The story of William Cooper
At Sydney’s Emanuel Synagogue, Abe Schwarz together with a descendant of William Cooper will present the compelling story of an Aboriginal leader who fought for oppressed Jews.
William Cooper
William Cooper was an inspirational Aboriginal leader in New South Wales and Victoria in the early part of the 20th century and a founding secretary of the Australian Aborigines’ League.
The league was created to lobby state and federal governments on behalf of Aboriginal people.
Cooper was not only concerned with the plight of his own people but was moved by the extreme discrimination faced by other oppressed populations.
On 6 December 1938, less than a month after Kristallnacht when Jewish people were targeted in widespread rioting and looting across Germany, Cooper led a march to the German consulate in Melbourne to condemn the ‘cruel persecution of the Jewish people by the Nazi government in Germany’.
German officials refused to take the written condemnation but the protest is seen by many as the only one of its kind in the world.
Emanuel Synagogue, 7 Ocean Street, Woollahra
