Publisher's Synopsis
William Cooper was born in Yorta Yorta territory around the intersection of the Murray and Goulburn Rivers in Victoria, Australia on 18 December 1860.[3] His family was a small remnant of what Cooper recalled as a large tribal group, "As a lad, I can remember 500 men of my tribe, the Moiras, gathered on one occasion. Now my family is the only relic of the tribe."[4] From there Cooper appears to have been forced by necessity to work for a variety of pastoral employers, even as a child.
On 4 August 1874, William Cooper, along with his mother, Kitty, his brother Bobby and other relatives arrived at Malaga, an Aboriginal Mission on the Murray, run by Daniel and Janet Matthews.
Cooper's health was failing but he had lit a fire that would not be put out. One of those who picked up the baton was his grandson, Alf Turner or Uncle Boydie. Could Uncle Boydie unearth the petition Cooper meant for the King in the 1930s and find a way to get it to the King's granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth 11? Poetic justice but a near-impossible task.
Historian Barbara Miller has written several riveting books on Australian history and biography and makes history come alive. This book is as ground-breaking as "Dark Emu" and is the first in the William Cooper Gentle Warrior Series. Miller was a finalist in the Queensland Literary Awards for the Premier's Award for a Work of State Significance in 2018 for her memoir "White Woman Black Heart: Journey Home to Old Mapoon."
