William Cooper

  General Notes:

Ann Jackman notes:
William Cooper attended Newcastle Boys' School, which I think was the Grammar School opposite Newcastle Cathedral, as it is just around the corner from where he lived with his sister, Doe Cooper, after the death of his mother. From 1882 to 1886 he was a farm worker but moved to Ballina to complete an apprenticeship as a blacksmith with a Mr Lattimore. Ballina on the Richmond River in the early days was a centre for the export of "red gold" (cedar) to England and the first cedar cutters came across country from the Clarence River. There were Lattimores who lived close to St Leonards so I suppose that may have been how the apprenticeship came about. In fact, one of the Ford girls, Louisa Ford, married James Lattimore, son of William Lattimore and Ellen Banks, on 19 October 1871. His parents came to Sydney from Carlisle as Bounty emigrants in 1838 on the Hero of Mallourn which, in addition to encountering bad storms in the Bay of Biscay, was infested with fever so that the outward journey took in excess of five months. William Lattimore settled as overseer at Styles View near Glen William and in 1855 acquired Cape Vale for £2,000. Ellen Lattimore died in January 1855 and William Lattimore then married Mary Hancock of St Leonards that same year. She died in 1880 and William Lattimore in 1890 aged 75. James & Louisa Lattimore had a large family both there and in the Clarence River district so I imagine he was the Mr Lattimore in question.
In 1901 William Cooper moved to Queensland where, for a time, he worked on the duplication of the Rosewood to Grandchester section of the first railway line laid in that state. The original line was officially launched on 25 February 1864, when Lady Bowen turned the first sod. The section extended 25 miles to what was then called Bigge's Camp and was opened by Governor Bowen on 31 May 1865.
Some time later, William Cooper found himself working for Julius Otto Ernst at his smithy in Marburg, thus having the opportunity to court his future bride, Otto Ernst's daughter, Ida Emma Ernst.
On 16th March 1918, William Cooper was elected as the Labour Member of the Legislative Assembly for Rosewood (now West Moreton) and remained in Parliament for three terms until 11th May 1929, when he was defeated by Mr E B Maher. He served under the Premier "Teddy" Theodore, the interesting and gifted character who later became a controversial Treasurer in the Scullin Federal Government and, after his defeat during the Depression, established Consolidated Press with Sir Frank Packer. Even after he retired, Pa retained an interest in politics and I can remember the long political discussions that ensued when he and my father were enjoying a smoke together on the side verandah. He would read the Queensland Times assiduously to keep abreast of the news and kept up a friendship with many of his parliamentary colleagues.

  Noted events in his life were:

• connection. Ann Jackman 's links to Robert are as follows:

Annette Cooper (1939) married Colin Jackman (c1935)
Her father was Ivan Cooper (1905)
His father was William Cooper (1868)
His father was Henry Cooper (1823) who married Jane Chafe (1826)
They had Angelina Cooper (1848) who married John Ford (1853)
They had Frederick Ford (1876)
He had Hilda Ford (1909) who married Kingsley Mogensen (1904)
They had Colleen Mogensen (1931) who married John Iliffe (1953)
They had Gary Iliffe (1953) who married Lynn Peck (1955)
Her father was Ernest Peck (1929)
His father was Albert Ernest Peck (1899)
His father was Henry Peck (1859)
His father was James Peck and he also had Charlotte Peck (1843) who married James Dawes (1843)
They had Annie Florence Dawes (1873) who married Arthur Augustus Bray (1869)
They had Albert Bray (1896)
He had Robert Alfred Bray (1920)
He had Robert Arthur Bray (1947) who married me - Robyn Bray (nee Davies) (1950)

William married Ida Emma (Emma) Ernst, daughter of Otto Herman Ernst and Unknown, on 1 Jan 1902 in All Saints C of E, Marburg, Queensland Australia. (Ida Emma (Emma) Ernst was born on 27 Oct 1881 in Heidelberg, Germany and died in Sep 1935.)