William Cooper (1860/61 -1941) was a Yorta Yorta man and the founder and leader of the Australian Aborigines’ League. After hearing of the Kristallnacht attacks on Jewish people and property in Germany and Austria in November 1938, he spearheaded a delegation to the German Consulate in Melbourne on 6 December 1938 to protest.
The delegation carried a resolution “on behalf of the Aborigines of Australia” that condemned the “cruel persecution of the Jewish people by the Nazi Government of Germany” and called for it to be brought to an end. They were refused entry to the Consulate, by order of the Consul, Dr. D.W. Drechsler.
This extraordinary demonstration of courage and solidarity was made at a time when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia were themselves denied the most basic human rights and had their own fight to pursue. William Cooper and his colleagues refused to be silent in the face of the Nazi persecution of Jews, unlike millions of free and privileged non-Jewish people across the globe. Their actions in December 1938 marked the beginning of a shared pursuit of justice by our two local communities that has lasted to this day.