He held the seat until his defeat in 1964,[1] when he was demoted to third place on the ballot paper to make way for Western Australian Labor Party Vice-President John Wheeldon.

They later returned to Perth where he completed his education at the Thomas Street State School in Subiaco.

[1] In 1921, Cooke joined Western Australian Government Railways and Tramways as a clerk in the audit and accounts branch.

His first term was cut short by a double dissolution and he failed to retain his seat at the 1951 election, however in February 1952 he was instead appointed to fill a casual vacancy caused by the death of his ALP colleague Richard Nash.

The couple had five children, living for periods in Maylands and Leederville before settling in the old lighthouse’s cottage in North Beach in 1952.