Name: William Cooper
Information: Resident of Footscray, prominent activist for Aboriginal citizenship rights and secretary of the Australian Aborigines’ League. Two residences of William Cooper were early headquarters of the Aboriginal Advancement League.
Place: William Cooper’s first house is located at 73 Southampton Street, Footscray. His second house was located at 120 Ballarat Road, Footscray.
Name: Margaret (Marge) Tucker (Lilardia)
Information: Resident of Seddon from around the 1920s, Marge worked in local industry. Marge was the first Aboriginal women to serve on the Aboriginal Welfare Board. She also wrote her biography ‘If Everyone Cared’. Marge loved entertaining and was known as a great advocate for Aboriginal rights.
Place: Marge lived at 38 Pentland Pde, Seddon
Name: Molly Dyer
Information: (daughter of Marge Tucker) Molly provided many Aboriginal people with foster care. Molly was one of the founding members of the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency. After moving from Seddon, Molly continued to provide foster care to many underprivileged children.
Place: Molly lived at 38 Pentland Ave, Seddon.
Name: Sally Russell Cooper
Information: Aunt Sally and her husband Mick Russell moved from Federal Street, Footscray to rent the house at 111 Ballarat Rd, in the 1930s. The house was large, with three bedrooms and a spare room out the back. This house became an unofficial boarding house for Aboriginal people, a place of social contact. Aunt Sally is the daughter of William Cooper.
Place: 111 Ballarat Rd, Footscray
Name: Lynch Cooper
Information: Lynch Cooper was an early resident of Yarraville. Lynch is famous for his running ability. Lynch immortalised himself by winning the 1928 Stawell Gift and the 1929 World Title held at the old Melbourne Motordrome now Olympic Park.
Place: 92 Tarrengower St, Yarraville.
Name: Connie Hart
Information: Connie lived in Footscray. Connie retained great knowledge in the manufacturing of weaved baskets, but her place of residence could not be identified in this study.
Name: Rene Onus nee King
Information: Lived in Footscray, place of residence not known.
Name: Mary Phillip nee King
Information: First cousin to Rene Onus nee King, place of residence not known.
Name: Ebenezer Lovett
Information: Ebenezer was an activist in the 1920s for Aboriginal rights but more so for the rights of the working class. He may have been one of the first member of the Communist Party. Jack Patten, Bill Onus and Wally Cooper followed on from him. Place of residence not known.
Name: Harold Blair
Information: First Aboriginal opera singer (played with Marge Tucker) and went on to become a teacher at the Sunshine Technical College. Place of residence not known.
Name: Bill Bargo
Information: Bill came from Queensland, musician and rodeo rider. Daughter is Wanda Braybrook. Wanda informed Mark Grist that her father did not sew his ribbons together for a blanket to keep warm. According to Wanda her father sewed them together to keep them all in the one place as a record.
Buried in New Zealand.
Place: 111 Ballarat Rd, Footscray
There are five places, still containing buildings, which have been identified as significant to Aboriginal people (Table 7). Some of these places are shown in Plates 11-15.
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Place
|
Address
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Aunt Sally Russell Cooper’s House
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111 Ballarat Road, Footscray
|
Lynch Cooper’s House
|
92 Tarrengower Street, Yarraville
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William Cooper’s Houses
|
73 Southampton Street, Footscray
120 Ballarat Road, Footscray
|
Margaret Tucker’s House
|
38 Pentland Parade, Seddon
|
William Barak Pictorial Memorial
|
Maribyrnong River north of Duke Street, Braybrook
|
Table 7: Places containing buildings significant to Aboriginal people in the City of Maribyrnong
All of these buildings are still extant, and most have been restored and modified from their original condition. The exterior of Aunty Sally Russell Coopers House is still largely in its original condition. The actual condition of the buildings is less relevant than their associations with people and as places which are associated with the formation of the contemporary Aboriginal community in Footscray and Melbourne.
8.11Places Associated with Aboriginal People within the City of Maribyrnong having Economic and/or Social Significance
Table 8 shows places with economic or social significance to Aboriginal people in the City of Maribyrnong.
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Place
|
Address
|
Additional comments
|
Kinnears Ropes
|
Ballarat Road, Footscray
|
Employer of Aboriginal people during 1930s and 1940s
|
Pridhams Meatworks
|
Evans Street, Braybrook
|
Employer of Aboriginal people during 1930s and 1940s
|
William Angliss Meatworks
|
Lynch Street, Footscray
|
Employer of Aboriginal people during 1930s and 1940s
|
ADI Ammunitions Factory
|
Gordon Street, Footscray
|
Employer of Aboriginal people during 1930s and 1940s
|
Footscray Park
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Maribyrnong River, Footscray
|
Margaret Tucker sang here during the Australia Day celebrations on the banks of the river
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Bomb shelters
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Ballarat Road
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Now non-existent bomb shelters which use to provide privacy for courting couples
|
Army Stores Depot
|
Maribyrnong Road, Footscray
|
Buildings provided shelter for people at night
|
Sunshine Technical College
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Sunshine
|
Harold Blair became a teacher there
|
Masonic Hall
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Possibly either Yarraville or now destroyed Footscray centre
|
Sally and Mick Russell celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary there
|
Original Melbourne Living Museum of the West
|
4 David Street, Footscray (now a car park)
|
|
Current Melbourne Living Museum of the West
|
Pipemakers Park, Van Ness Avenue, Maribyrnong
|
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Table 8: Places of economic or social significance to Aboriginal people within the City of Maribyrnong
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