Cecil Cook

Cecil Evelyn Aufrere (Mick) Cook (23 September 1897 – 4 July 1985) was an Australian physician and medical administrator, who specialised in tropical diseases and public health. He was appointed as Chief Medical Officer and Protector of Aborigines for the Northern Territory in 1927. He established much of the infrastructure of the public health system there, including four hospitals, a tuberculosis clinic, a nursing school and the Nurses’ Board of North Australia. He started the Northern Territory Aerial Medical Service together with Dr Clyde Fenton, and he was founding chairman of the Northern Territory Medical Board.

Cook served in the Army Medical Service from 1940 to 1945 where he increased the level of hygiene within the troops through education. He became the Commissioner of Public Health in Western Australia in 1946 and then joined the National Health and Medical Research Committee in Canberra in 1950 where he was able to contribute to public health.

He was controversial for his attempts to "uplift the morality" of Aboriginal people by "breeding out the colour". For later writers he has "come to personify ideologies, policies and practices of government that seem at best misguided and at worst cruel and racist".

Early life and education

Cook was born on 23 September 1897 in Bexhill, Sussex, England. His mother was Emily (née Puckle), and he had an older brother, Errol Aufrere, who was born in 1895. His father, James Whiteford Murray Cook, moved to Australia soon after Cecil was born after being advised to relocate to a warmer climate due to a serious ear infection,

Northern Australia Appointment

He was appointed the Chief Medical Officer, Chief Health Officer, Chief Protector of Aborigines and Quarantine Officer for North Australia (then separate from Central Australia, later the Northern Territory) on 1 March 1927. For the first six months he was the only medical practitioner in the state, and after that he focused on establishing a public health system. From 1929 to 1939, he established general hospitals at Katherine, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, a hospital outside Darwin to treat leprosy, a training school for nurses, a tuberculosis clinic and a medical benefit fund. He also commenced infant welfare services and founded the Nurses’ Board of North Australia in this time. In 1934 he joined forces with Dr Clyde Fenton to launch the Northern Territory Aerial Medical Service under the umbrella of the Australian Aerial Medical Service, which later became the (Royal) Flying Doctor Service. and he could not see them being able to marry a white man and therefore their children would be costly to the government. Cook went on further to ask the Crown Law Officer if he had the power to give consent for a "half-caste's" sterilisation.

In his role as Chief Protector, Cook extended his duties to the criminal justice system. In a 1934 tribal spearing case an aboriginal man, Tucker, was sentenced to the death penalty but was let free of his charges after Cook fought for the case to be taken to the high court. This did not take place, but the miners were banned from entering settled areas.

The Bagot Aboriginal Reserve and the Kahlin Compound

Cecil Cook continued to advocate for the assimilation of "half-castes" and Aborigines into white society. In 1935 he requested the government erect residential areas for Aboriginals in a policy proposal that urged the government to integrate "half-caste" and Aboriginal society. Through his assimilation policy, Cook found employments for the female "half-caste" residents in private homes, as trainee nurses and in the Compound and other similar homes where they worked before becoming married. Cook publicly supported Chief Censor Walter Cresswell O'Reilly of the Commonwealth Censorship Board. Cook had already restricted Aboriginal access to the cinemas to two nights a week and banned attending the circus altogether. In addition to their restricted access, Cook further organised for a permit and identification system for Aborigines and "half-castes" to present when attending the cinema.

Cook irritated Alice Springs residents by urging them to allow Aboriginal patients in a proposed hospital and by allowing a Catholic mission. He also sought to protect "full-bloods" from unauthorised visitors. However, he generally opposed church missions and favoured assimilation. Hence, when it came to Aboriginal people he argued for "breeding them out" and stated:

He also instituted the "dog tag" system of fingerprinting and medical examination of Aboriginal people.

Involvement in public health

Cecil Cook joined the Army Medical Service in 1940. He served as RMO 2 Armoured Regiment and Lecturer in Military Hygiene in Sydney until 1941. From 1941 to 1943 Cook was a malaria pathologist for the 2/12 AGH, AIF.

Awards and recognition

1935 - CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) 1936 - Cilento medal