Australian Royalty: Genealogy of the colony of NSW

Robert came from a family of distillers and hotel keepers in the Stepney area of London. The family owned 'The White Swan' hotel, known as 'Paddy's Goose' situated on Ratcliffe Highway, and another hotel in Picadilly. Their joint annual volume of business was seventeen thousand pounds when Robert was convicted. A distillery in the nearby Juniper Street was also probably owned by the Cooper family (as the name 'Juniper' was later used by Robert to call his residence at Paddington, Sydney ('Juniper Lodge').

Married by Banns. Witnesses were Francis Cooper and Edward Jackson. Minister John Lake.

Robert Cooper, one of 200 convicts transported on the ship Earl Spencer, May 1813.
Sentence details: Convicted at London Gaol Delivery for a term of 14 years on 28 October 1812.
Vessel: Earl Spencer.
Date of Departure: May 1813.
Place of Arrival: New South Wales.

Robert was a convict. He was sentenced to 14 years in Oct 1812 and transported for receiving stolen goods, raw silk and ostrich feathers. To support his contention that he had the goods merely smuggled rather than stolen, he produced witnesses who testified that he had frequently been prosecuted for smuggling. The judge commented on the extroadinary nature of his defence, proof of guilt of one sort of crime being offered as proof of innocence for another. He was transported to Sydney on the ship 'Earl Spencer' which arrived at in Oct 1813. [https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/print.jsp?div=t18121028-9]

Robert Cooper, free, 40 and Elizabeth Kelley, free, 35 were married 6 Apr 1818 by Banns

V18182158 3A/1818 COOPER ROBERT KELLY ELIZABETH CA
V1818300 7/1818 COOPER ROBERT KELLEY ELIZABETH CA

In Jan 1818, Robert was granted a conditional pardon. He set up a shop located in George Street 'opposite the burial ground'. This was approximately where the Sydney Town Hall now stands.

In about 1818 Robert and two other merchants, First Fleeter James Underwood and Francis Forbes, were granted 100 hectares of land extending from Oxford Street to 'Rushcutting Bay'. After quarreling between the partners, the land was split up and Cooper retained 2.5 hectares (5 acres) fronting Oxford Street. It was on this land that his last wife Sarah's house was to stand.

Robert Cooper a widower of Sydney was married to Sarah May a spinster and daughter of Lawrence May a settler of Hawkesbury by Rev. W. Cooper at Sydney on 29 Jan 1822, a licence having been obtained 29 Jan 1822

"MARRIED- On Tuesday last, by special licence at the Church of St Philip, Sydney, Mr. Robert Cooper, of George-street, to Miss May, eldest daughter of Mr. Lawrence May, of Windsor."

Robert formed a business association with a Daniel Cooper, also a convict but no relation, and another merchant Solomon Levy. By 1822 he was part owner with the other men of a small vessel 'Campbell Macquarie', 135 tons, trading to Van Diemens Land. Around this time, Robert was granted an auctioneer's licence. By 1829 his business activities included flour milling, bread making, cedar cutting, gunpowder production and cloth weaving. His most lucrative business however, was distilling 'Cooper's Best Gin'. He was also one of the principal shareholders in the Bank of New South Wales.

Cooper, Robert, Protestant, distiller, etc, George Street Sydney
Cooper, Sarah, 25, born in the colony
Cooper, Robert Jun, 22, came free, Friendship 1818
Cooper, James, 19, came free, Friendship 1818
Cooper, George Leonard, came free, Friendship 1818
Cooper, Francis, 17, came free, Friendship 1818
Cooper, Frances, 11, born in the colony
Cooper, William, 8, born in the colony
Cooper, Thomas Henry, 4, born in the colony
Cooper, Georgiana, 2, born in the colony
Cooper, Caroline, 1, born in the colony

