George Thomas Clarke

In 1878 he was appointed Town Clerk of the Borough of South Dunedin, but later left office to become a Councillor. Clarke also served as a Councillor for the St Kilda Borough Council and was elected as mayor for two terms in 1878–1880. While in New Zealand, in 1876 Clarke joined the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, an interest in which he carried over when he returned to Australia, arriving in Sydney in the early 1880s.^[4]

After setting up his business in the St Leonards region in northern Sydney, Clarke re-entered municipal politics when he was elected as an Alderman for Belmore Ward of the Borough of St Leonards in February 1888.^[5] As a member of the St Leonards council in 1890, Clarke was involved in the official representations to the colonial government to merge St Leonards with the neighbouring boroughs of East St Leonards and Victoria to form a single North Sydney borough.^[6] These representations were subsequently accepted and the Borough of North Sydney was proclaimed on 29 July 1890.^[7] As the proclamation continued the terms of office of the three elected councils, Clarke continued as an aldermen for the new borough.^[8] Clarke was not among those elected to the new six-member council elected in February 1891, but succeeded in returning by way of a vacancy in August 1891.^[9][10]

He was elected an alderman of the City of Sydney in 1904, and was elected Lord Mayor in 1912.^[11][12]

Survived by two sons, Clarke died while still serving as a North Sydney alderman on 11 March 1925 at his Wollstonecraft residence on Milner Crescent, "Domus", and was buried with Congregational and Masonic rites at Waverley Cemetery.^[3]