Profile Text
Birth Name: Quade Santini Cooper
Place of Birth: Auckland, New Zealand
Date of Birth: 5 April, 1988
Ethnicity: Māori, English, some Scottish, Irish, and Cornish
Quade Cooper is a New Zealand-born Australian rugby union player and coach, and boxer. A fly-back, fullback, and centre, he played for East Coast Aces, Brisbane City, Toulon, and Hanazono Kintetsu Liners. He also played for Queensland Reds and Melbourne Rebels in super rugby, the Australia national team, and the Australia national sevens team. He has been an attack coach for Kintetsu Liners.
Quade’s mother is named Ruhia. She was eighteen when Quade was born. His biological father left when he was six months years old. Quade was raised in Tokoroa, New Zealand, by his mother and stepfather, David Jones. He moved to Brisbane, New South Wales, Australia, when he was thirteen. Quade was given Australian citizenship in 2022.
Quade is a cousin of rugby union players Cheyenne Campbell and Sean Maitland.
Quade’s paternal grandfather was Nesbit Neho Cooper (the son of Wiremu Kape Cooper and Ngahuia Rewiri Hune Peketua Hirini/Wharetomokia). Wiremi was born in Orakau, Auckland, the son of Aperahama Kopa II, who was of half English and half Māori descent, with a paternal grandfather from Dorset; and of Matehaere Hana Pera Tunua, who was Māori. Quade’s great-grandmother Ngahuia was born in Waimate North, North Island, the daughter of Rewiri Ngapua Wharetomokia Hirini, who was Māori; and of Katerina Te Ringawhati Ngawati Edmonds, whose own paternal grandparents were from Swanage, Dorset, England, and whose own mother was Māori. Katerina was a sister of Alfred Hamlin Edmonds, who was the maternal grandfather of politician Nanaia Mahuta . This makes Quade and Nanaia second cousins, twice removed.
Quade’s paternal grandmother was Millie Te Mairae/Miria Harry/Eramiha (the daughter of Wiremu Matiroa/Materoa Eramiha Neho/Hare and Te Auwe/Auē Theresa Eramiha Neho). Millie was born in Awarua, Northland, New Zealand, and was of mostly Māori ancestry. Wiremu was born in Rakautao, Bay Of Islands, the son of Hare Eramiha Neho and Ngapera Taupaki Cassidy. Quade’s great-grandmother Te Auwe was born in Awarua Bay Of Islands, the daughter of Remana Paki Neho, whose paternal grandfather was a minister from Penzance, Cornwall, England; and of Ngapera Taupaki Cassidy, whose paternal grandfather was from Navan, County Meath, Ireland.
Quade’s maternal grandfather’s surname is Jenner.
Quade’s maternal grandmother is Carole Menzies (the daughter of Robert Bruce Menzies and Audrey Beryl Fowler). Carol was born in Lautoka, Fiji. Robert was the son of Robert Menzies, whose parents were Scottish, from Renfrewshire; and of Dorace Mae Huia Faulkner, who was of English, with roots in Whitby in Yorkshire, Nottingham, and Manchester, and one quarter Māori, ancestry. Quade’s great-grandmother Audrey was the daughter of English parents, Francis Henry Fowler, from Lancashire, and Doris Amelia Yallop, from Tottenham.
Quade’s maternal four times great-grandfather, John Lees Faulkner, was a prominent English-born trader, shipbuilder, and farmer. He was deported as convict to Tasmania, Australia, at twelve, and later settled in New Zealand, where he married a Māori woman.
Sources: https://www.nzherald.co.nz
Family history of Quade Cooper – https://www.dailymail.co.uk
Genealogy of Quade Cooper (focusing on his father’s side) – https://www.geni.com
Genealogy of Quade’s father (through his own sister) – https://www.familysearch.org
Genealogy of Quade’s maternal great-grandfather, Robert Bruce Menzies (through his sister) (focusing on his own mother’s side) – https://www.geni.com
Information about Quade’s maternal ancestor, Lees John Faulkner – https://teara.govt.nz