The 1st issue of the Waterline News was released in August 2014
The last issue of the Waterline News produced by Roger Clark was the July 2019 issue.
Roger passed away in June 2019
The last issue of the Waterline News was November 2023
Under the guidance of Geoff Ellis the replacement newsletter is Along the Waterline (commenced December 2023).
Roger Clark - a Celebration of a Life
On a cold winter’s day, Tuesday June 25, over one hundred relatives, friends and members of the local community turned out at the Grantville Hall to honour Roger Clark. Only 70 years of age, he had passed away after a long battle with ill health. His older brother Geoff talked about oger’s early life and the loss of his mother when he was only thirteen and of his father only eighteen months later. Roger’s son Ryan Clark spoke of his happy memories playing football with his father and of their shared love of the Collingwood Football Club. Those paying tribute to Roger also included a former brother-in-law, one of Roger’s proof readers for The Waterline News, the paper’s computer guru Gordon Chase, and a fellow Jazz Club enthusiast Robin Blackman. Because of Roger’s long journalistic involvement covering all things to do with Greyhounds, a long tribute from his Greyhound associates was also read out.
Meryl Tobin.
Roger Clark developed a great magazine that became the spiritual centre of the Waterline. Around that he created an enormous network of dedicated contributors, advertisers, community advocates and readers. The effort he put in is immeasurable Roger was always making the next edition the best edition. Roger strove to make this magazine a beacon of community strengthening and information across our region. He strongly supported so many people and groups. The Waterline News is a foundation for so much community activity and is the go-to reference guide if you want to find your tribe. Or find your tradesperson. Roger’s generosity knew no bounds and I am so very grateful that he entrusted this publication to me. He was always there when we needed him. He will always be in our hearts and never far from my thoughts as I sit at this desk. There aren’t enough words to measure our loss.
Geoff Ellis.
Vale Roger Clark
Roger was known to many. He was a committed member of our community. He had strong views and lots of passion. He was a true community warrior and a good bloke. He will be sadly missed. Our condolences to Vicki and the family. It was a pleasure to know and work with Roger.
Sincerely, Clare Le Serve & Tanya Le Serve.
From the Celebration of his life these words rang out: “ Roger had a habit of making people care.”
“Though he is no longer visible to us he lives on in our hearts. Love is eternal.” The very apt closing song was “Dream a Little Dream of Me”
PHILLIP ISLAND JAZZ
I first met Roger when he and Vicki became Jazz Club members in 2012. From our first handshake it was clear he was a passionate jazz lover and that we both shared similar interests. This was the start of a great friendship with the two of us sitting together at most Club events giving our assessments of the group’s performance, not necessarily always agreeing. We took a liking to a group from the USA. Roger researched them on the internet and found that they had a further twenty CD’s. With Roger’s urging we put our funds together and purchased the lot. A great decision. It was only a matter of time before Roger and Vicki took a more active part in the affairs of Phillip Island Jazz and they both joined the Committee in 2015. Roger was a great contributor at Committee level always putting his thoughts in a polite but positive way. In recent times Roger’s attendance became less frequent due to his illness and his absence was a concern for all Club members. On my radio program last Thursday evening (20th June) I dedicated it in honour of Roger and featured many tunes from his private collection. A man of great taste. I have lost a great mate and I take solace in the knowledge that I was privileged to have had the opportunity to be associated with a man of such integrity. If there is jazz up top I am sure that Roger will be taking an active part very soon. No more pills, no more pain, no more hospitals. R.I.P. my good friend.
Robin Blackman, Phillip Island Jazz Musical Director
P.O. Box 867 |COWES VIC 3922
Speaking on behalf of Bass Coast Shire, Mayor, Cr Brett Tessari spoke about Roger Clark.
“Through advertising and being featured in the Waterline News over many years, we appreciate the enormous hours that Roger Clark put into each edition and the impact it had keeping the Waterline communities informed and connected.”
Vale, Roger Clark
It is with immense sadness, The Society of Women Writers Victoria farewells Roger Clark, a great friend.
