Constance Mary Ternent Cooke

Constance Mary Ternent Cooke (9 February 1882 – 2 April 1967) was an Australian Indigenous rights activist.

Early and family life Constance Mary Ternent Cooke was born the fifth child of Sussette (née Gameau) and Percival Edward Hoare. She and her sisters were educated at home.

Between 1898 and 1902, Cooke taught at the Somersal House Preparatory School, Stepney. The school was supervised by her second cousin Constance Mary Benham. On a 1926 fact-finding visit to Central Australia and the Hermannsburg Mission, Cooke was shocked at the Indigenous peoples' living conditions.

Cooke served for three years as the president of South Australia's Women's Non-Party Association (WNPA). The WNPA was formed in 1909 as the Women's Political Association. The name was changed to the Women's Non-Party Political Association before ending on the WNPA. It was wound up in 1979 to allow the Women's Electoral Lobby to continue the work. As a member of the WNPA, Cooke was appointed the convenor of the Aborigines’ welfare committee. In 1929 with assistance from the WPNA, she became the second woman appointed to the Advisory Council of Aborigines. Ida McKay had been appointed in 1927. The work of Cooke, McKay and the WNPA resulted in the inclusion of legislation protecting indigenous girls and women in the 1939 Aborigines Act.

Cooke was appointed MBE in 1964 for her work for Aboriginal protection and welfare.

Death In 1957, Cooke moved to Sydney after the death of her husband, to be near to her family. She died at Turramurra, Sydney in 1967.