Kenneth Cook

Who was Kenneth Cook?

Kenneth Cook was a prolific Australian journalist, film director, screenwriter, TV personality and novelist best known for his works Wake in Fright, which is still in print five decades after its first publication, and the humorous Killer Koala trilogy.

Born in the Sydney suburb of Lakemba, Cook attended Fort Street High School. After leaving school he worked around Australia in a variety of jobs including laboratory technician, journalist and television documentary-maker and boatshed operator.

In 1966, with businessman Gordon Barton, Cook founded a new political party, the Liberal Reform Group. Cook was vehemently opposed to the Vietnam War, and stood as an LRG candidate for the seat of Parramatta in the 1966 federal election.

A keen amateur lepidopterist, Cook established the first butterfly farm in Australia on the banks of Sydney's Hawkesbury River in the 1970s.

Cook was married to Patricia Hickie, with whom he had four children, Megan, Kerry, Paul and Anthony. He and Patricia were subsequently divorced. Kenneth Cook died of a heart attack in 1987, aged 57, while on a camping trip with his second wife, Jacqueline Kent.