Passed away peacefully in Mildura on Monday May 18, 2026 aged 77 years. Dearly loved husband of Janette. Loving father and father-in-law of Matthew and Suzie, Calum and Bianca, and Ailia. Adored Grandpa of Milla, Cruz, Charlie, Emma, Jack, William, and Franklin.
A Memorial service to celebrate John’s life will be conducted at the Church of Christ corner Deakin Avenue and Tenth Street Mildura on Friday June 5, 2026 at 11.00am.
Tributes
Damian Wells
Dear Janette and family,
John was very generous to me. John accepted me for my Honours placement in the ‘NRE’ days. He asked me to contact local agricultural businesses regarding their use of newly established GPS base stations that enabled the early stages of precision agriculture. I learnt a lot.
Later, I did my thesis on Sunrise21. John took time to review some of my thesis and told me that I had some reasonable ideas however he said that I was a ‘terrible writer’. He told me to use shorter sentences and not hide the good stuff in the middle of the paragraph. Ultimately John played a key role in helping me land my first ‘proper’ job returning to Mildura after finishing University in Adelaide.
I worked on the environmental watering project for the Hattah Lakes and he was the biggest champion for using pumps to restore the water based ecological values of this critically important Murray floodplain wetland complex. So, like many land and water issues in the Mallee, what Cookie envisaged is what happened (led by others after I had moved to Bendigo).
At John’s retirement event he was presented with ‘John Cooke’s rules of the public service’. A key rule is that ‘the rules are the rules until you change the rules’.
My dad Richard often says that the ‘Merbein Common would still have no native vegetation if it wasn’t for Cookies mob changing the rules.
I will always be grateful for the time John gave me. I am sure that I never thanked him enough.
Sincerely
Damian Wells
Brendan Rodgers
Condolences to Janette and family. John was a great teacher and I enjoyed our conversations about the Mallee landscape. He taught me a lot over my journey and was incredibly intelligent man. Rest in peace John.
Max & Joan Polwarth
Joan and I had the pleasure of John’s company on a delegation to the MRCC’s sister city Kumatori in Japan in 1999. John was part of the Trade delegation, he made a significant contribution to the success of the visit and to the enjoyment of all involved. We kept in touch and are saddened by his passing.
Simon Cover and Vivienne Clare
Celebrating John Cooke
Dear Janette and family
Our sincere condolences on the recent passing of John – a leader and dedicated champion of the Mallee environment.
John’s skills and deep understanding of the Mallee was certainly unparallelled. He had a way of parting this knowledge onto us all – from the unique flora and fauna through to water, catchments and the semi-arid agricultural systems.
John ‘the Chef’ was always able to look at more than ‘Two Things’ and always understood the different perspectives that stakeholders would bring to the table to solve the environmental problems of the day.
John always wanted to get on with the work at hand, and we remember fondly his caring and friendly nature, his ‘Right O’ attitude, and his ability to deliver on ground results with the people that mattered.
All our love and sympathy
Simon Cover and Vivienne Clare
Stuart Putland
Dear Jeanette and family please take on my heartfelt condolences with your loss of John. My ten-year path from simply working with John to finding a true colleague was a real journey. Some words that I choose to describe that journey are:
Infuriating
Impatient
Irresistible
Incommensurable
Indefatigable
Ingenious
Invigorating
Illustrious
And ultimately, Invaluable.
Vale to the man who is known by my family as Doctor Doctor.