AN AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRAT: The Life Work and Consequences of Andrew Inglis Clark (1995) Edited by M Haward and J Warden $33.00 - Ordering information AnAustralian Democrat: The Life, Work and Consequences of Andrew Inglis Clark is the first extensive study of a man belatedly acknowledged as one of the fathers of Australian federation. Political aspirations for Australian federation were given legal form in the early 1890s by Clark's draft constitution. He later was to watch, sometimes enthusiastically, sometimes with mixed feelings, the evolution of the constitutional text under the hands of others. A man of many parts, Clark was successively engineer, lawyer, radical and reformist politician, and judge. He also ranged widely in the realms of mind and spirit, restlessly exploring political, legal, ethical and religious issues in many published and unpublished writings. "These essays reveal Clark as a scholar, an idealist, a politician, a committed Australian nationalist and a proud Tasmanian. His own writings, some of which are happily included in this work, reveal him to have been a passionate democrat. He was a man ahead of his time. Studies such as this enrich our celebration of the centenary of federation by reminding us of of the optimism, enthusiasm for the future and scholarship shared by those who guided this land to nationhood. They are qualities which our leaders will need in the century to come."