Robert Cooper (Australian businessman)

Robert Cooper (1777–1857) was an Australian businessman in the early Colonial era of Sydney, responsible for the construction of many notable buildings and commercial ventures.

Around 1819, he opened a shop in George Street opposite the Town Hall and was running trading ventures to Van Diemans Land in a small ship he bought.

Other ventures included milling flour and bread, cedar cutting, production of gunpowder, and weaving of cloth.

[6] He established Willeroo Station on the shore of Lake George, outside of Canberra Australia, and built Juniper Hall in Paddington at the time the largest house in the Colony of New South Wales.

His son Frederick Augustus (1834-1908), became a barrister and served as a member of both the New South Wales and Queensland legislatures, another Robert Cooper was Mayor of Ulladulla in 1896.