George Cooke (Australian politician)

George Cooke (1 May 1869 – 24 March 1938) was an Australian politician who represented the South Australian House of Assembly multi-member seat of Barossa from 1924 to 1933. He was elected as a member of the Labor Party, but was expelled from the party in the 1931 Labor split and sat with the splinter Parliamentary Labor Party for the remainder of his term.[1]

Cooke was born in Toowoomba, the son of a farmer. He was a sheep and cattle farmer and at other times a labourer and contractor for many years. He joined the Labor Party when it was first established in Queensland. He bought a home at Gilles Plains in South Australia around 1908. Having studied fruitgrowing at the Adelaide School of Mines, he established his own orchard, specialising in peaches.[2][3]

He supported the White Australia Policy and opposed conscription in World War I.[2]

He retired from politics at the 1933 election.[4] He died in 1938, having suffered "creeping paralysis" that made him "virtually an invalid" for several years prior to his death.[5]

References
  1. "George Cooke". Former members of the Parliament of South Australia. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  2. "THE 'CLEAN-UP' CANDIDATES". Daily Herald. Vol. 8, no. 2476. South Australia. 26 February 1918. p. 6. Retrieved 29 September 2017 – via Trove.
  3. "WONDERFUL PEACHES". Daily Herald. Vol. XI, no. 3372. South Australia. 8 January 1921. p. 8. Retrieved 29 September 2017 – via Trove.
  4. "STATE ELECTIONS ELEVEN IN KEEN FIGHT FOR BAROSSA SEATS". The News. Vol. XX, no. 3, 022. Adelaide. 25 March 1933. p. 5. Retrieved 29 September 2017 – via Trove.
  5. "OBITUARY". The Bunyip. No. 4, 608. South Australia. 1 April 1938. p. 10. Retrieved 29 September 2017 – via Trove.


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