Obituaries Australia

Many old residents of the colony, particularly those of the Western district, will regret to hear of the death of Mr. Cecil Pybus Cooke, of Lake Condah Station, which is announced in our columns this morning. The deceased gentleman was the eldest son of Mr. William Cooke, of the Madras civil service. Attracted by the news of the discoveries of Major Mitchell in Australia, Mr. Cooke left England for Tasmania, arriving in Hobart in April, 1839, and crossing the island sailed from Launceston in a schooner he had chartered to take sheep to Portland Bay, which he reached on the 10th July the same year. He brought with him, it may be mentioned, a small hut from England which he erected in Portland, where it is still to be seen. He took up country on the Smoky River, but fortune did not favour him for some years, and in 1845 he ventured on new country, close to the present township of Harrow, and formed a station called Pine Hills. This he sold in 1849 or 1850 to Mr. David Edgar, and bought Lake Condah, then called Lake Condon. It is on a portion of this station that he lately resided and where his death took place. Mr. Cooke took no part in public affairs except as a protector of the blacks in the early days. He was on the commission of the peace and was frequent in his attendance at the Branxholme Court. In 1839 he married a sister of the late Mr. Samuel Pratt Winter, of Murndal, and he leaves three sons surviving, one of whom is Mr. Samuel Winter Cooke, M.L.C. for the Western Province. Mr. Cooke was a staunch supporter of the Church of England, and largely contributed to the building of two churches, one at Condah, the other at Spring Creek near Condah, the latter being erected in memory of his wife.