{{short description|Australian sprinter}} {{Use Australian English|date=August 2016}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}} {{Infobox person | birth_date = c. 1905 | birth_place = Moira Lake near Tocumwal, New South Wales | death_date = {{death_date_and_age|1971|07|30|1905|||df=yes}} | death_place = Wangaratta, Victoria | resting_place = Wangarattta Cemetery<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://billiongraves.com/grave/person/11712453 |title = Lynch Cooper 1895 - 1971 BillionGraves Record}}</ref> | spouse = Eva Christian (1910-1988) | relatives = Douglas Nicholls (cousin) | parents = William Cooper and Agnes nee Hamilton }} thumb|1930 Lynch Cooper and his challengers as world professional sprinter
'''Lynch Cooper''' (c. 1905–1971) was an Aboriginal Australian sprinter who won the Stawell Gift in 1928<ref>{{cite web |title=1928 - L. COOPER, OF JEPARIT, WINS STAWELL GIFT |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/243994310 |publisher=The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954) |access-date=31 January 2025 |page=3 |date=9 April 1928}}</ref> and the world's professional sprint championship competition in 1929.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article127902422 |title=THE STAWELL "GIFT" |newspaper=The Referee |issue=2142 |location=Sydney |date=11 April 1928 |access-date=11 August 2016 |page=15 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223821483 |title=WORLD'S SPRINT CHAMPION |newspaper=Weekly Times |issue=3205 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=2 March 1929 |access-date=11 August 2016 |page=66 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
==Sport== Cooper, a Yorta Yorta man, who was a gifted runner from an early age, where he won many local and interstate races prior to winning the Stawell Gift in 1928 on his third attempt. Lynch won many gift races across Victoria and interstate.
In the mid 1920's Cooper played football for both Nhill and Jeparit Football Clubs<ref>{{cite web |title=1929 - WORLD'S SPRINT CHAMPION |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/223821483 |website=Trove Newspapers |publisher=Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954) |access-date=31 January 2025 |page=66 |date=2 March 1929}}</ref> and later played in Wangaratta's 1933 Ovens & Murray Football League premiership.
Cooper also played with Brighton<ref>{{cite web |title=1935 - L Cooper Playing History |url=http://www.thevfaproject.org/pages/Players/Cooper,_Lynch.php |website=The VFA Project |access-date=22 March 2026 |date=3 June 1935}}</ref> in the Victorian Football Association in 1935.<ref>{{cite web |title=1935 - Brighton's two Rowes |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/276770517 |publisher=The Sun News-Pictorial (Melbourne, Vic. : 1922 - 1954; 1956) |access-date=29 September 2025 |page=23 |date=1 April 1935}}</ref>
Cooper was later an original inductee into the Aboriginal and Islander Sports Hall of Fame.
He later become prominent in Aboriginal activism including as president of the Aboriginal Progressive Association in the 1940s.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article188080677 |title=All Aboriginal Deputation For Canberra |newspaper=Shepparton Advertiser |volume=66 |issue=30 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=26 April 1949 |access-date=11 August 2016 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article187167467 |title=Editor's Mail Bag |newspaper=Shepparton Advertiser |volume=61 |issue=13 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=15 February 1946 |access-date=11 August 2016 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
==Family== Cooper was born at Moira Lake near Tocumwal and was educated at Mulwala State School.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article182536668 |title=Sprint Champion |newspaper=Sporting Globe |issue=767 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=30 November 1929 |access-date=11 August 2016 |page=6 (FIRSTEDITION) |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> His father was Aboriginal activist and community leader William Cooper.
Lynch Cooper married Eva Christian, daughter of Alfred William Christian and Annie Laid née Bruce, of Jeparit on 11 February 1939 at the Methodist Church, Footscray, Victoria.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12096614 |title=Untitled |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=28,854 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=13 February 1939 |access-date=11 September 2017 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Links== *[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/79486762/ 1929 - Stawell Gift winner: Lynch Cooper photo] *[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/223848760/23930984/ 1933 - Wangaratta FC & Border United FC team photos] *[https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/224562798/24189846/ 1934 - Wangaratta FC & Rutherglen FC team photos]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Lynch}} Category:Australian men sprinters Category:Indigenous Australian track and field athletes Category:Stawell Gift winners Category:1900s births Category:1971 deaths Category:People from the Riverina Category:Athletes from New South Wales Category:20th-century Australian sportsmen Category:20th-century Indigenous Australian people
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