Julie Clarke entered this mortal plane on 22 April at the Queen Victoria Hospital in the city of Melbourne, Australia where she currently resides.
She has one son Erin David Powell who was born at the Jessie McPherson section of the Queen Victoria Hospital (Queen Victoria Medical Centre) in Melbourne in 1977 before the Baroque building was demolished at the end of the millennium.
She was one of the forgotten Australians (non-indigenous) who was made a 'ward of the state'. The first school Clarke attended was St. Joseph's Primary School in Hawthorn. She later attended Our Lady's Catholic Primary School in Wangaratta, St.Mary's in Altona, St. Augustine's in Yarraville and was one of the first girls to be taken into Mount St. Joseph Girls' College in Altona. She rejected Catholicism at the age of twelve. She attended Balwyn High School in 1965. In 1956 she was placed for a short time in a number of Catholic children's homes including Abbotsford Convent.
Julie Clarke coordinated the Hawthorn Community House, 39 William Street, Hawthorn from 1980-1988. One of her accomplishments was the initiation of the Hawthorn writers group, which continues today as the Boroondara Writers' Group under the auspice of the Boroondara City Council. The Hawthorn Writers Group was one of the first groups to receive Australia Council funding for Kris Hemensley to be a writer-in-residence. Kris Hemensley operates Collected Works Bookshop in Nicholas Building, Melbourne. Hemensley was the first person to publish Clarke's poetic prose.
Earlier in 1984 Clarke's writing was included along-with Chris Barnett, Kris Hemensly, Valerie Kirwin and Ania Walwicz in the sound recording In Our Own Words: Six Melbourne Writers on Tape, produced by Marcus Breen and Steve Warne, Verbal Graphics.
In 1998 she was co-winner (with six other writers) of the Inaugural Faulding Award (now known as the Mayne Award) for Writing for Multimedia for the Flightpaths: Writing Journeys CD (coordinated by berni M. Janssen), at the Adelaide Festival of the Arts. Later exhibited at Lovebits, Staffordshire, England. Click here for details.
Since then her poetic prose, visual poetry and academic articles have been published in America, Australia, the United Kingdom, Norway and Canada. Poetic prose works - Skywriter, Veils, Echo, Mind, Fall are held in the State Library of Victoria, Monash University and the University of Melbourne. Much of her creative writing and visual poetry is held in rare book archives in Melbourne, Holland, Italy, Russia and USA. She has been a Visual and Concrete Poet.
Her book (basically her PhD with a new chapter) Paradox of the Posthuman: Science Fiction, Techno-horror films and Visual Media, published by VDM Verlag, Dr Müller Aktiengesellschaft and Co. KG Germany is held by many libraries worldwide. ISBN -10: 3639143795; ISBN -13: 978-3639143799.
In 2011 she self-published an A5, hand-sewn, chapbook of poetic prose, entitled Strange Blood Sport. It is considered a rare object, since no more than 30 copies will ever be made. Two sections of the book - 'Water' and 'Refuse', were published in Hecate: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Women's Liberation, 37.2, 2011 (Ed. Carole Ferrier), The University of Queensland.
In 1998 she was co-winner (with six other writers) of the Inaugural Faulding Award (now known as the Mayne Award) for Writing for Multimedia for the Flightpaths: Writing Journeys CD (coordinated by berni M. Janssen), at the Adelaide Festival of the Arts. Later exhibited at Lovebits, Staffordshire, England. Click here for details.
Since then her poetic prose, visual poetry and academic articles have been published in America, Australia, the United Kingdom, Norway and Canada. Poetic prose works - Skywriter, Veils, Echo, Mind, Fall are held in the State Library of Victoria, Monash University and the University of Melbourne. Much of her creative writing and visual poetry is held in rare book archives in Melbourne, Holland, Italy, Russia and USA. She has been a Visual and Concrete Poet.
Her book (basically her PhD with a new chapter) Paradox of the Posthuman: Science Fiction, Techno-horror films and Visual Media, published by VDM Verlag, Dr Müller Aktiengesellschaft and Co. KG Germany is held by many libraries worldwide. ISBN -10: 3639143795; ISBN -13: 978-3639143799.
