Malcolm Cooper was an

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er who played for during the 1950s, and a social activist.

Early life

Cooper spent his boyhood years at

St Francis House St Francis House was a home for inland Aboriginal Australian boys from 1946 to 1959 at Glanville Hall in Semaphore South, Adelaide, South Australia. Father Percy Smith purchased Glanville Hall on behalf of the Anglican Church to provide accommo ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

Football

Cooper was noticed as an up-and-coming player in the junior ranks, winning the "most improved" award for Port Adelaide Colts in 1953. He is considered the first

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

to play senior football for Port Adelaide in the

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as the ...

(SANFL). (

Harry Hewitt Harry Hewitt, sometimes spelled "Hewit", "Ewart" or "Hewett", ( – 23 January 1907) was an Indigenous Australian cricketer and Australian rules footballer. In 1889, Hewitt played for the Medindie Football Club, and so is believed to be the f ...

did represent the club in an interstate match against Victorian club Fitzroy in 1891 but that was not an SANFL fixture.) Cooper was also the first Aboriginal footballer to play for the

Port Adelaide Football Club Port Adelaide Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia, Alberton, South Australia. The club's senior men's team plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), where they are nicknamed ...

in a Grand Final, the seven-point loss to West Torrens in the 1953 Grand Final. He played 5

SANFL The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as the ...

games between 1954 and 1955.

Social activism

Cooper met and lobbied Prime Minister Sir

Robert Menzies The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory ...

in 1963 in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

as part of a delegation to promote justice for Aboriginal people, and in 1964 founded the Aborigines' Progress Association in Adelaide, becoming its first president. The association was formed in response to perceptions that the South Australian

Aborigines' Advancement League of South Australia Charles Duguid (6 April 1884 – 5 December 1986) was a Scotland, Scottish-born medical practitioner, social reformer, Presbyterian lay leader and Aboriginal rights campaigner who lived in Adelaide, South Australia for most of his adult life, ...

was dominated by non-Aboriginal members, lessening the voice of Indigenous Australians politically.

Death

Cooper died prematurely of a

brain haemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

in his twenties or thirties after being flown up to Darwin from

Tennant Creek Tennant Creek ( wrm, Jurnkkurakurr) is town located in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is the seventh largest town in the Northern Territory, and is located on the Stuart Highway, just south of the intersection with the western termin ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Malcolm Indigenous Australian players of Australian rules football Port Adelaide Football Club (SANFL) players Port Adelaide Football Club players (all competitions) Year of birth missing Year of death missing