Samuel Cocks

Many of the old photos that we see of our local landscape and family portraits are the work of renowned local photographer Samuel Cocks. Photographic art was introduced to Kiama in the 1860s by travelling photographers who used the wet plate method. Samuel Cocks was a professional photographer who operated a photographic studio in Manning Street, Kiama, from the 1890s to the 1920s. Copies of his scenic photographs were used in numerous postcards and tourist publications of the era. Samuel Cocks was born in Bathurst in 1870 - the fifth of seven children. The Cocks family moved to Kiama in 1882, and ran a general store in Manning Street. Samuel apprenticed with Richard Henry Holden in his Manning Street photography business, and eventually took over the business, in 1898, when Henry Holden left the area. The photography studio was located right next door to The Grand Hotel.

Postcards were a common way of communicating before the telephone was introduced, and Samuel produced many postcards during the early 1900s. It would usually take about a day for a postcard to be delivered locally. As with today, postcards were also a popular souvenir for visitors. Many of Samuel's scenic photographs around Kiama were used in tourist publications, too.

A significant amount of Samuel Cocks's business involved photographing dairy cattle belonging to local farmers. Some of these photographs were used by Francis (Frank) McCaffrey in his publications 'First Century of Dairying' (1909) and 'History of Illawarra and its Pioneers' (1924). With the success of his business, in 1909 Samuel Cocks purchased a block of land in Manning Street and built a house. The new house was completed in 1912, and was named 'Warraween' (the house still exist today and is currently being restored). Not long after, Samuel married Elizabeth 'Bessie' Emma Hindmarsh, the third daughter of Robert Hindmarsh. They had one son, Seldon Cocks, born in 1913. Seldon worked in the family business from the 1930s, but instead of photography he repaired and sold radios. Samuel Cocks died in Kiama Hospital in 1948.

The Cocks Collection comprises over 800 glass plate negatives, taken by Samuel Cocks and other local photographers, depicting the landscape, architecture and people of Kiama and the surrounding South Coast district. The collection was deposited with the Wollongong University Archives in the early 1980s, on loan from the Weston family of Kiama.

'Views of Kiama 1890s' Photographer Samuel Cocks

Kiama township and harbour. Photographer Samuel Cocks

Kiama Blowhole chasm. Photographer Samuel Cocks

Seven Mile Beach, Gerroa. Photographer Samuel Cocks