In 2011 she self-published an A5, hand-sewn, chapbook of poetic prose, entitled Strange Blood Sport. It is considered a rare object, since no more than 30 copies will ever be made. Two sections of the book - 'Water' and 'Refuse', were published in Hecate: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Women's Liberation, 37.2, 2011 (Ed. Carole Ferrier), The University of Queensland.
In 1995 she voluntarily coordinated a large-scale performance event, entitled Phantom Bodies/Fluid Self (Stelarc, International performance artist) for the Digital Aesthetic One Symposium at the Open Stage, the University of Melbourne. This still stands as Stelarc's largest performance event ever staged in the southern hemisphere. However, Clarke was involved in the most recent large-scale event of Stelarc's in that she wrote the catalogue essay for the Spectacle of Mind performances (Stelarc, Domenico de Clario, Jill Orr) staged by Karen Casey at Federation Square in 2010.
She undertook her undergraduate degree in Painting and Printmaking at RMIT (1991), postgraduate diploma in Art History (1993), Master of Arts in Art History (1997) and her PhD in Cinema Studies (2004) at the University of Melbourne. She held the position of Honorary Fellow in Cinema Studies in the School of Culture and Communication at The University of Melbourne from 2005-2013.
From 2009 to 2012 she was a casual tutor with ITAS, now under the auspice of Murrup Barak (named after William Barak a member of the Wurundjeri clan) the Institute of Indigenous Development at the University of Melbourne. She has casually tutored 12 indigenous Australian students through this program.
She held the position of Associate Supervisor of Mark McDean's PhD at Victoria University from March - December 2011 when Mark discontinued his studies. She was involved in a collaborative art project entitled 'Collisions' with Mark McDean in 2011/2012. Details and images of the artworks are available on this blog.
She has written extensively on the Australian Performance Artist Stelarc and and other Australian and International artists.
From 2009 to 2012 she was a casual tutor with ITAS, now under the auspice of Murrup Barak (named after William Barak a member of the Wurundjeri clan) the Institute of Indigenous Development at the University of Melbourne. She has casually tutored 12 indigenous Australian students through this program.
She held the position of Associate Supervisor of Mark McDean's PhD at Victoria University from March - December 2011 when Mark discontinued his studies. She was involved in a collaborative art project entitled 'Collisions' with Mark McDean in 2011/2012. Details and images of the artworks are available on this blog.
She has written extensively on the Australian Performance Artist Stelarc and and other Australian and International artists.
She continues her art practice in painting/drawing/installation/photomontage. Her artworks are in private collections. Her most recent exhibitions are:
Skin Gallery Summer Show, Skin Gallery Carlton - December 2013 - February 2014 (B &W photographs).
Generative Art Exhibition (curator Celestino Soddu) La Triennale de Milano, Italy, 9-12 December 2013 (digital images).
Ephemeral Skin
Skin Gallery, Level 1, 80 Drummond Street, Carlton. February/March 2013 (digital images)
Skin Gallery Summer Show, Skin Gallery Carlton - December 2013 - February 2014 (B &W photographs).
Generative Art Exhibition (curator Celestino Soddu) La Triennale de Milano, Italy, 9-12 December 2013 (digital images).
Ephemeral Skin
Skin Gallery, Level 1, 80 Drummond Street, Carlton. February/March 2013 (digital images)
The Body and the City: A Poem in Three Parts
Generative Art Exhibition
Lucca, Italy, 9-12 December 2012 (photographs, poem and sound).
Generative Art Exhibition
Lucca, Italy, 9-12 December 2012 (photographs, poem and sound).
Graduate Centre Printroom Gallery, 1888 Building, The University of Melbourne, 18 April to 18 May, 2011 (digital images)
The Body and the City: A Poem in Three Parts
Atrium Annex Gallery, Architecture Building, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, 3-25 March 2011 (photographs, poem and sound).
A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY:
Clarke is a sixth-generation Australian. Her ancestors sailed from Britain on the Boomerang and arrived in Australia in 1853.
Her mother was Dorothy Catherine Clarke (nee Biggs deceased 1997).
Her father David Henry Clarke (deceased) was a Bombardier in the 2/11 Field Regiment of the Australian Army in WW2 from 1940 - 1945.
