Alexander Brodie Spark
| Alexander Brodie Spark | |
|---|---|
| Born |
9 August 1792 Elgin, Scotland |
| Died | 21 October 1856 (aged 64) Tempe, New South Wales, Australia |
| Cause of death | Heart problems |
| Residence |
 Australia |
| Occupation | Banker, merchant, businessman, free settler, justice of the peace |
Alexander Brodie Spark (9 August 1792 – 21 October 1856), influential merchant, businessman and free settler of Australia, was born on 9 August 1792 at Elgin, Scotland.
The son of a watchmaker, Spark had a literary education in his hometown of Elgin, learnt to speak and studied French, and acquired an interest in astronomy. In the June 1811, after he had had some experience in business, Spark went to London, where he became the founder of a small literary society. Despite himself, Spark found living on £50 a great difficulty, and opted to contact his parents for financial support. His father, at first reluctant to offer his son any sum of money to help him to deal with his sinking financial situation, gave him the money he requested only after Alexander had found a supply of low-priced watches and came up with a design for what Spark called a 'Patent Warning Clock', and not before lecturing Alexander about over-spending and the poor grammar and writing in the letter which Alexander had sent to his father asking for money. In 1820, Spark took a journey around the globe, a continental tour. During this journey, Spark met and spent several days with renowned poet William Wordsworth and a few members of his family, including his wife and sister.
Now well-monetarily supplied, Spark felt confident that he could start a business of his own, and be the better for it. He also decided that he would go from Europe and try his luck as a free settler of Australia, which had been founded less than fifty years before. After being granted a letter of recommendation as a free settler, Spark voyaged on the Princess Charlotte to arrive in Sydney in April 1823. After arriving, Alexander set up a shop in George Street, where he sold sugar, wines and alcohol and various drapery. Spark also supplied salted meat to the commissariat at Sydney and Parramatta at the time. By 1825, Spark's trading business had greatly expanded, and he was chartering ships to coastal trade routes. A year later, his business had grown even more, and he started a shipping agency. Through this agency, Spark sold incoming cargoes, exporting stores to places such as Hobart, colonial produce to Calcutta, and wool consignments (the first of what would be very many wool consignments) to London, backloading merchandise when it was possible. Additionally, Spark worked as a sort of agent for farmers and country settlers by purchasing their produce and selling them supplies such as livestock and stores, as well as the occasional ploughman or overseer. At this particular time, Spark owned more than six thousand acres (24 km²) of land on the Hunter River and a nine-acre (4 hectare) grant at Woolloomooloo; Spark had developed a passion for land ownership. In 1835, the designer John Verge (who also built Elizabeth Bay House) helped Spark complete his property, now named Tusculum outside of Wolloomooloo Hill (now known as Potts Point). It now houses The Royal Australian Institute of Architects.
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