Editing Joseph Cook (section)

==Final years and death==
[[File:Sir Joseph Cook.jpg|thumb|right|Cook in later life]]
Unlike his predecessors Reid and Fisher, Cook did not settle in London permanently after the end of his term as High Commissioner. He arrived back in Sydney in September 1927 and bought a large house in [[Bellevue Hill, New South Wales|Bellevue Hill]], overlooking Sydney Harbour.{{sfnp|Bebbington|1988|p=86}} In 1930, he demolished the house and built a luxury apartment block called ''Silchester'', designed by [[Leslie Wilkinson]]. He and his wife retired to one flat and lived on the income from the others.{{sfnp|Murdoch|1996|p=139}} In 1928, Cook was appointed chairman of a [[royal commission]] into "the finances of South Australia, as affected by Federation". His co-commissioner [[Herbert Brookes]] wrote that "it has been a joy to be associated with you again, even though you have had it all your own way". The commission's report, handed down in 1929, found that South Australia had been disadvantaged by federal government policies that favoured New South Wales and Victoria, and should be compensated as a result. The report later became one of several documents used to justify the creation of the [[Commonwealth Grants Commission]] and the expansion of federal grants to state governments.{{sfnp|Murdoch|1996|p=140}}

Cook enjoyed a low-profile retirement, with ''[[Smith's Weekly]]'' observing in 1936 that no other high-ranking politician had "staged such a swiftly effective fade-out from the public view on retirement from the hurly-burly".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/235826158|title=What's become of Sir Joseph Cook?|publisher=[[Smith's Weekly]]|date=12 December 1936}}</ref> He was interviewed during the [[Sudeten Crisis]] and after the [[German invasion of Poland]], on both occasions defending the Treaty of Versailles and blaming German aggression for the new war.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/27978093|title=Czechoslovakia: How Boundaries Were Decided|newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|date=24 May 1938}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/236298701|title=Helped in Peace Treaty|publisher=Daily News (Sydney)|date=4 September 1939}}</ref> Cook ignored requests to write his memoirs, and in fact destroyed many of his personal papers; this would later present difficulties for his biographers. His final public-speaking engagement was at a church function in July 1940, where he warned against authoritarianism and told the audience to "beware of those people who want to establish a new world order [...] the old things of the world today are the wisest and best things I know".{{sfnp|Bebbington|1988|p=88}}

Cook died at his home in Bellevue Hill on 30 July 1947, after a heart-related illness of about three weeks. He was granted a [[state funeral]], held at the Wesley Chapel on [[Castlereagh Street]], and then cremated at the [[Northern Suburbs Crematorium]].{{sfnp|Bebbington|1988|p=89}} Pallbearers included Billy Hughes and [[Willie Kelly (politician)|Willie Kelly]], the latter being the last surviving member of his ministry.{{sfnp|Bebbington|1988|p=90}} Cook died at the age of 86, surpassing George Reid as Australia's longest-lived prime minister; his record was broken by Hughes a few years later. He was the oldest living prime minister for a record span of over 27 years, following the death of Edmund Barton in 1920.{{sfnp|Bebbington|1988|p=90}}