Writer of novels, non-fiction, short stories and articles
Hugh V. Clarke (1919 - 1996)
Writer of novels, non-fiction, short stories and articles. Hugh Vincent Clarke (27 November 1919 – 28 November 1996)
Hugh V. Clarke, born in Queensland and educated in Toowoomba and Brisbane, joined the Queensland Main Roads Commission as a cadet surveyor. In 1940 he enlisted in the 2/10th Field Regiment, Eighth Division AIF. He fought as a Bombardier in the artillery in Malaya and was taken prisoner of war at the fall of Singapore in February 1942. He was sent from Changi to work as a prisoner on the Burma-Thailand Railway in the group to begin first digging the notorious Hellfire Pass in Thailand on Anzac Day 1943. In 1944 he was sent to Japan to work as a prisoner in the shipyard at Nagasaki, then at a coal mine at Fukuoka.
In late 1946 he joined the Survey Branch of the Department of the Interior, Canberra. In 1957 he was appointed Information and Publicity Officer, Department of Territories. He was Director of the Information and Publicity Branch, Department of Territories from 1967-1974 and Director of the Public Relations Branch, Department of Aboriginal Affairs from 1974-1977. During his career in Public Relations he spent a great deal of time in the Northern Territory, Papua New Guinea and other Territories and also in Japan and Europe promoting Papua New Guinea.
He is the author of many hundreds of short stories and articles and thirteen books, including several about his experiences as a prisoner of war of the Japanese. He also wrote on the Japanese outbreak at Cowra; the Japanese raid on Sydney Harbour, the Great Depression in Australia and Northern Territory life.