Her grandfather Charles Winter Clarke (b. 1873), was a farrier in the 4th Light Horse Regiment of the Australian Imperial Force (30th reinforcement) from 1917 to 1919, serving in Gallipoli. He sailed from Australia to the war on the H.M.A.T.Nestor. Clik here for embarkation list. He continued with his veterinary work after repatriation at the Hospital for Horses and Dogs (animal hospital and veterinary college) in Brunswick Street, Melbourne. This site is now used by an architectural firm.
Charles Winter Clarke was married to Catherine May Farquarhson (b. 1881).
It was Catherine's father William Farquarhson (b. 1842 Braemar, Scotland, d. 25 December, 1925) who came to Australia with his wife Margaret McComb in 1854. William Farquharson constructed many of the bridges in rural Victoria. Margaret McCombe was the licensee of the Oxford Hotel at 222 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne between 1899 and 1901, later she became publican at the Globe Hotel, Port Melbourne.
The photos are so grainy because I rephotographed some photocopies sent to me by the Swan Hill Historical Society and many thanks to the Swan Hill Regional Gallery, who had an exhibition of photographs of people involved with the building of the Swan Hill bridge in 1886. See plaque and article here.
Thanks to Enza Benincasa (artist/friend) who was in Swan Hill and took these photographs of the bridges that my great-grandfather built. Here they are - so beautiful.
Julie Clarke's maternal grandparents were Mary Anne Elizabeth Victoria Willoughby (Biggs) (b. 1896 - d. 1975) - who Julie lived with from when she was five to twelve years old and Vivien Biggs. Mary Anne was a dress maker and seamstress, who lived her early life in Cobram, Victoria and her later life in Hawthorn, Yarraville and Benalla. Her parents were George Withycombe Willoughby (b.1865) and Catherine Doherty (b. Limerick, Ireland). Catherine Doherty's father was Edward Doherty (b. Ireland, 1820) married Joanna Larkins (b. 1843, Ireland). Edward came to Australia in 1851.
Clarke is a sixth-generation Australian. Her ancestors sailed from Britain on the Boomerang and arrived in Australia in 1853.
Her mother was Dorothy Catherine Clarke (nee Biggs deceased 1997).
Her father David Henry Clarke (deceased) was a Bombardier in the 2/11 Field Regiment of the Australian Army in WW2 from 1940 - 1945.
Her grandfather Charles Winter Clarke (b. 1873), was a farrier in the 4th Light Horse Regiment of the Australian Imperial Force (30th reinforcement) from 1917 to 1919, serving in Gallipoli. He sailed from Australia to the war on the H.M.A.T.Nestor. Clik here for embarkation list. He continued with his veterinary work after repatriation at the Hospital for Horses and Dogs (animal hospital and veterinary college) in Brunswick Street, Melbourne. This site is now used by an architectural firm.
Charles Winter Clarke was married to Catherine May Farquarhson (b. 1881).
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| Margaret McComb and William Farquharson |
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| William Farquharson |
The photos are so grainy because I rephotographed some photocopies sent to me by the Swan Hill Historical Society and many thanks to the Swan Hill Regional Gallery, who had an exhibition of photographs of people involved with the building of the Swan Hill bridge in 1886. See plaque and article here.
Thanks to Enza Benincasa (artist/friend) who was in Swan Hill and took these photographs of the bridges that my great-grandfather built. Here they are - so beautiful.
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| Photo: Enza Benincasa 2013 |
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| Photo: Enza Benincasa 2013 |
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| Photo: Enza Benincasa 2013 |
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| Photo: Enza Benincasa 2013 |
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| Margaret McComb when she was older. Photographer unknown. |
Julie Clarke's maternal grandparents were Mary Anne Elizabeth Victoria Willoughby (Biggs) (b. 1896 - d. 1975) - who Julie lived with from when she was five to twelve years old and Vivien Biggs. Mary Anne was a dress maker and seamstress, who lived her early life in Cobram, Victoria and her later life in Hawthorn, Yarraville and Benalla. Her parents were George Withycombe Willoughby (b.1865) and Catherine Doherty (b. Limerick, Ireland). Catherine Doherty's father was Edward Doherty (b. Ireland, 1820) married Joanna Larkins (b. 1843, Ireland). Edward came to Australia in 1851.
