William Cooper (Aboriginal Australian)
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William Cooper (c1861 - 1941) was an Australian Aboriginal leader. Born in Yorta Yorta territory around the intersection of the Murray and Goulburn Rivers in Victoria, Australia, he was forced to work for a variety of pastoral employers. He attended adult literacy classes and read widely, learning of the indigenous rights movements in North America and New Zealand.
He helped establish the Australian Aborigines League and, as its secretary, circulated a petition seeking direct representation in parliament, enfranchisement and land rights. He collected 1814 signatures despite active obstruction from the national and state governments of the day. In 1935, he led the first aboriginal deputation to a Commonwealth minister and in 1938, the first deputation to the prime minister. The government of the day rejected his requests.
William Cooper continued protesting the injustice of the Australian treatment of its indigenous people right up until his death in 1941. His major success was the establishment of a National Aborigines Day, first celebrated in 1940. His daughter Amy Charles was the matron of the first Aboriginal hostel established in Melbourne in 1959. One of his sons, Lynch Cooper, was an athlete who won the 1928 Stawell Gift and the 1929 World Sprint.
