Bernardine and Barry Cooper are known as local cricketing royalty in the Lismore area. Barry, as President of Lismore District Junior Cricket Association, has overseen a dramatic improvement in the skill level of children playing cricket in the past twenty years. He was behind the popular switch to playing the Unders 16s on Friday afternoons after school, which allowed the kids to play on turf wickets. Berni has for the past five years been the organiser of the biggest cricket carnival in Australia, the Under 12s Lismore Cricket Carnival played on turf wickets annually in January.

They have lived in Corndale for more than 28 years, and nearly all their children have played cricket. Their 32-year-old son Tom, who started off in Lismore District Junior Cricket, played an impressive role in Melbourne Renegades’ finals victory against Melbourne Stars in the recent Twenty20 Big Bash League final. It was close for the Renegades with a 13-run victory and Tom scored the most runs for his team with 43 runs not out – one third of the runs for the whole team. Tom also plays in the nation's first-class cricket competition, the Sheffield Shield. He represents South Australia and has played for Australia A.

“It was a real up and down game,” remarked Berni of the Big Bash final, “It was a nail-biter that had me on the edge of my seat. It's hard when it's your son out there. The fact that the Renegades got that result and he was a part of it was amazing for me as his mother and a spectator.”

Tom Cooper played a match-winning innings for the Melbourne Renegades in the Big Bash League final. Photo: Melbourne Renegades / Twitter

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Son Ben, 27, who returned home to play for Marist Brothers in the Hooker League last Summer, lives and plays cricket in The Netherlands. He started playing club cricket in Amsterdam and then made the national side. The Netherlands is an associate nation within the International Cricket Association.

At the time of this interview, Ben was playing T20 cricket in India for the Dutch national side, getting ready for the T20 World Cup qualifiers.

Ben and Tom Cooper celebrate a wicket for The Netherlands. Photo: Supplied

Barry takes up a stance of defending T20 in the discussion about traditional Test Cricket versus the newer T20 form. There has been a lot of debate between cricket enthusiasts regarding whether the new play of cricket detracts from the overall game.

“It’s like anything. You must go where the demand is. If you’re not a keen cricketer, you would probably enjoy yourself more at a T20 game. It doesn’t take as long and is all over in three hours.”

They have one son who is not a cricketer – Sam (28). “We call him the nerdy boy because he got a computer degree, and now he works for Apple. He’s a gamer and lives with other gamers.”

They also have a daughter Kate, 30, who works as a school learning support officer at Clunes Public School, where Berni also works as an office manager. They still have two children living with them - Jack and Rachel, who are 17-year-old twins. “They’re in their final year at St John's College, Woodlawn. Jack still plays cricket, and Rachel finished up last season.”

Rachel Cooper was part of the first all-girls team, Far North Coast Sixers, at the Under 12 Lismore Cricket Carnival. Photo: Berni Cooper

Jack, who captains the St John's College, Woodlawn, all-conquering cricket team, represented Queensland Under 17 at the 2017 National Championships and is in his third season with the Gold Coast Dolphins and has been selected in First Grade this season. He wants to play State Cricket like older brother Tom.

Jack Cooper, who captains the successful St John's College, Woodlawn side, plays a shot representing Queensland Under 17s. Photo: Berni Cooper

Recent additions to the Cooper family include grandchildren Natasha (9) and Rosalie (six), mothered by Kate, who currently stay with Berni and Barry. Tom’s first child is also due in March.

Bernardine and Barry met somewhat circumstantially at the Victoria Hotel in Goondiwindi in Queensland. Barry grew up in Wollongong and went to Wollongong University to study his Bachelor of Education. He was appointed to his first teaching position at Toomelah, an old Aboriginal mission and he lived in Boggabilla.

Barry went to the hotel for a couple of drinks and to meet a girl called Bernadette. She stood poor Barry up. However, Bernardine was at the hotel and they got to meet.

“I asked what her name was, and she said Bernardine. I said “well, that’s close enough.””

Bernardine Cooper was born at Lake Santini in the Netherlands New Guinea, which is the western half of New Guinea. Now part of Indonesia, Netherlands New Guinea was part of the East Indies under the control of the Netherlands kingdom from 1949 to 1962. Berni's father escaped Holland during WWII and joined the RAF. He was based in Singapore and met her mother in Indonesia after WWII.

 Indonesia had gained independence after World War II and Indonesian nationalists claimed Netherlands New Guinea and all of what was the East Indies as part of their natural sovereign territory.

Berni and her family were forced to flee from the territorial conflict and they went back to Holland in 1962. Berni’s father didn’t enjoy the climate back in Europe, so the family decided to move to Australia in 1964. 

However, the White Australia policy was in place, which excluded people of non-European and non-Protestant origin applying for citizenship until 1973. Berni, her mother and brother weren’t allowed to come into the country due to their Indonesian birth, whilst her father and sister were allowed in because they were born in The Netherlands. They fought the decision and immigration relented to allow Berni and her mother and brother into the country on sympathetic grounds.