Shortly after he started up The Waterline News, this remarkable person with the vision to set up his own independent newspaper and the ability and commitment to do so. Roger approached me for contributions to an Arts, Books & Writing section that he wanted to set up. When he couldn’t find enough writers locally to fill his needs, I offered to approach fellow members of the SWWV to contribute poems, short stories, articles and book reviews. Members embraced the idea. Working with Roger proved to be a mutually beneficial relationship. Many members welcomed the chance to be published in such an attractively presented quality print publication and epublication. Not only that, they were able to work with an encouraging and supportive editor who showed he appreciated their work and who gave them feedback. In January, 2018 when Roger was shortlisted for the Bass Coast Citizen of the Year for his huge contribution and commitment to the community, members were delighted to learn of his success. At the awards night, Roger publicly and generously thanked the society for its support. He said contributions from its members to the Arts, Books & Writing section of The Waterline News had led to it becoming ‘one of the most popular segments’. In its nearly six years of life, Roger’s newspaper has grown from 12 pages, including two colour pages, to 48 pages, including 12 pages in colour in the print issue and all pages in colour in the On-line issue. Roger, congratulations on your success, thank you for including us on your journey and a fond Vale from us all. You have left the community a great legacy, one you have ensured will live on. Deepest sympathy to Vicki and family and to all those who have loved and supported you in your journey.
Meryl Brown Tobin on behalf of The Society of Women Writers Victoria
Further Tributes to Roger Clark from Individual SWWV Members
Betty Caldwell: It was mid 2015 that Meryl Tobin suggested I submit to The Waterline News a couple of articles that may prove suitable for publication. To my surprise Roger was delighted with my contribution and requested a continual supply. It was disappointing to me that I never met him, a sick man during most of our postal contact but I feel he was a wonderful inspiration to us all. Now with his suffering at an end, I join with all who knew him in saying “Thank you, Roger, may you rest in peace.”
Nalini de Sielvie: Roger Clark really was an exceptional person. I really appreciated what he did for me [publishing my work]. He was so helpful and supportive whenever I sent him my contributions. Also, I didn’t know [until a long time afterwards] he had read my book [Thistles in the Wind] and then written the review of it. It was so good of him, and I wrote and told him so. I am pleased that his good work will continue, as it is a great way for the community to be connected. My thoughts and prayers are with Roger and the family.
Razmi Finn: It is sad news. He was a determined person, managing to wrap up The Waterline News and selling it while he still had the wherewithal. At the moment I don't think I can write a tribute. All I can say is that I am appreciative, as a writer, to have a place to share my work, and Roger created that place.
Maree Silver: Although I didn’t meet Roger in person, many emails went back and forth between us. He was a friendly man who loved to publish items of interest covering all fields, including articles, stories and poetry. Although I did have an occasional poem published myself, my contact with Roger was to send him articles each month written by my prolific friend Betty Caldwell who doesn’t own a computer. I typed them up into Word and emailed them in time for inclusion in each Waterline News. This arrangement worked happily for quite some years and I began to know a little of the interesting man behind this mammoth monthly publication. I along with others was saddened when hearing that he was so very ill that he had to relinquish the ownership of his paper because he could no longer oversee its production himself. It was with a very heavy heart I read his goodbye to all his readers in the May 2019 issue. We were in email contact until right up to the time that he sold The Waterline News to Geoff Ellis who has most capably taken over from Roger. May his wife Vicki feel the support of all his readers in her loss.
Margaret Pearce: That is extremely sad and depressing news––I feel for his wife and would like to extend my most sincere sympathy to her. Roger must have been a very gutsy and determined human being to keep working until he couldn’t. So inspirational.
Victorian Greyhound Weekly
Roger had a second great love - greyhounds, and to that end he published a weekly eMagazine from the time of the proposed closing down of the greyhound racing industry.
Greyhound racing has lost a friend, gentleman and esteemed advocate for all things greyhounds. A man that dedicated much to the sport through his eyes and his thoughts inked in print on its breeding, greyhound adoption and ensuring that people from all walks of life had ease of access to a range of information to help them be informed of this magnificent sport. A man many could argue that cared a lot for the dogs as much as the people of this sport. That man is the Victorian Greyhound Weekly’s Founder, Mr Roger Clark. As most would be aware from Roger’s recent publication on 23 May 2019, he recently received a diagnosis of an inoperable and terminal cancer. Undertaking radiation treatment, he had endeavoured to improve pain and live as normal a life as possible with a prognosis of less than a year. Since 1973, Roger Clark was an authoritative voice on breeding in Australia’s greyhound racing industry as well as reporting on a range of other related areas. However, writing was a passion from a young age. In a bare-all interview with oversixty.com.au in 2016, Roger provided insights into living life with cancer as part of reoccurring battles with the cruelling disease which resulted in over a dozen operations and a range of other complications. He also detailed his work with community newspapers and a life of resilience, particularly as a person who had lost both parents to cancer by his early teenage years. As a young child Roger was destined to be involved in greyhounds spending many a day at the property of his uncle, the legendary coursing trainer, Jack Baines. From age 12, Roger worked mowing lawns to fund the purchase of his first typewriter. Given that typing lessons at his secondary school, Dandenong High, were for girls only, he proceeded to complete homework on the typewriter which led to doubt by teachers over the origin of his work. Again working hard to purchase printing equipment, this time a used ink duplicator, Roger printed greyhound form guides and sold them outside the racetrack until he again encountered an issue with those in a position of authority and was banished. Over the ensuing years, Roger worked in a variety of sales and marketing roles fuelling other passions including jazz music. However, it was a call from the original Victorian Greyhound Weekly (then published by The Age) that saw the birth of Roger’s regular column, Talking Breeding with Roger Clark – a column that spanned over 45 years. Roger saw out his last decade with his wife, Vicki, in the seaside town of Grantville where he had somewhat of a shrine to all things greyhounds and jazz, and of course his wife, Vicki, as well as his many publications which assisted in keeping him ‘sane’. This included in recent years re-establishing the Victorian Greyhound Weekly, a magazine for which Roger was the father, proprietor and editor of. Gone, but will never be forgotten. The team at the Victorian Greyhound Weekly wish to extend our deepest sympathies to the Clark family. Vale Roger Clark.
