A Man of Colours

Tom Cooper was born near Rockhampton in 1897 and came to Menangle Park in the late 1920s. He acquired 3 lots of land totalling 7 and a half acres on what is now Racecourse Avenue.

Tom is remembered as a colourful character: both figuratively and literally. When he first announced himself to the people of Menangle Park he wore bright parrot feathers in his hat band. He spoke with a slow drawl, thick set with prominent side levers and had a fascination for bright colours. He would sometimes wear a red shirt with an emerald green tie for example.

His house was painted with many bright colours. This gaudily painted house would always attract the attention of passing railway passengers. He explained that someone had been unable to find his home, so he painted it so no one could possibly miss it. The house was to inspire the short story, "The Eye Stopper" by local author Melva Vincent. It appeared in the 1963-64 "Coast to Coast"- an annual anthology of Australian short stories.

Tom was a keen breeder of homing pigeons. His knowledge and ability in this resulted in him becoming a Sergeant of the Pigeon Corps in North Queensland during World War 2. He had a keen interest in bird life and nature generally and a good knowledge of the birds of the Campbelltown area.

Even Tom's bicycle had the bizaare name of "Eggbeater"!

Tom Cooper died in 1968 aged 71 leaving a wife behind. They had no children. He is buried in Rookwood Cemetery.

I would love to see a photograph of Tom Cooper or hear more stories about him. Please let us know if you do have anything and I can share them on this blog.

Written by Andrew Allen

Sources:

FELTON, Kevin P
Menangle Park NSW: 1948 To Early 1950s
In Grist Mills, Vol.4 No.3, pp35-42

Campbelltown-Ingleburn News, December 3 1968

Gracius Broinowski

Gracius Joseph Broinowski, artist and ornithologist, was born in Poland in 1837. He sailed to Australia in 1857 on a windjammer from London and first went ashore at Portland in Victoria. Broinowski soon began painting landscapes and scenes of various towns around Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. After settling in Sydney in 1880 and teaching painting to private pupils and at colleges, he then lectured on art and exhibited at various showings of the Royal Art Society.

Broinowski was commissioned by the Department of Public Instruction in New South Wales to draw pictures of Australian birds and mammals. These would be hung in classrooms in many schools. They later became bound and the Mitchell and National Libraries showed them as "Birds and Mammals of Australia". In 1888 he published "The cockatoos and nestors of Australia and New Zealand".

Broinowski had begun in 1887 to prepare a series of volumes entitled "The Birds of Australia". The works were accomplished while he was farming at Wedderburn and was completed in 1891. He took up a tract of land on today's Minerva Road, intending to divide it amongst his sons, and for some years endeavoured, with the help of his sons, to make farming pay. However, this was not a success and he lost money. Although he was able to build an attractive home with outstanding gardens, his financial difficulties meant he was unable to keep it going.

The house he built at Wedderburn with his wife Jane and children was called "Morning Glory". It was one of the earliest cottages built in Wedderburn. The building as it stands has a series of three pitched roofs (resembling a saw tooth roof). The building is an unusual design but it appears most of the original outside fabric has been removed. It is listed under the New South Wales Heritage Act. Today it is used as a church camp or retreat.

Gracius Broinowski died at Mosman on April 12, 1913. His reputation survives, not just as an artist, but as an advocate of fauna conservation.

                        

                       "Morning Glory" is now the Christian Campsite at Wedderburn. This shot was taken in 1984 by Verlie Fowler (Fowler Collection).

Sources:

Australian Dictionary of Biography: Melbourne University Press

"The Emu" Vol. 16, 1942

Written by Andrew Allen