Using memory and legacy to educate the generations that follow, and to create upstanders out of bystanders!
The William Cooper Legacy is gaining momentum!
Special events celebrating William Cooper were held in Melbourne over 5 days in December.
These events connected Upstanders from diverse backgrounds, from the William Cooper Institute at Monash University to the Richmond Football Club, and from The Ark Centre in East Hawthorn to Temple Beth Israel.
Below is my selection of photos which highlights these events, and connects our WE ARE HERE! Human Rights and Social Justice project to the growing world of Upstanders influenced by William Cooper’s once long forgotten protest way back in 1938.
I have also incorporated parts of Barbara Miller’s report into this post. Barbara is William Cooper’s biographer. Thanks Barbara!
The Events- 2019:
- Barbara Miller Book Launch
- The William Cooper Dinner at Richmond FC
- The launch of the William Cooper Institute at Monash University
- The special Shabbat at The Ark Centre
- The interfaith youth seminar in Ascot Vale
- A visit to William Cooper’s former home in Footscray
- Some William Cooper icons around Melbourne city
- The World Premiere of the Kristallnacht Cantata
The Barbara Miller Book Launch
White Australia Has A Black History is available as a paperback from Barbara Miller’s website, and Barbara would love you to review it on Amazon and/or Goodreads.
The link to the book on Amazon is – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X1MYCDX
The link to the book on Goodreads is https://www.goodreads.com/review/new/47942441-white-australia-has-a-black-history
Barbara giving a talk on William Cooper at an Author Event at Lamm Jewish Library in Melbourne 3 December 2019
Shattered Lives Broken Dreams is at the printer – almost ready to be released!
Barbara on the radio
Barbara Miller:
David Jack interviewing Barbara on J-Air Jewish Radio in Melbourne on 4 December 2019 with Maurice Klein working the desk. The topic was Kristallnacht and William Cooper. It was on the Beersheba Vision program run by Peter Kentley.
Link to the interview:
https://omny.fm/shows/beersheba-vision/4-12-2019-beersheba-vision-ep6-barbara-miller-will?fbclid=IwAR2FJ-NnLDDU9FwuO5yVtHw8LhONQZ-jYb-o5zYi73XQWSmrZkRDEKCQ8d0
Richmond FC Seminar & Dinner
The Seminar
Abe Schwarz
Eli Rabinowitz, Barbara & Norm Miller
My slide – thanks to Stuart Rhine-Davis of Ellenbrook Secondary College
Barbara Miller
The Richmond Football Club and the William Cooper Legacy Project convened by Abe Schwarz hosted a seminar and dinner on 5 December 2019. It announced a new William Cooper Centre which will integrate sport, culture and diversity as the home to the Korin Gamadji Institute emerging Indigenous leaders program, the Bachar Houli Academy, Melbourne Indigenous Transition School (MITS) and women’s and community football.
There were four speakers at the seminar – Barbara Miller, biographer of William Cooper, Mike Zervos CEO Courage to Care, a teacher from Parkdale College called Natalie Baker and Eli Rabinowitz, founder, the WE ARE HERE! Project. Nola Kelly, the great-granddaughter of William Cooper, Leonie Drummond, Uncle Boydie’s daughter, shared briefly. Barbara is pictured speaking. A mural of the Tigers AFL players on the wall.
