John Essex-Clark (OG 1949)

John Essex-Clark was born with soldiering in his blood, but his professional life has not fitted the orthodox mould. His interests range from rugby and cricket to sketching. He is a man of action, impatient with introspection, yet always with him at the battlefront were his thesaurus, book of quotations, complete Shakespeare... He is indeed a maverick.
After 34 years of military service, John and his wife Lilian built an eyrie in a hill-top on the northern New South Wales coast. John writes, gardens, works as a consultant in military and strategic matters, and contributes generously to local community affairs. He is happily entrenched.

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Maverick Soldier, John Essex-Clark — Melbourne University Publishing (mup.com.au)

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BIO – Brigadier John Essex-Clark | Veteranweb

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TWO OLD BOYS REUNITE AND REMINISCE AFTER 62 YEARS SINCE THEY MATRICULATED TOGETHER

(Michael Brimer and John Essex-Clark)

Michael Brimer and I have recently spent many moments this year superbly and warmly re-bonding, long after we both matriculated from the school in 1949 to attend different campuses at the University of Cape Town. We found each other in Australia, not through any risky networking system, but through the simplicity of our names hidden by others in ‘Google’

Michael, now living in Sydney, after an illustrious career in music in South Africa, the United Kingdom and Australia, from Acting-Organist and Choirmaster at St George’s Cathedral for the ten-month gap between the death of Dr Alban Hamer and the arrival of Mr Keith Jewell [1952-53],through academia and church appointments in the UK, performances as Concert Pianist, to the foundation Chair of Music at Natal University, followed by the chairs of  music at Cape Town and Melbourne Universities; and me, in Canberra, after a diametrically opposite type career in the military, through the Rhodesian and Australian Armies having, as an infantryman, in the ranks from Private to Brigadier-General, fought and trained others to fight against terrorism in Central Africa, Malaysia and Vietnam and now, in a legacy form, Iraq and Afghanistan.

    Michael & John

We were both delightfully amazed, after some deep reflection on the matter, about how much our school, and many of its excellent teachers, had strongly and valuably influenced our lives, and our careers; from which latter, we both have now retired but not forsaken.

 The advantages of pure knowledge were obvious to us, but not always its best application. However, the magnificent and dominant presence and essence of the Cathedral, and its regular use by us, had subliminally but indelibly stamped Christian values upon us both; not to become steady church-goers, but as exponents and exemplars of those values within our society and those for whom we were responsible, whether they be our children, our students, or the many organisations for which we were once responsible..

Both of us reminisced vividly together about the great value of our education and its development of our character and attitudes during our formative school days of the late 40’,.towards our later social and leadership responsibilities, Nevertheless, after reading Patrick Coyne’s excellent but headmaster-oriented history of the School ‘Cross of Gold’ ( which book we both possessed);  we felt that much more could have been made in the book of this cultural and scholastic dimension in all St Georges’ student’s in their later lives. In other words more should be recognised and revealed about the value of the school towards its student’s post-school lives, ventures and adventures. 

We were both also interested about by whom and when the current school motto ‘Virtute et Valore’, which we both like,  was instituted, in that it was not evident during our many years as students.

We were disappointed to find in Patrick’s book, that Canon Peacock, 36 years after he left the task of headmaster, and without disclosed evidence, criticised his predecessors Tugman and Cuckow for allegedly casting their eyes enviously on the bigger and more prosperous neighbouring schools. We, as students, or our parents, saw absolutely no evidence of that accusation.  Canon Peacock, though he wished the School to develop its own character, contradicted this by stating ’’I hope we never produce ‘the St George’s type’.

However, Michael and I are both glad to be ‘St Georges types’ because the School encouraged us splendidly to become strong-minded and confident ‘renaissance men’. To Michael who, as a youngster, had experienced four-and-a-half years of Cecil Tugman’s tenure of the dual post of Headmaster and Precentor, Tugman was a wonderful headmaster who inspired in the boys a proud confidence in a very special school, and he remembers his great sadness and sense of loss at Tugman’s departure.  To us both, Philip Cuckow was a challenging renaissance man himself, and we applaud the laudatory comments about Cuckow by Colin Nicholson on page 96 of the book plus, we felt, that Cuckow also proved by his actions and achievements to be an exemplary leader; superb teacher, caring disciplinarian, and most able, creative and progressive administrator. He was an exemplary rôle-model for any young man with any ambition to succeed in life.

Finally, we were both wondering if the lack of the close (almost dominating) presence of the Cathedral, or its choral and pastoral activities has made any difference to the quality and attitude of today’s students.

We also say: ‘Hi!’ to all current students at the School, and wish you well’’; and an ‘O tempora, O mores’ to all those who may remember us from our School days together.

John Essex-Clark

Canberra,

November 2011