JOHN CLARK
John Clark is one of Australia's leading bowyers.
After working as a telecommunications engineer with
Andrew Antennas Pty Ltd, John began a career spanning 23
years with Telstra (Telecom Australia) finishing in 1996 as
an executive in the Corporate Program Office.
During much of that time, John was involved in the sport of archery, as a competitor, an administrator and later a manager and judge.
He became involved in the retailing of archery equipment but found that his particular skills lay in designing and manufacturing archery equipment. Making bows and associated equipment filled his nights and weekends until he left Telstra and developed Ausbow Industries into a fulltime business. As well as making high quality Australian longbows and tournament crossbows for some time, John has complimented his range by importing the Canadian EXCALIBUR sporting and target crossbows.
CROSSBOWS
John's involvement with crossbow shooting began at Diamond Valley Archers, a leading Melbourne archery club, in the early eighties. He was the first person to represent Australia in a World Field Crossbow Championship when he competed in the 2nd WFCC in Himley Hall, Wolverhampton, UK in 1984. He again represented Australia in 1992 when he and his elder daughter Cathy Clark shot in the 6th WFCC in Hamilton, New Zealand. John was New Zealand and Australian Team Manager in Wiesbaden, Germany two years later. At the WFCC in Tainan, Taiwan in 1996 and Budapest, Hungary in 1998, John was the Chairman of the International Judges Committee for both events. From 1990 to 1996, John was the editor of the "Australasian Arbalist" for crossbow shooters. He was also Chairman of the Archery Australia Crossbow Committee during that time and returned to that position in 2000.
John served as Secretary-General of the World Crossbow
Union (IAU) from 1999 until November 2001.
In January 2003, John was elected Secretary-General of the World Crossbow Shooting Association.
Together with Tony Kemp in New Zealand, John developed the CONTENDER crossbows which are now shot by arbalists around the world.
John is happy to share his knowledge of bowmaking with others and has written books to assist budding bowyers. John is currently a member of Great Southern Archers, originally operating as the Strathalbyn Target Archers.
OTHER ACTIVITIES:
John was the inaugural President of the Southern Alexandrina Business Association (SABA). SABA represents businesses in the Goolwa, Hindmarsh Island, Port Elliot, Middleton, Mt Compass and Currency Creek areas. After a period as Secretary he is currently President of SABA.
John was the Secretary of the Alexandrina 2001 Committee which organised the very successful activities associated with the "Source to Sea" event. This River Murray event was part of celebrations for the Australian Centenary of Federation. Over the weekend 29 September-1 October 2001, Goolwa welcomed a unique flotilla of riverboats including 16 paddle-wheelers.
John was Chair of the Goolwa Organising Committee for the
very successful celebrations of the 150th
Anniversary of the first railway line in A
ustralia, to
be held in Goolwa, Middleton and Port Elliot in May 2004.
This event won a 2004 SA Tourism Award and was the
Alexandrina Australia Day 2005 Community Event of the
Year.
John is currently actively representing the interests of businesses affected by the low water levels of the river Murray. He was involved with the "Goolwa Needs Water Now" as well as the recovery programs.
He is Secretary of Cittaslow Goolwa. In 2007, Goolwa was accredited as the first Cittaslow or "slow town" in Australia.