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In 1927 when he was just two years old, Norm “Nobby” Taylor would walk down to Coogee beach for a swim with his father. It is ritual he has continued to this day and the 92 year-old war veteran is now an absolute Coogee icon.
But now Mr Taylor is (reluctantly) leaving the town he’s called home for a lifetime, putting his two-bedroom apartment of 49 years on the market.
“It’s not easy to pack up and leave Coogee, I have lived in this building since it was built in 1968,” said Mr Taylor.
“But all my mates are gone now so I’m looking forward to living with my son in Coffs Harbour, with his family near some great beaches and bowling greens.”
Mr Taylor is selling his property with Belinda Clemesha from Ray White Bondi Junction/Coogee, who said similar properties in the area are selling for around the $900,000 to $1 million mark.
“This one is a very tightly held block. It‘s the first time it’s being traded since Norm bought it new in 1968,” said Ms Clemesha.
Reflecting, Mr Taylor remembers joining the Coogee surf club in 1940, when he was 16.
“It’s a long time. You get a lot of good mates in the surf club. And you meet a lot of girls,” he smiled.
“We used to run a dance every Friday night and all the good sorts came down. All the girls married guys from the surf club, including myself. I lost my wife Eunice about eight years ago. She was a lovely girl.
“We had a wonderful life. She came from Nambucca Heads which is a great place but I wasn’t going to leave Coogee. We married in 1952. I was 28 and she was 25.”
Mr Taylor was elected captain of the Coogee Surf Club on his return from the war and today is its oldest serving member and only remaining member of the 184 who joined the armed services in World War II.
Mr Taylor also remembers Coogee Beach being barricaded with barbed wire and tank traps during the war in preparation for a Japanese invasion.
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