It’s a piece of rural history: a Cooper’s Masonite sign the likes of which will not be seen again. We can say that because we know it’s the lone survivor of only three that were made.
The advertising panel, which is a massive 3.6m wide x 1.8m high, promotes Cooper Veterinary Products. In oil-based enamel, the hand painted artwork depicts a pastoral scene with a stockman on horseback overseeing a flock of sheep, set against a rolling countryside backdrop and the slogan: ‘When buying veterinary products look for the Cooper Product Circle – your guarantee of quality’ with: ‘Trusted by Stockowners for Over Four Generations’ at the base.
The artwork was done by Steel & Co of Homebush, a Sydney-based commercial signwriting firm active through the 1950s and 1960s, and you can see the brushwork visible across the sheep and landscape. Made for the official reopening of the Dalgety store in Bourke following the 1954 flood, it was probably displayed inside or under shelter and its survival is exceptional: Masonite commercial panels were rarely preserved due to fragility and replacement by screen-printed signage in the 1960s.
Cooper & Nephews Ltd, a British veterinary pharmaceutical firm, operated extensively in Australia from the early 20th century, supplying rural merchants such as Dalgety & Co. Their advertising from the 1940s–1950s emphasised reliability, animal welfare, and pastoral trust—values mirrored in this artwork.
Dalgety & Company Limited, one of Australia’s largest pastoral agents and wool brokers, distributed Cooper products across its stores and regional agencies. The Cooper branding, paired with Dalgety’s reputation, positioned this sign as both promotional and symbolic—a visual endorsement of rural quality and generational trust.
This sign is a key surviving artefact of Australian rural trade display culture and it’s currently up for auction at Roadhouse Auctions of Oak Flats, NSW. Click on the link below to go directly to the bidding (it’s a timed online-only auction that closes on February 14):
