About the Author

Born in Sydney in 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 Australia. He was a senior lecturer at 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 was awarded honorary doctorates by the Universities of Melbourne, Newcastle and Sydney. His classic text, the six-volume History of Australia (1962-1987) popularised the study of Australian history. In June 1975, Clark was made a Companion of the Order of Australia, in recognition of his writing of the History, and was named Australian of the Year in 1980. He is the author of the two volume autobiography- The Puzzles of Childhood (1988) and The Quest for Grace (1989). Professor Clark died in May 1991.