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The puzzles of childhood
Book by Clark, Manning
- GenresBiography
213 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1989
About the author
Manning Clark
72 books13 followersBorn to a working-class Anglican priest and a mother from a well-off background, Charles Manning Hope Clark was a quiet, academically minded child who went to school in Melbourne, and excelled at literature, Greek, and Latin (as well as exhibiting a great love of cricket). Clark earned a scholarship to Oxford, where he studied from 1938, but returned to Australia in 1940 (he was exempt from serving in WWII due to mild epilepsy) and took up life as a highschool history teacher.
Growing up in a time of war, Clark flirted with a variety of political views, ultimately settling into moderate socialism - although always with a healthy separation from anything serious (he was seen by some as conservative, but tended to have more ties to left-wing historians and thinkers). During his middle years, Clark would be a subject of surveillance from Australia's intelligence forces, like many other intellectuals, for his perceived destabilising thoughts and writings. After the war, Clark - now married to the historian Dymphna Clark and gradually fathering six children - established himself as a lecturer in history at Melbourne University, moving to their Canberra branch which gradually became the separate Australian National University, where he would live most of his professional life.
Clark's first significant publication was "Select Documents in Australian History" (2 volumes, 1950-55) which provided a significant examination of primary sources of the birth and development of modern Australia. In 1956, he began serious research on a lengthy History of Australia, which rapidly expanded from his concept of a two-volume work to a series of six. Published between 1962 and 1987, the History is his major work, spanning Australia's early history through to its colonisation by the British in 1788, to the 1930s, where his story comes to an end. Throughout, Clark explores the relationships of Catholics, Protestants, and Enlightenment thinkers, the delicate balance of European values and the world of the Australian continent, and the tragedy of Australia's Indigenous population. The earned its acolytes and its detractors, for reasons both political and literary, and remains controversial in the 21st century.
In 1974, Clark formally retired from lecturing at the ANU, and retained the title of Emeritus Professor until his death. In his later years, Clark's disdain for the upper and upper middle classes of Anglo-Australia (which had caused a fractious relationship with his mother all his life) became more evident, particularly in his campaigning for Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, and his outrage when Whitlam was dismissed by the Queen's representative, the Governor-General of Australia, in 1975.
Manning Clark was awarded the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal in 1970, and was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1975. He was named Australian of the Year in 1980 and, in Australia's bicentenary year of 1988, his History of Australia was adapted by others (including Prime Minister Paul Keating's future speechwriter Don Watson) as a musical, which ran for a short period in Melbourne.
In his last years, Clark was seen as something of an Australian icon, with a recognisable image (a classic Aussie bush hat, a goatee, and a walking stick), and was routinely published in journals and newspapers around the country. His last volumes were not highly regarded by contemporary historians, especially in the patriotic years of the 1980s, both because he was seen as left-wing and because he was seen as an old man whose pessimism and repetition had overwhelmed his natural gifts. Others regarded Clark as an iconic figure who urged Australians to question and reconsider some of the longstanding myths of Anglo-Australian culture, a debate which would escalate rapidly in the decades after the Australian bicentenary and the author's death. In 1989 and 1990, Clark published two volumes of autobiography. H
Growing up in a time of war, Clark flirted with a variety of political views, ultimately settling into moderate socialism - although always with a healthy separation from anything serious (he was seen by some as conservative, but tended to have more ties to left-wing historians and thinkers). During his middle years, Clark would be a subject of surveillance from Australia's intelligence forces, like many other intellectuals, for his perceived destabilising thoughts and writings. After the war, Clark - now married to the historian Dymphna Clark and gradually fathering six children - established himself as a lecturer in history at Melbourne University, moving to their Canberra branch which gradually became the separate Australian National University, where he would live most of his professional life.
Clark's first significant publication was "Select Documents in Australian History" (2 volumes, 1950-55) which provided a significant examination of primary sources of the birth and development of modern Australia. In 1956, he began serious research on a lengthy History of Australia, which rapidly expanded from his concept of a two-volume work to a series of six. Published between 1962 and 1987, the History is his major work, spanning Australia's early history through to its colonisation by the British in 1788, to the 1930s, where his story comes to an end. Throughout, Clark explores the relationships of Catholics, Protestants, and Enlightenment thinkers, the delicate balance of European values and the world of the Australian continent, and the tragedy of Australia's Indigenous population. The earned its acolytes and its detractors, for reasons both political and literary, and remains controversial in the 21st century.
In 1974, Clark formally retired from lecturing at the ANU, and retained the title of Emeritus Professor until his death. In his later years, Clark's disdain for the upper and upper middle classes of Anglo-Australia (which had caused a fractious relationship with his mother all his life) became more evident, particularly in his campaigning for Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, and his outrage when Whitlam was dismissed by the Queen's representative, the Governor-General of Australia, in 1975.
Manning Clark was awarded the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal in 1970, and was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1975. He was named Australian of the Year in 1980 and, in Australia's bicentenary year of 1988, his History of Australia was adapted by others (including Prime Minister Paul Keating's future speechwriter Don Watson) as a musical, which ran for a short period in Melbourne.
In his last years, Clark was seen as something of an Australian icon, with a recognisable image (a classic Aussie bush hat, a goatee, and a walking stick), and was routinely published in journals and newspapers around the country. His last volumes were not highly regarded by contemporary historians, especially in the patriotic years of the 1980s, both because he was seen as left-wing and because he was seen as an old man whose pessimism and repetition had overwhelmed his natural gifts. Others regarded Clark as an iconic figure who urged Australians to question and reconsider some of the longstanding myths of Anglo-Australian culture, a debate which would escalate rapidly in the decades after the Australian bicentenary and the author's death. In 1989 and 1990, Clark published two volumes of autobiography. H
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 4, 2011
This is a facsinating and annoying book, by one of Australias most emminent historians. On one hand full of fascinating character sketches of people and places at the turn on the twentith century and full of interesting philsopical musings. On the other hand does he have to make every point 10 times and why does he leave so much unanswered. I had writers who hint at things and then don't answer. This may of course be a theme of the book but its very irritating none the less. Couldn't he a least speculate on these un answered questions? Not sure I can face another volume
May 18, 2021
An intensely personal account of growing up in the 1920s in Australia. Manning Clark is a famous historian and he provides a fascinating, if unintended, insight into the all encompassing role of religion in everyday life and what it is like to be wracked by self doubt while wanting, but not succeeding, in rebelling against the suffocating conformity that was all around him. Very interesting insights into a world that has now gone forever
November 4, 2025
An interesting and moving read. Clark describes his childhood and early adolescent years, focusing on his personal development and his relationship with his parents. Highly recommended.
February 5, 2019
Generally a very interesting memoir. Some themes are repeated over and over but this is deliberate. A real page turner.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews