Walter Cooper

Who was Walter Cooper?

Sir Walter Jackson Cooper, MBE was a long-serving Australian politician.

Cooper was born in Cheetham, Manchester and educated at Bedford School and Wyggeston Boys' School, Leicester. He migrated to Western Australia in 1910 and later moved to Brisbane, Queensland. In 1914, he established a property at Middleton, 200 km west of Winton. During World War I, he enlisted in the first Australian Imperial Force and served at Gallipoli and Egypt. In June 1916, he transferred to France and was wounded at the Battle of Mouquet Farm, requiring the amputation of a leg. In February 1918, he married Louie Dorothy Marion Crick. He was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1919 and demobilised in 1921. He later joined the Returned Sailors' and Soldiers' Imperial League of Australia.