
On Wednesday, March 2, 1910 all business premises in the township of Katoomba closed out of respect to farewell Dr John Spark, former Mayor, Alderman, Government Medical Officer, Railway Medical Officer, President of the Katoomba School Board, President of the Katoomba School of Arts, and activist for the health-giving nature of the Blue Mountains. While Spark was well known as a medical practitioner, his life and interests can be broadly subdivided into three periods. Although these periods have some overlap they are primarily his formative years, 1869-1885; his arrival in Katoomba, marriage and involvement in local government, 1886-1894; and his concern with community issues, 1895-1907.
John Spark was born the eldest of a family of eight children, on August 8, 1853, at Twickenham, Middlesex, where his father operated an extensive medical practice. As a boy he suffered from ill health and experienced the tragedies of having four of his siblings die in an epidemic, his father died in 1867 when he was fourteen, and his remaining brother William died in an orphanage in 1872. Showing considerable aptitude for the medical profession he was taken for training under the supervision of his late father's colleagues.
The Formative Years: 1869-1885
John Spark commenced his medical studies on December 7, 1869 becoming apprenticed to John Molden Barton, surgeon, of Lee Park, Blackheath, Kent, who was a member of the Apothecaries Company, a founding guild and forerunner of today's medical profession. Spark's aptitude was soon appreciated and at eighteen he was dispensing for Barton at his London practice. During this period he undertook his studies at St. Bartholomew's Hospital where he completed his course with credit. His apprenticeship and training took seven years and in December 1875 he accepted a position at High Holborn where he conducted the city branch of a prominent West End doctor's practice, a position he retained for over seven years. Following this he commenced his own practice in Devonshire, however, finding the climate unsuitable to his health he made several trips to Australia and South America.
On May 5, 1885 John Spark was accepted for membership to the Royal College of Surgeons, and admitted to the Licentiate of the Apothecaries Company which entitled him to become a City Freeman and medical practitioner. The privileges of the Freedom of the City of London were required by persons wishing to practice within the city limits and were essential to all who wished to exercise a trade or profession there.
Arrival in Katoomba, Local Government and Marriage: 1886-1894
Dr Spark emigrated to Sydney, with his sister, in early 1886 and quickly settled in Katoomba, as the town’s first resident medical practitioner. Described as a dapper and precise man, widely read and cultured, very kind and skilled as a doctor; he originally practised from his home “St Cyrus” opposite the Carrington Hotel and was instrumental in bringing the telephone service to Katoomba.
Dr Spark soon became convinced that the different altitudes and temperatures existing in the mountains, particularly Katoomba with its elevation of 1016 metres, (3333 feet) would be beneficial to his health. His involvement in local government issues was almost immediate, through membership of the Progress Committee which was agitating for the establishment of the municipal district of Katoomba. His concern was, in part, influenced by his medical training and the public health debate raging in Sydney, and his business acumen which allowed him to appreciate the general concern at the time relating to the lack of accounting procedures, slack auditing provisions, uncontrolled council expenditure and defalcation within local government.
The municipal district of Katoomba was proclaimed on October 31, 1889, and nominations were called for Katoomba Municipal Council on December 28, 1889. True to his beliefs as a member of the Progress Committee, Spark offered himself as a candidate for alderman, unfettered by party affiliations and promising to service with “discretion and impartiality”. His platform for election was “the advancement of the district on sound and healthy lines” with the inauguration of a sewerage system and water supply having the highest priority followed by the provision of “well metalled” roads and careful supervision of the expenditure of municipal funds.
At the election, which took place on January 11, 1890, Dr Spark was unsuccessful but stood again for candidature at the 1893 elections. This time he was elected and served on a number of committees during his period as alderman, culminating in 1894 when he was elected Mayor by his fellow alderman.
In July 1893 at the age of 39, Dr Spark married 24 year old Johanna Cashman, in St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney. Johanna was the immigrant daughter of Johanna Shine and James Cashman, farmer, of Co. Cork, Ireland. John and Johanna Spark had seven children: James Hubert 1897, Beatrice 1899, John Redvers 1900-1969, Joan 1904, Edward William 1905-1966, Sheila Kathleen 1907-1959 and Iris Winifred d.1962. During 1894 Dr Spark’s ill health, which had dogged him for many years continued, and the demands of a growing family, caused him to relinquish the position of Mayor in February 1895. Despite repeated requests from his peers, he declined to stand again for Council office.
