr Lloyd wrapped up his talk with a discussion of some of the residential homes Mr Clarke built.
“Of the 100 or so projects identified, 20 were new home designs,” Mr Lloyd said.
“We know he built houses on Corio, Fryers, Welsford, Orr and Edward streets. He also built homes in Dunbulbalane near Numurkah in 1895, Arcadia in 1902 and Dookie in 1905. But as I said earlier, there are likely to be more and some have been lost.”
‘Ambermere’ on Orr St, ‘Hurlstone’ on Ford Rd and 84 Corio St were some of the homes Mr Lloyd said could definitely be attributed to Mr Clarke, as well as ‘Fairley Downs’, north of Shepparton, where Mr Lloyd grew up and where his interest in Mr Clarke was piqued.
A long and fruitful life
Forever home: Beatrice and JAK Clarke's graves at Shepparton Cemetery point back to their Nettlegoe homestead.
Beatrice and JAK Clarke were married for 53 years and had two daughters, Rene and Lucy. Beatrice died in 1943, aged 81, and JAK followed in 1945, at the age of 93.
They are buried side by side at Shepparton Cemetery — their graves pointing straight back to their beloved ‘Nettlegoe’.
The lecture was organised by the Greater Shepparton Heritage Advisory Committee.
