Blair Wark - Later Life

Later Life

On demobilisation Wark resumed business as a quantity surveyor in Sydney, later becoming a principal of Thompson & Wark, quantity surveyors. In June 1920, he was in charge of ten fellow Victoria Cross recipients when they were introduced to the Prince of Wales at Government House, during the latter's visit to Australia. Wark became a respected member of Australian society, holding several honorary public positions, including director of the Royal North Shore Hospital, life governor of the New South Wales Benevolent Society, and a councillor of the National Roads and Motorists' Association of New South Wales. He was a committee member of the Hawkesbury River Race Club, as well as holding directorships in various insurance and petroleum companies.

In 1922, Wark and Phyllis divorced; five years later, on 10 December 1927, he married Catherine Mary Davis at St Stephen's Presbyterian Church, Sydney. The pair later had one son and two daughters. On 17 April 1940, Wark returned to active duty in the Second World War, and was appointed to the 1st Battalion (City of Sydney's Own Regiment) as a major. On 26 July, he was promoted to temporary lieutenant colonel and assumed command of the battalion. While bivouacked at Puckapunyal Camp, Victoria, he died suddenly of coronary heart disease on 13 June 1941. The medical officer attending later concluded: "The cause of death in my opinion was angina pectoris, the fatal attack having been brought on by physical exertion during a night exercise under very cold conditions." He was cremated on 16 June at Eastern Suburbs Crematorium, Sydney, after a full military funeral, and his ashes were interred at Woronora Cemetery, Sydney. Wark's Victoria Cross is currently on display at the Queensland Museum, South Bank.