Solomon Cook

[8] To complete the job, Solomon Cook is credited with having made a pile driving machine or monkey from colonial materials which was larger than usual, being 8 feet square.

[9] He obtained a "Publican's Spirit Licence" on 11 February 1851 for a pub called the "Dusty Miller" in a building which still exists in Christie Retreat (at the rear of 158 Avon Tce).

"The architect is Mr Solomon Cook, and both the workmanship and design are such as do no discredit to that individual's established reputation for ingenuity and skill.

[19][20][21][22] A correspondent reported in May 1853: "Mr S. Cook's steam engine, constructed on an entirely new principle, was set to work, on trial, on Tuesday last, and appeared fully to answer the expectations formed of it".

[24] In her book, An Australian Parsonage, Janet Millet refers to Solomon Cook's steam engine: "They manfully hammered a lot of old tire-iron into the form of a boiler and actually succeeded in making their engine grind corn but it was so noisy over its work and devoured such a large quantity of fuel that it soon wore out its own constitution and became useless".

[25] The mill appears in an engraving in the London Illustrated News based on a drawing by Captain Edward Henderson.

[27] The mill with weathervane and cockerel also appears in a drawing by Richard Goldsmith Meares, which was most likely drawn after his retirement in March 1858.

[28] Solomon Cook moved to the Swan River and continued to build steam engines for boats.

He was one of the first men to start business as a wheelwright, coach-builder and iron-founder in Perth, on part of the land now occupied by Myers in Wellington Street.