Walter Cooper

Walter Cooper was an actor, a journalist, a barrister, a parliamentarian and a one-time bankrupt. This colourful and successful author of comedies, farces and sensation drama was the first Australian playwright to have his work produced overseas. Colonial Experience, one of only two plays which survive, is a comedy of early Australian manners. When Cooper wrote this play in 1868 he was parliamentary reporter on the Sydney Morning Herald.

Eric Irvin was on the editorial staff of the same paper from 1962 to 1973. He has written extensively on colonial theatre in Australia including the books Theatre Comes to Australia, A Dictionary of Australian Theatre and Gentleman George, King Of Melodrama : The Theatrical Life And Times Of George Darrell.