William Cooper’s Legacy

Schooled at Cummergunga Mission, William Cooper went on to live a lifetime of activism, including protesting in the 1930s against Nazi Germany’s actions. Hear more about this extraordinary man from direct descendant of William Cooper, Leonie Drummond, museum curator, Kimberley Moulton and moderated by ABC journalist Daniel James.

Free – bookings essential.

1.15am—12.15pm @ The Wheeler Centre: Performance Space

Daniel James is an award-winning Yorta Yorta writer, consultant, broadcaster and social justice advocate. He hosts and producers the Mission on 3RRR and is the winner of the 2018 Horne Prize for his essay Ten More Days. Daniel’s work explores notions of empathy, intergenerational trauma, hidden history and the political landscape that continues to shape the lives of Aboriginal people across the country. www.danieljames.com.au

Kimberley Moulton (she/her) is a Yorta Yorta woman and writer and curator. She is currently Senior Curator, South-Eastern Aboriginal Collections at Museums Victoria and an Artistic Associate for RISING Festival Melbourne. Kimberley works with knowledge, histories and futures at the intersection of First Peoples historical and contemporary art and making and the archive. Kimberley has held curatorial and community arts development roles at Melbourne Museum for over ten years, in 2018 she was Museums Victoria lead curator for Mandela: My Life, in partnership with the Nelson Mandela Foundation Johannesburg and IEC exhibitions. In 2021 she was a co-curator for the inaugural Tri-Nations Indigenous Triennial at Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG-Qaumajuq) for Naadohbii: To Draw Water a curatorial collaboration between Melbourne Museum Australia, Pataka Art + Museum New Zealand and WAG-Qaumajuq. In 2021 Kimberley developed the project MOVING OBJECTS with RISING festival and Museums Victoria which is a framework for sustained collection access with contemporary artists, supporting the transformative potential that museum collections can have with community and critically engaging in themes of regeneration, disruption and renewal. Independently Kimberley has curated across various arts institutions in Australia and written for publications worldwide. Kimberley is a PhD candidate in curatorial practice at Monash University Melbourne.

Leonie Drummond is a direct descendant of William Cooper. With pride and a wealth of information about the legacy of her Great Grandfather, Leonie represents the family for the William Cooper Institute Indigenous Advisory Council, Monash University; and the William Cooper and the Australian Aborigines’ League reference group. She lives and works in Shepparton as a Koorie Education Worker at St Annes College Shepparton.