Kenneth Cook was a prolific Australian journalist, film director, screenwriter, TV personality and novelist best known for his works Wake in Fright, which is still in print five decades after its first publication, and the humorous Killer Koala trilogy.

Born in Lakemba, New South Wales

Lakemba, New South Wales

Lakemba is a suburb in south-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Lakemba is located 15 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Canterbury....

, Cook attended Fort Street High School

Fort Street High School

Fort Street High School is a co-educational, academically selective, public high school currently located at Petersham, an inner western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....

. After leaving school he worked around Australia in a variety of jobs including laboratory technician, journalist and television documentary-maker and boatshed operator.

In 1966, with businessman Gordon Barton

Gordon Barton

Gordon Page Barton was a quixotic Australian businessman and political activist.He was born in Surabaya, Java, Dutch East Indies of a Dutch mother and Australian father...

, Cook founded a new political party, the Liberal Reform Group

Liberal Reform Group

The Liberal Reform Group, later known as the Australian Reform Movement, was a minor Australian political party and predecessor to the Australia Party, which in turn was a predecessor to the Australian Democrats...

. Cook was vehemently opposed to the Vietnam War, and stood (unsuccessfully) as an LRG candidate for the seat of Parramatta

Electoral results for the Division of Parramatta

This is a list of electoral results for the Division of Parramatta in Australian federal elections from the division's creation in 1901 until the present.-Members:-Elections in the 2010s:-Elections in the 2000s:...

 in the 1966 federal election.

A keen amateur lepidopterist

Lepidopterist

A lepidopterist is a person who specialises in the study of Lepidoptera, members of an order encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...

, Cook established the first butterfly farm in Australia on the banks of Sydney's Hawkesbury River

Hawkesbury River

The Hawkesbury River, also known as Deerubbun, is one of the major rivers of the coastal region of New South Wales, Australia. The Hawkesbury River and its tributaries virtually encircle the metropolitan region of Sydney.-Geography:-Course:...

 in the 1970s.

Cook was married to Patricia Hickie, with whom he had four children, Megan (an accomplished journalistic-style writer in her own right whose surname was Gressor), Kerry, Paul and Anthony. He and Patricia were subsequently divorced. Kenneth Cook died of a heart attack in 1987, aged 57, while on a camping trip with his second wife, Jacqueline Kent. Patricia Cook died suddenly in 2006; daughter Megan Gressor died unexpectedly from post-operative complications in 2007, aged 52; his youngest son Anthony, a prominent lawyer who was well known for his work with indigenous Australians, took his own life in April 2009.

Several of Cook's novels were adapted for the screen. Wake in Fright

Wake in Fright

Wake in Fright is a 1971 Australian film directed by Ted Kotcheff and starring Gary Bond, Donald Pleasence and Chips Rafferty. The screenplay was written by Evan Jones, based on Kenneth Cook’s 1961 novel of the same name....

was filmed in 1971 by Ted Kotcheff

Ted Kotcheff

Ted Kotcheff , sometimes credited as William Kotcheff or William T. Kotcheff, is a Canadian film and television director, who is well known for his work on several high-profile British television productions and as a director of films such as First Blood.-Early life:Kotcheff was born William...

, starring Donald Pleasence

Donald Pleasence

Sir Donald Henry Pleasence, OBE, was a British actor who gained more than 200 screen credits during a career which spanned over four decades...

 and Gary Bond

Gary Bond

Gary Bond was an English film and television actor.-Biography:Bond was born in Liss, Hampshire, England....

 (released under the title Outback in Europe and the US). Stockade was filmed by Ross McGregor

Ross McGregor

Ross McGregor is a Republican member of the Ohio House of Representatives, representing the 72nd District since 2005. He is the Chairman of the Transportation Subcommittee of the House Finance and Appropriations Committee.-Career:...

 and Hans Pomeranz, also in 1971. In 1976 The Bushranger was made into a telemovie, starring Leonard Teale

Leonard Teale

Leonard Teale AO , born Leonard George Thiele in Brisbane, was a well-known Australian actor of radio, television and films....

, John Hamblin

John Hamblin

John Hamblin is an Australian children's television presenter and actor, best known for presenting Play School from 1970 to 1999.Hamblin grew up in Suffolk, England, and did his national service in Cyprus before returning to England to become an actor...

 and Kate Fitzpatrick

Kate Fitzpatrick

Kate Fitzpatrick is an Australian-based television, film and theatre actress.-Career:...

.

Cook also wrote one episode of the Australian TV children's adventure series The Rovers

The Rovers (TV series)

The Rovers was an Australian ocean-based family adventure television show originally screened 1969 - 1970 on the 0-Ten network.Produced by NLT Productions, the series starred Rowena Wallace, Edward Hepple, Noel Trevarthen and Grant Seiden....

(1970)

In 2007 Cook's novel The Man Underground was adapted as a radio drama by ABC Radio National

A 72-minute audio interview with Cook by Hazel de Berg was recorded in 1972, in which he discusses his family, his work for the ABC, the background to Wake in Fright, his ventures into film production and his novels. The interview is preserved in the collection of the National Library of Australia

Cook's literary estate is managed by Curtis Brown Australia

External links

• Kenneth Cook summary by Jan Wositsky of program on Radio National (ABC)