On arrival, Berni and her family stayed at an immigrant camp out in the far western suburbs of Sydney near Windsor for the first few months in Australia. Her parents bought a motel in Amberley, near Ipswich,Queensland, near the RAAF base. 

“I remember driving from Sydney up to Queensland, and there was a lot of tall trees and bushland. Also I remember it wasn’t green like Holland was,” said Berni.

Moving to Corndale and running carnivals

Berni and Barry married in 1984 and lived in Wollongong where Tom and Kate were born. The couple moved from the Wollongong area to Corndale in 1990 where they would stay as a stable family unit.

Barry laughs, “It’s actually Tom’s fault we all got into cricket.” Tom was seven at the time he began playing cricket when he signed up with some other kids to play under-12s cricket.

Barry got involved in 1996 with cricket through Lismore District Junior Cricket Association with such figures as Gail Foran, who ran the Lismore Under 12 cricket carnival for many years, and people like John McMahon, Roger Boyd and Ralph Gregory.

“Once Gail was finished, we encouraged junior clubs to run the carnivals, so any profit they made could be put back into their clubs. It was reasonable because you make some money out of the carnival from sponsorship, registration and lunches," said Barry.

“We had Marist Brothers Club do it for a while, as well as Goonellabah. John McMahon then ran it for a number of years, and then Berni came on board.”

Berni has organised the carnival for the past five years with the assistance of LDJCA and Lismore City Council events management unit. A typical day for Berni running the carnival consists of early starts, uncovering the wickets, taking food deliveries for lunch, meeting teams, getting umpires on the ground, helping out players and coaches with their queries, taking photos of kids and looking after them, helping make lunches, then talking with families and everyone else. 

“Then we would prepare in the evening and do the same thing the next day for the next four days. There would also be adjustments that were needed if it rained.”

Berni Cooper at the Unders 12 Lismore Cricket Carnival in January. Photo: Berni Cooper

Issues with current behaviour in Australian Cricket

At this point, Barry allows some disappointment to show through about incidents in recent years of Australian cricket.

“There’s been all that stuff going on in Australian cricket such as the sandpapering incident in South Africa. For me personally, I will have difficulty supporting the Australian cricket team if David Warner gets selected again. I think we’ve only scratched the tip of what’s going on, and the worst thing about it is that younger Australian cricketers mimic the behaviour of the sledging and histrionics.”

“With Associate cricket, the Dutch players all stay at the same hotel as the other teams during a tournament. They have meals together and have a much more sports-like environment.”

“In many ways, the women are playing a much more honest game in Australia and still follow the sort of traditional ethics of our cricketing culture, what with sportsmanship, respect and managing egos.

They play cricket the way it’s supposed to be played – without scandals.”

“In comparison, Australian Women’s cricket is really coming up. I feel the Australian women’s team is in many ways performing better than the men’s. Women’s cricket has exploded in Australia and now women are getting paid a modest living for their cricketing capabilities, which is great to see.”

“There’s lots of young girls out there playing cricket who have a pathway, thanks to the current women’s team as role models. There’s a young woman from Clunes called Sammy-Jo Johnston who plays up the Gold Coast now who is doing exceptionally well.”

Berni adds onto these recent episodes of hazing in cricket.

“It’s really interesting because I ran the under 12’s carnival for five years, but this year I had two teams contact me from Sydney prior to the carnival. They said there had been some sledging recently that was not acceptable between 11-year-old kids.”

“Sledging” is essentially bullying and intimidation, either with body language, eye contact and verbal language that is still considered inappropriate by cricket gatekeepers like Berni and Barry.

“The manner outside of cricket could be called the sport of life has taken a bit of a hit, and needs to be re-established and reinforced,” finishes Barry.

Present days

Barry Cooper, as President of Lismore District Cricket Association, presents a medal at the Under 12s Lismore Cricket Carnival. Photo: Berni Cooper

Barry muses over the question presented of what is happening now and what comes next.

“It was an impacting sort of moment when we had the twins. Things might have been different if we didn’t have them. We might not be talking to you right now. We might be divorced, or Berni might be looking at me thinking “Is this as good as it gets?”, or we might be sitting down in Adelaide with our next grandchildren. Who knows?”

One thing is for certain, both Barry and Berni are both ready to take a step back from cricket and are getting ready to relax outside of working commitments.

Barry now works as a casual teacher in rural primary schools like Dunoon and Modanville, after his duties as Principal at Modanville Primary School finished in July 2017. He had taught at Modanville in a full-time capacity for nine years and previously taught at Corndale for 20 years.

“I’m at the point now where the twins are 17, and I’m ready to take a step back. There’s lots of other younger people coming who are ready to take the reins. I’m a bit of a homebody, so I’ll probably potter around the farm a bit.”

When asked what comes next for her, Berni replies and laughs “Holidays! New Zealand, Scandinavia, where-ever. We’ve been busy with cricket and carnivals for many years. It's time for family life and I feel it’s time for a nice break.”

Berni and Barry are currently planning with some of their family to spend three months in Holland to take a well-deserved break after more than two lives worth of cricket.