Constance Mary Ternent Cooke was born the fifth child of Sussette (née Gameau) and Percival Edward Hoare.

Her activism in this area has been critiqued by Anna Cole as a feminised form of racialism, which is understood through the concept of white feminism.

[2] On a 1926 fact-finding visit to Central Australia and the Hermannsburg Mission, Cooke was shocked at the Indigenous peoples' living conditions.

The work of Cooke, McKay and the WNPA resulted in the inclusion of legislation protecting indigenous girls and women in the 1939 Aborigines Act.

[4] In August 1930, Cooke was a delegate at the Pan-Pacific Union Conference in Honolulu representing the Australian Federation of Women Voters.