• Entry type: Person
  • Entry ID: AWE0811

Cope, Madeleine (Madge)

  • Maiden name Rooke, Madge
(1904 – 2001)
  • Occupation Activist, Unionist

Summary

Unionist and activist Madge Cope was born in Yorkshire and migrated to Australia in 1915, aged 11. With her parents and two brothers she settled on a farm in Carnamah. She later married her neighbour, Harold Cope, and the pair had four children. Cope himself was born to an English father and an Australian mother.

During wartime, the Copes sold pies at Victoria Park. They grew tomatoes at Geraldton, then Guildford, where they also sold flowers. In 1966, while driving on a gravel road, Madge lost control on a bend and hit a truck. Harold was thrown from the vehicle and died on the road after telling the truck driver to look after his wife, who was trapped in the car.

Madge became involved with the Communist Party in Guildford, and was made a life member of the Guildford Association. She joined the Peace Movement and the Union of Australian Women. She also wrote short stories, two of which were published in the magazine Our Women. Madge died in 2001, aged 97 years.

Archival resources

  • State Library of Western Australia
    • [Interview with Madge Cope] [sound recording] / [interviewed by Linda Coleman].
    • [Interview with Madge Cope] [sound recording] / [interviewed by Stuart Reid]
    • [Interview with Madge Cope] [sound recording] / [interviewed by Sally Speed]
    • Records, 1938-1973 [manuscript]

Published resources

Related entries


  • Membership
    • Union of Australian Women. Western Australian Branch (1950 - 1973)
  • Member
    • Women's International League for Peace and Freedom - Western Australian Branch (1933 - )