William James Cooper Cole (14 October 1858 – 13 March 1938) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the

South Australian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of South Australia. The other is the Legislative Council. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Adelaide. Overview The House of Assembly was creat ...

from 1910 to 1918, representing the

multi-member An electoral system or voting system is a set of rules that determine how elections and referendums are conducted and how their results are determined. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political elections ma ...

seats of

Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...

(1910–1915) and

Port Pirie Port Pirie is a small city on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf in South Australia, north of the state capital, Adelaide. The city has an expansive history which dates back to 1845. Port Pirie was the first proclaimed regional city in South ...

(1915–1918). He was a member of the

United Labor Party The South Australian Labor Party, officially known as the Australian Labor Party (South Australian Branch) and commonly referred to simply as South Australian Labor, is the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party, originally formed ...

until 1917, when he left to join the National Party in the 1917 Labor split. Cole was born at Williamstown in the

Barossa Valley The Barossa Valley ( Barossa German: ''Barossa Tal'') is a valley in South Australia located northeast of Adelaide city centre. The valley is formed by the North Para River. It is notable as a major wine-producing region and tourist destinati ...

, and was privately educated in

Kapunda Kapunda is a town on the Light River and near the Barossa Valley in South Australia. It was established after a discovery in 1842 of significant copper deposits. The population was 2,917 at the 2016 Australian census. The southern entrance ...

. He undertook his apprenticeship with the ''Kapunda Herald'' (alongside future parliamentary colleague

William David Ponder William David Ponder (18 March 1855 – 21 May 1933) was an Australian politician who represented the South Australian House of Assembly multi-member seats of Adelaide from 1905 to 1915 and North Adelaide from 1915 to 1921. He represented t ...

) and ''

The Register ''The Register'' is a British technology news website co-founded in 1994 by Mike Magee, John Lettice and Ross Alderson. The online newspaper's masthead sublogo is "''Biting the hand that feeds IT''." Their primary focus is information tec ...

'' newspapers, before working as a printer in

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 ...

. He was subsequently editor and proprietor of the ''Laura Standard'' for eighteen years from 1896. During his editorship of the ''Laura Standard'', it became the first publication to publish verse by

C. J. Dennis Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis (7 September 1876 – 22 June 1938), better known as C. J. Dennis, was an Australian poet and journalist known for his best-selling verse novel ''The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke'' (1915). Alongside ...

. Cole was Mayor of the

Corporate Town of Laura The Corporate Town of Laura was a local government area in South Australia, centred on the town of Laura. It was proclaimed on 22 June 1882, separating the township of Laura itself from the surrounding District Council of Booyoolie. It held its fi ...

from 1904 to 1910. He was also heavily involved in the Methodist church, serving as a lay preacher for 62 years and holding all possible offices in the church. He was elected to the House of Assembly for the

at the 1910 election, representing the electorate of

. Following an electoral redistribution, he was elected unopposed in 1915 for the new seat of

. He left the Labor Party for the new National Party in the 1917 Labor split over conscription. He was defeated by a Labor candidate when he ran for re-election at the 1918 election. After leaving politics, he managed Ponders Advertising Agency in Adelaide until August 1937, when he retired due to failing health. He was twice married: in 1887 to Alice Johnson (died 1914) and in 1920 to Eva A. Langsford.

References

1858 births 1938 deaths Members of the South Australian House of Assembly {{Australia-politician-stub