Being on top of a ridge, Juniper Hall enjoyed magnificent views north to Port Jackson and south to Botany Bay. There were no obstructions to the views as it was a rural area in those times.
It is probably that Robert designed the house and supervised its construction. Most of the construction was completed by 1824, but the family did not move there until 1828, probably due to the prolonged fitting out.
Three years after moving there Robert placed an ad in the 'Australian' offering Juniper Hall to let for a term of 3 to 5 years. Robert's decision to lease the property was probably in part based on the extravagances they lavished on of their 24 children from his current and previous marriages. In 1832 a tenant, John Kinchela the new Attorney-General and his family has moved in. Because of Kinchela's dislike for the name 'Juniper Hall' (probably because of its association with gin making) he renamed the house 'Ormond House'. This name would be used from time to time by later occupants.
In 1852 the property was leased to the Society for the Relief of Destitute Children, in part to serve as an orphanage.
Juniper Hall is now under the care of the Australian National Trust. It is a fine example of colonial Georgian architecture. It is believed to be the oldest surviving mansion from Governor Macquarie's days to be found in Sydney. The National Trust acquired the property in 1984 through a government pledge and corporate sponsorship towards the cost of purchase and restoration.
Juniper Hall presumably named in relation to the juniper berry's use as a key ingredient in the manufacture of gin, encompassed a typical Georgian style, with rooms planned symmetrically around and central hallway.
There is evidence that the Coopers were back in residence at Ormond House during 1838-39, just before, Robert, Sarah and their nine children departed for a lengthy tour of Europe. In 1847, Sarah became the legal owner of Ormond House, which was a wise move on Robert's part, because in the early 1840's there was a general depression in the colony which affected Robert's businesses. He became bankrupt in 1849.
Robert spent his later years in 'Ormond Lodge' which was a smaller dwelling that had been built in the grounds of 'Ormond House'. Sarah, who was 54 when Robert died at age 81, sold a large part of the property to her son Francis. In 1877, the Coopers finally sold the property.
By 1885 the government had purchased the property, and by 1892 extensive works were undertaken which enlarged the house considerably and altered existing architectural features.
In 1924, Joseph Reuben Gardiner purchased Ormond House. A public outcry prevented Gardiner from demolishing the house to increase his valuable real estate on site but failed to prevent the building of a row of shops in the garden facing Oxford Street. These were later removed by the National Trust and the property is currently leased to a variety of tenants.

Although an emancipist, Robert put himself forward as candidate for one of Sydney's two seats in the Legislative Council at the first elections in Jun 1843. He set out to win the support of the working classes: 'They want something more than high flown nonsense, they want something to be done to give them meat and drink and work', he told the voters. He took part in the agitation for government action to relieve the colony's severe economic distress, and in April 1834, called a public meeting at which he made the novel suggestion that the colonists should petition the governor to close the law courts for six months. He also busied himself with building 40 cottages for his tenants so that they could qualify to vote for him. Because of his record and lack of education, the conservative press attacked him viciously in the campaign. His supporters linked his name to that of another candidate, Captain O'Connell, much to that gentleman's discomfiture. O'Connell's defeat was largely attributed to the percieved political alliance between himself with Robert. Robert finished at the bottom of the poll and renounced all future political ambition.

Robert's name figured frequently in the courts, where he seemed to have been adept at remaining within the letter of the law while occasionally evading its spirit. Appearing before the Legislative Council in September 1845, while that body sat in a tariff bill, Robert revealed, with unconscious humour, trade secrets as to illicit methods of distilling.

DEATH.
On Monday, the 25th instant, at Ormonde Lodge, Paddington, in his 81st year, of paralysis, Robert Cooper, sen., Esq., an old and much respected colonist, leaving a numerous circle of relatives and friends to deplore their loss.

FUNERAL.—The Friends of ROBERT COOPER, Sen., Esq., are respectfully invited to attend his funeral on FRIDAY MORNING, at 9 o'clock. The procession will move from his late residence, Ormonde Lodge, Paddington, to the family vault, Elizabeth-street South, at the above hour, precisely. CHARLES KINSELA, undertaker, Goulburn-street.