Early advocate for First Nations rights
WILLIAM COOPER was born in 1861 in YortaYorta country near the confluence of the Murray and Goulburn rivers, close to the New SouthWales–Victoria border. The Yorta Yorta people had inhabited the area for thousands of years but following European settlement were dispossessed of their traditional lands. Their population soon fell by 85 per cent due to disease and violence.
The Yorta Yorta, including Cooper, eked out an existence on the
