Varney Parkes, architect and politician, was the seventh child of Sir Henry Parkes (q.v.)and his first wife, Clarinda nee Varney, both from Birmingham, England. After five years at The King's School, Parkes eventually joined the Civil Service in 1878 and became a cadet in the Colonial Architect's Office in January 1879. After receiving a diploma he resigned to form a partnership with C. H. E. Blackmann. Both became members of the Institute of Architects in 1883.
Parkes was elected to the Legislative Assembly 1885-1888, 1891-1900 and 1907-1913. In the early period he was a free trade supporter of his father and later a Liberal. He was chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works in 1894 and postmaster-general in (Sir) George Reid's ministry 1898-1899. The architectural practice flourished in the last decades of the nineteenth century; his most opulent work was the 'Marble Bar' for George Adam's hotel in Pitt Street, Sydney. From 1895 Parkes ran his own practice and called his last tender in 1926. He was extravagant with money and declared bankrupt in 1895.
Parkes married Mary Cameron Murray in 1883 and, on her death, married her elder sister, Isabella and had five children. He separated from his wife in 1902 and retired in 1926. Reynolds and Raine (1988): 142 report that 'he lived as a recluse, collecting fossils, sketching geological landforms, lecturing on evolution and teaching drawing. Many of his fossils were acquired by the Australian Museum, Sydney.' The Mitchell Library has his 'Notes of geological research & nature observations. Trip to Wandrawandian creek and Lake Tullawalla' (1907-1925) and a portfolio of 28 mounted sketches. Parkes died in the Hospital for the Insane, Gladesville.
(Source: Adapted from Peter Reynolds, Louise Raine, 'Parkes, Varney (1859 - 1935)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 11, MUP, 1988, pp 141-142)
