A gentle man who brought colour into people’s lives
Vale Antony John (Tony) Cooper, 1934 – 2024, Entrepreneur, Fashion Designer, Tailor, Interior Decorator, Businessman, Developer, Natural Health Exponent in Vibration Medicine and Colour Harmonics.
Tony, one of four boys, was born in London before the war but moved with the family to Kent in 1945. He later moved with his mother and brother Bob to the Channel Island of Jersey in 1954. Here he demonstrated early entrepreneurial skills when he used his experience and interest in men’s clothing, fashion design and sewing to open his own bespoke men’s wear store, High Style Menswear.
This risk-taking, can-do behaviour was to define his life, while design, colour and fashion became enduring elements of many later ventures. However, his combination of design and sewing skills resulted in a somewhat unique relationship he had with his two daughters, Shiralee and Tina. He designed and made clothing for them from toddlers through to their teens and later their wedding gowns.
In 1967, along with his wife Marion, daughters, Shiralee and Tina, and adopted son, Richard, Tony resettled in Australia. After initially renting, the family quickly settled in The Gap, Brisbane where Tony opened an interior decorating business, High Style Interiors. During these years, he became aware of the role of colour in psychology, as a non-intrusive therapy and natural healing modality. While pursuing this interest, Tony was on the lookout for business opportunities.
On a visit to the Sunshine Coast, Tony saw an old motel and service station in poor repair and purchased the joint businesses. Within a year Tony had renovated the entire building and created a modern caravan park with all the amenities as well as a huge aviary.
The family spent a few years in Eumundi where Tony bred Arab horses at Viscount Stud.
He predicted skating would take off and invested in Sunskate in Caloundra, soon followed by Westworld in Burnside.
Tony and Marion were living in Mapleton when a few vacant blocks came up for sale near the school where Tony established a modern service station, café, gift store, ceramic studio and more. These businesses evolved and consolidated over time and now operate under the current owners, the Anderson family.
However, Tony’s interest in natural healing, particularly in vibrational medicine and colour harmonics matured, and Tony and Marion launched Aura Light at Unicornis, Mapleton.
In 1999, Tony published his definitive work, Colour the Cosmic Code, in which he established the philosophy and foundation of beliefs on the properties of colour and called on ancient and current truths that underpin its use in association with vibrational medicine. As this business grew, Tony was invited to speak to numerous groups and undertook lecture tours to a range of European countries, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and Australia.
Tony and Marion returned to Australia in 2002, building a home, Sun Valley, at 29 Manley Drive, Montville in 2004. Then, in 2015, they built their third Montville home at 3/39 Gaden Road and Tony scaled back the business as he planned to semi-retire.
Few people on the Blackall Range would be aware of his achievements and his early successes in fashion and design and his vision to take on new challenges.
However, everyone will remember Tony walking his beautiful, almost regal Salukis, Earl and Ella, and later Leah, down Main Street in Montville and around Lily Ponds in Mapleton.
Tony will be remembered as a gentle man who brought colour into the lives of so many.
– Doug Patterson, Montville History Group
