Mary Jane and Josiah Cocking
The Josiah Cocking Diaries spanning the years 1884-1960 have been place online through the Radical Newcastle Project.
Josiah Cocking was born on the 11th May 1867 at Kadina in South Australia and died on the 27th July 1960 aged 93 at Mayfield, New South Wales.
Mr Cocking was a miner and part of the early socialist and free-thought movement of Newcastle.
He lived for a time in Wallsend and Mayfield, and wrote much verse for the local papers of the time under such pseudonyms as “Dandelion” and “Capsicum”.
For a greater insight on the life and character of Josiah Cocking please view his biography in typescript (1.73Mb PDF file) or (496kB OCR PDF file) written by his son, Mr Arthur James Cocking (1916 – 1989).
The diaries and notebook papers of Mr Josiah Cocking were deposited in the Archives, Rare Books and Special Collections Unit (now Cultural Collections) of the University of Newcastle in November 1999 by Mr Keith Cocking. The shelf listing was completed on the 3rd March 2000 by Gionni di Gravio.
The above early photograph shows Josiah with his wife Mary Jane. In his biography of his father the late Mr Arthur James Cocking dedicated it to his
Mum (nee Mary Jane Anderson) who married him, variously tolerated him,
supported him, opposed him, cajoled him, coerced him, nursed him but steadfastly loved
him and bore him 8 children.
Special Collections, UON Library 
My great grandfather and great grandmother 🙂