Whilst the news of Roger’s passing is sudden, some of Roger’s industry colleagues and contributors from various stages of his greyhound career have kindly provided their thoughts.
“Roger was a passionate Greyhound man who loved Greyhound Racing and Coursing. In particular his major enjoyment was breeding analysis & stats. He produced an enormous amount of copy for several publications in different states over a long period of time. He will be missed by many in our industry. We thank him for his contribution and pass on our condolences to his family.”
Neil Brown, Publicity Officer, Greyhound Clubs Australia
“Roger Clark was a breeding expert! He loved analysing litters and I thoroughly enjoyed his research into breeding successes. In my short time as a writer for VGW working with Roger, he was incredibly supportive, always enjoyed my articles and wrote a touching article about me when I started. I will sincerely miss his support not only on myself but the industry, which he was truly passionate about and helped grow the sport across Australia with his fantastic magazine and articles.”
Dimity Maher, Victorian Greyhound Weekly contributor.
“Rogers stats on sires and dams were invaluable for not only those new to the sport craving to learn but also for the experienced breeder who used stats to continue getting winners with their broods.”
George Farrugia, Greyhound racing breeder, owner, analyst and journalist
“Roger is a true gentleman indeed and made me feel very special giving me my own page, Rhonda’s World, and would write little stories about me from my Facebook pics from special occasions.”
Rhonda Singleton, Victorian Greyhound Weekly contributor.
“We would like to say condolences to his family and thank Roger for the wonderful paper he provided to the industry and his professionalism and easy to deal with.”
Michelle and Paul Westerveld, Meticulous Lodge
“Greyhound racing has lost an extremely knowledgeable and loyal servant with the very sad passing of Roger Clark. I was fortunate to enjoy a long association with Roger through The Greyhound Recorder, with Roger's weekly Talking Breeding column an integral and popular part of The Recorder over many years. His expert knowledge and passion for breeding in the industry was second to none and his editorial contributions to the Recorder and then Victorian Greyhound Weekly provided a wonderful tool to breeders nationwide. Roger will be sadly missed.”
Gerard Guthrie, Greyhound racing journalist
Roger was a regular at the coursing, and never missed the opportunity for a chat about the dogs, especially at Baines Park, the Lang Lang Coursing Ground. In fact, the family tradition in coursing went back to his uncle, coursing stalwart Jack Baines after whom the grounds were named. Roger was involved in many greyhounds with the most notable being Miss Baines who was runner up in an Australian Cup and also made a Melbourne Cup final. In his journalistic pursuits, Roger was always a very strong supporter of coursing and the NCA of Victoria has lost a very dear friend and extend our condolences to Roger’s family at this sad time.
Peter Craig, President, National Coursing Association of Victoria
“Roger’s Talking Breeding section in the former National Greyhound Form (NGF) was the equivalent of the sporting section of the daily papers. It
was the first thing I read and would often re-read again each week. In the early 2000s I was fortunate to be the Advertising Manager for NGF and well and truly utilised Roger’s statistics and analysis of breeding to the benefit of advertisers. Roger was also passionate about the animal welfare side of greyhounds and a great advocate for coursing and the Greyhound Adoption Program (GAP) alike. There are few that could rival Roger’s knowledge of greyhound racing history. He was a gentleman and a scholar.” Brett Osler, Greyhound owner