Richmond Tigers
The Table List
Eli Rabinowitz, singer Lior Attar, Tali Kellman and Alex Kats
Professor Jacinta Elston, Monash University and William Cooper’s great grandchildren, Leonie Drummond and Lance Turner, with Eli Rabinowitz
David Jack
Eli, Rabinowitz, Professor Jacinta Elston & Abe Schwarz
Jamil Tye, Roberto D’Andrea & Aunty Di
Eli Rabinowitz, dancers, Abe Schwarz
Eli Rabinowitz, Uncle Boydie Turner, Alex Kats, Kevin Russel, ?, David Jago
William Cooper’s family
SlideShow
Ngarra Bulla Ferra
Ngarra Bulla Ferra
Richmond FC, Melbourne 8 December 2019
Source: youtu.be/3WNgvqQQGbs
Richmond FC Dinner
Abe Schwarz & Uncle Boydie
William Cooper Legacy Film by David Jack
Monash University Clayton – William Cooper Institute Launch
Eli Rabinowitz, Bill Appleby of Jewish Care & Norm Miller
Eli Rabinowitz & John Gandel
Barbara Miller, Minister Ken Wyatt & Eli Rabinowitz
Leonie Drummond
Dancers
Andrew Markus, Pauline Gandel, Simone Markus & Eli Rabinowitz
Eli Rabinowitz & Vedran Drakulic
Eli Rabinowitz & Professor Susan Elliott
Eli Rabinowitz & Professor Jacinta Elston & Associate Professor Chivonne Algeo
L-R photos – The Hon Minister Ken Wyatt with Barbara and Norman Miller at Monash University, the Unveiling of the plaque at Monash Uni with Uni staff, Cooper family and the Minister, and the Millers with Dr John Gandel AC and Pauline Gandel.
On 6 December 2019, the 81st anniversary of the 1938 AAL protest, Monash University launched the William Cooper Institute. The Gandel family’s philanthropy made the centre possible. Stirring speeches were made by the Federal Minister for Indigenous Australians, Mr Ken Wyatt, Chancellor Simon McKeon, the Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous Jacinta Elston, Dr John Gandel AC, and Leonie Drummond, Uncle Boydie’s daughter.
Minister Ken Wyatt said that William Cooper cut a pathway for people to follow and showed bravery in the face of opposition. He said William Cooper stepped out and left footsteps in the sand to follow. He said he had recently returned from Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a speech, had paid tribute to William Cooper.
The Ark Centre – Cross Cultural Shabbat
Rabbi Gabi Kaltman and the ARK Centre held an Indigenous themed Shabbat service and meal honouring William Cooper on 6 December 2019
Eli Rabinowitz, Viv Parry, Lisa Naphtali, Rabbi Gabi Kaltmann, Kate Brocker, Shane Charles & Abe Schwarz
Shane Charles & Rabbi Gabi Kaltmann
A Very Special Duet by Shane Charles & Rabbi Gabi Kaltmann
A Very Special Duet by Shane Charles & Rabbi Gabi Kaltmann
The Ark Centre Aboriginal Kabbalat Shabbat In Honour of William Cooper Melbourne, Australia 6 December 2019
Source: youtu.be/o-pbcrTtfTQ
The Interfaith Youth Human Rights Seminar in Ascot Vale
Elana Saks
A visit to William Cooper’s House in footscray
The Footscay Railway Station
Eli Rabinowitz & Christine Newman, owner of the William Cooper house.
The William Cooper Justice Centre
The former Nazi Consulate in Melbourne where William Cooper marched to, and left his petition
Kristallnacht Cantata – Temple Beth Israel
The Kristallnacht Cantata: A Voice of Courage held its world premiere on 8 December at Temple Beth Israel St. Kilda, Melbourne. The strident music of the orchestra conveyed the build-up to the Night of the Broken Glass and the shattering of glass and lives that took place. A tribute to William Cooper, the Cantata imagined a moving duet between Cooper and Otto Jontof-Hutter who was arrested in Stuttgart during Kristallnacht along with thousands of other Jews.
Otto’s grandson, world-famous violinist Ron Jontof-Hutter, active in the Berlin-based World Doctors Orchestra but living in Melbourne, conceived the Cantata. An Israeli composer living in Melbourne, Alon Trigger, collaborated with Ron as the lyricist and world-famous conductor Dr David Kram, as musical director, to put the Cantata together.
The event was held in Temple Beth Israel synagogue and Barbara was asked to read a scripture and she chose Isaiah 62:1-7. There was a beautiful performance by the Yeng Gali Mullum Indigenous Choir.
Photos L_R, Uncle Boydie watching the orchestra of the Kristallnacht Cantata and the Yeng Gali Mullum Indigenous Choir.
For the start of the Kristallnacht Cantata, scroll to the 1 hr 41 min mark
back in Perth – On Noongar Radio with Jodi Ryder
Manager: Paul Whitton