Keith Cooper
COOPER, Keith Leo, MA BSc (UWA) BSc (Oxon) FICE FIEAust FInstWSc (1906-1993)
Keith Cooper was born in Perth on January 27, 1906, the son of compositor, Edgar (Ted) Cooper his wife Isabel Cooper, née Brothers. He was educated at Highgate State School, Perth Boys School and Perth Modern College. A bright student and talented athlete, he passed his Leaving Certificate at age 16 and also won a Government Exhibition. He enrolled in Engineering at the University of Western Australia in 1923 holding an engineering cadetship with the WAGR.
In 1926, whilst studying fourth year engineering, he was awarded the 1927 Rhodes Scholarship. In 1927 he graduated with a science degree from the University of Western Australia and in 1928 commenced study at Hertford College, Oxford. At Oxford, he completed a Bachelor of Arts (1929), Master of Arts (1933) and Bachelor of Science (Engineering ) (1933), and also worked as an Assistant Engineer at the UK Ministry of Transport on road construction in Scotland.
He returned to Western Australia on June 9, 1933 and was employed as a civil engineer with the WAGR in the Goldfields. In April 1939 he was appointed Resident Engineer for Railways at Launceston, Tasmania.
On April 13, 1936 he married teacher, Miriam Bernard, at St Albans Church, Highgate. They had two children, Graeme John Cooper and Margaret Jill Cooper.
In March 1941, Keith commenced his academic career when he was appointed Lecturer in Civil Engineering at Melbourne University, and in 1945 he joined the CSIRO as a senior research officer. He was promoted to Principal Research Officer in the CSIRO Forest Products Division in 1948. In December 1952 he was appointed to the Chair of Civil Engineering at the University of Western Australia, a position he held for 18 years until his retirement in 1971. He was a member of the University Senate from 1963 to 1966, and Chairman of the University Professorial Board in 1965. He was also President of the UWA Academic Staff Association in 1957-1958.
In 1972, his wife Miriam died and nine years later he married her sister, Deborah, on January 27, 1981. Keith died on March 21, 1993 at Claremont and was survived by second wife, Deborah, and his two children.
Keith became an Associate Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and of the Institution of Engineers, Australia in 1933. He became a Member of both Institutions in 1959, and by 1979 he was a Fellow of both Institutions. He was also a member of the Municipal Engineers Examination Committee, between 1963 and 1972.
References:
Cumming Papers;
Sunday Times, 14 November 1926, p.1;
Margaret Sacks (editor), The Way 79 Who is Who, Crawley Publishers, Nedlands, 1980;
Mercury (Hobart), 22 April 1939, p.9;
West Australian, 30 December 1952, p.5;
West Australian, 12 February 1953, p.5.
