Liz Cooper runs the Elephant’s Trunk shop in an arcade off Ocean Street, Victor Harbor, and in many ways she is rarer than its namesake, an elephyas maximus. The difference is that she has a longer memory.
For 40 years she has sold old wares that seemingly an elephant would also struggle to remember us using, but most of all Elizabeth Ellen Cooper, OAM, aged 82, and at 4ft 10in, has remained a walking treasure.
Remarkably, next month represents her 60th year in this region filled with admirable achievements and a contribution to the community including as South Australia’s first female auctioneer, our first female valuer, 20 years on council, 50 years with the South Coast Choral & Arts Society of which she is patron, a foundation member of the local Zonta club, 46 years in real estate, and her name etched on the hearts of football, yachting, netball and you-name-it clubs and associations.
Yet, for all of her amazing kindness and effort, the number of houses she either sold or belted the hammer down as an auctioneer, and her stroll through our local history, the most extraordinary achievement by Liz has been over the past three years recovering from a bad fall when she split her nose, split her sternum which is still sore, and broke her shoulder in five places, her collarbone, scapula and both arms. It has been a great effort in learning to walk again, yet she still shuffles into the Elephant’s Trunk in Ocean Court four or five times a week.
“We started the business in the old Gaetjen’s building on the corner, and it was always ran by senior ladies who didn’t want to stay home watching paint dry; it was their social life,” Liz recalls. “I’ve got to the stage where I don’t want to see it dry either.”
But there are no tears here, and despite her immense pain from her fall, indeed the sadness of losing her husband, Ron, in 2008 after his nine-year battle linked with a heart transplant, Liz declares lots of things that have been good in her life happened by accident too.
“Too right; and I could not have been luckier in choosing my husband,” she says. “And we had children who have all been so special and gave us 10 grandchildren including two sets of twins.”
From there the memories flowed. “I have always been an avid collector of rubbish from the age of eight,” she adds with a broad smile.
“When I was 10 I lined the tennis courts with my dad at Morphett Vale where we lived, and I looked down and there was this red stone in the gravel. I tied it in the corner of my handkerchief and when I got home I showed it to my mother who said, ‘oh it is probably a bit of glass dear’. But I kept it until I turned 30 and I went to the local jeweller. I said to him I didn’t care if it was glass; I want it in a setting.”
Of course, it was a magnificent ruby, and the ring was handed down to a daughter on the announcement of her engagement.
“I used to collect all sorts of weird things, and my mother was forever saying ‘go and clean out your room’ as mothers do,” Liz said. “As I got older I got better stuff.
“We try to be very particular what we buy. The antique trade is nowhere near as good as it used to be… a lot have gone out of business in the city. What has changed is the internet; that’s just stealing our trade. We don’t make a profit in here; we just make enough to pay our rent, our rates and water.
“I have made a lot of friends in this shop. It’s like the confessional in here some days.”
Among the close friends is Carlien Clifford, who runs part of the shop. “We also have an old boy who comes in here and helps at times,” Liz said. With the girls both aged 82, we didn’t ask how old he was. Maybe he will have better luck selling an unusual light that could have looked good on the Casablanca movie set, which Liz regards as the most unusual item in the Elephant’s Trunk in 40 years. “He’s special,” she says.
Reflecting on her amazing life, Liz, who earned an OAM for her contribution to the community, local government and the arts, said her most enjoyable years were in real estate. “It was like poker,” she said. “You never knew what hand you would be dealt, but in nearly every case the people were so special.
“You became friends; they confided in you.” She even still liked the bloke who had a pet black snake, which she accidentally trod on as she walked into the loungeroom, sending the two parrots and a gala into a frenzy with her screams.
Liz’s colourful life has also been filled with art, and has been getting lessons from renowned local artist Alfred Engels for 30 years. “I haven’t got any better,” she confesses. “I also go for the social life. We get as many as 12 there and we have very nice morning teas; we call it the Cordon Bleu club.
“One year I sold 13 paintings, which was really a triumph. I got into art because I was a mad artist from when I could hold a pencil. My first colouring in book was Shirley Temple, that’s how old she was (died 2014, aged 85).”
But more than anything, Liz remembers her dear husband Ron walking her to school every day. “We never had anyone else in our life,” she said. “You never get over losing someone like that.”
Ultimately, it’s the excitement of finding a bargain and selling something special in the shop that gets Liz through the days. To her, the Elephant’s Trunk is more than a treasure shop.
And why the name? “My dad used to give an Irishman friend a ride home after he had been to the races on a Saturday,” Liz said. “At six o’clock he’d knock on the door, mum would answer and he’d say, ‘I am very sorry Mrs Cox, but I’m a bit elephant’s trunk’. I was 14, and I thought to myself, I will use that one day.” See, hunters and collectors never let an opportunity pass them by.
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