Community Issues: 1895-1907
While Dr Spark had consciously removed himself from local government, his concern for the people of Katoomba and its development continued. One major area of concern was the promotion of the health-giving characteristics of the Blue Mountains, particularly the areas of Blackheath, Wentworth Falls, Katoomba and Lawson where he practiced. In December 1896 the Doctor “went public” and contributed a three column article to the Sydney Mail titled The Blue Mountains as a Health Resort, an unusual step for a medical practitioner even in 1896. In the article he drew on his “nine years experience of the mountains” and outlined what he considered the remarkable health giving and convalescent properties provided in the area; the type of patient who should and should not go to the mountains; and, the effect they might expect. He concluded with a plea to the then three major Sydney hospitals to establish a convalescent home “wherein cases might lessen greatly their period of recovery from operation and sickness”.
Convinced of the educational benefits provided by living in the mountains, Dr Spark campaigned for the establishment of more schools and the expansion of existing ones. Citing the superior
bracing climate, he campaigned for greater educational opportunities for students completing the fourth standard examinations (12-13 years of age). To pursue this he accepted the position of Chairman of the Katoomba School Board and argued his theory that in the mountains students were exposed to “a climate favourable and conducive to the best continuous brainwork throughout the year”. Further this would provide the greatest benefit to students during “their transitional period, when with rapid growth towards maturity, the studies are of a more actively mental, rather than a passively receptive, character”.
The community involvement of Dr Spark went beyond medical and educational issues, for in July 1889 he was one of the founders of the Katoomba School of Arts and in July 1901 was elected President, a position he held until July 1904 and in July 1906 he was re-elected for a further year. In July 1902 he also undertook responsibility of trustee, a position he held for six years. In addition, he had also been the Chairman of the Reserve Trust and President of the Rifle Club of Katoomba.
The name Dr Spark appears on many birth and death certificates of the time and in numerous newspaper reports of accidents and serious illness. In March 1902 he attended the death of Henry Cole who died from concussion after his horse bolted outside the Railway Hotel, Henry’s daughter Ruby Cole died aged eight in1910 after being kicked in the head by a horse outside her home in Clissold Street, Katoomba; Ruby was the step daughter of Ranger James McKay, builder of the Giant Stairway at Echo Point
The Twilight Years: 1907-1910
In mid 1907 Dr Spark suffered a paralytic stroke from which he never properly recovered, this forced him to relinquish all public positions and retire from general practice. On September 30, 1907 the residents of Katoomba, through the Mayor and Council, presented Spark with an illuminated address and purse in recognition of his twenty-one years service to the community. He resigned as a trustee of the School of Arts in August 1908 and was made that institution’s second life member in July of that year.

Early on Tuesday morning, March 1, 1910 at the age of 56, and 2½ years after the stroke which robbed him of his ability to actively involve himself in the affairs of Katoomba, Dr Spark died at his home, Twickenham Villa, Katoomba Street, Katoomba leaving a wife and seven children. His obituary describes him: “As a professional man he will ever be remembered and loved, especially by the poor, to whom he was ever kind and thoughtful”. The funeral cortege was the largest ever seen on the Mountains and the cedar coffin with silver mountings, covered with magnificent wreaths, was led by local school children to the Anglican section of Katoomba cemetery where the service was conducted by Rev J F S Russell according to the rights of the Church of England. His white marble headstone is an open book signifying the pages left unwritten, the ashes of his eldest son, James Hubert, who died in Melbourne in 1959 are also interred in the grave. The man who had described himself as “a country doctor” left behind a legacy of improved local government and the love and esteem of his local community, to be remembered as “One of Katoomba’s noblest citizens”.
Dr Spark’s son Edward (Ted) Spark attended the Sisters of Charity school in Katoomba, won an exhibition from St Joseph’s College, Sydney and entered medical school at Sydney University, becoming in 1929 at the age of 23, the first Katoomba boy to become a doctor, incidentally winning the university prize for obstetrics.
Images
Portrait of Dr John Spark, Blue Mountains City Library
Illuminated Address to Dr John Spark, Blue Mountains City Library
References
This article is based on: “Local Government Management and the Doctor, the contribution of Dr John Spark to the Municipality of Katoomba”. E W Watts, typescript.
“Beyond the Vale – Dr John Spark” (obituary), Blue Mountains Echo (newspaper) 5 Mar 1910.
“Blue Mountains Municipal Council, Register of Aldermen”. John Low, Blue Mountains City Library.
“Dr John Spark”, newspaper advertisements, Mountaineer (newspaper), various: 1895 - 1900.
“Local Boy’s Success, First Doctor from Katoomba”, Blue Mountains Star (newspaper), 13 Sep 1929.
“The Mountains as a Health Resort, a medical man’s experience”. Dr John Spark, The Sydney Mail Saturday, December 12, 1896.
© 2009 John Merriman, Local Studies Librarian, Blue Mountains City Library.



















