Having fought in a war, raised a family, launched businesses and terrified would-be burglars, longtime The Catholic Weekly reader Joseph Coorey has reached the fine age of 100.
“He is very sharp, and in great health. He enjoys reading his Catholic Weekly as well, which he’s been reading for many decades,” his son Peter said.
Joseph reached his incredible milestone on 17 June – which saw him receive a Papal blessing, cards from King Charles and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese MP and a letter from Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP – in the latest highlight of what has been a remarkable life.
Joseph is the fifth of eight siblings, born after the couple experienced the death of four babies before him.
His parents immigrated from Lebanon to Australia in 1922, and the family settled in Inverell in northern NSW.
As a young man Joseph served in WWII and experienced first-hand the 1944 Cowra Breakout, when Japanese soldiers escaped their confines after being informed they were to be moved from their cells to another camp.
“He still recalls being woken at 2am on a cold August morning and searching through the bush for the prison camp escapees,” Peter said.
“He was also posted in Darwin during the war, we have photos of him on ships, loading ammunition to be dumped out to sea.”
After the war, Joseph and his brother John entered a business partnership that lasted more than 50 years, beginning as ‘hawkers’ selling merchandise in Inverell, and later overseeing residential property development in Sydney from 1966 to 1974.
“My father and his brother would always refer to their customers as friends,” says Peter.
“They came from humble beginnings, and, as the family’s long-standing accountant would say, worked eight days a week, 30 hours a day.”
During their time in Sydney, Joseph would go on to marry his wife, Therese, and together they bore three children, Francis, Patrick and Peter.
In 1974, Joseph and Therese decided to move the family to Coffs Harbour to run his parents’ investment motel.
One incident there sums up Joseph’s determination to protect his family through thin and thick.
“There was a night-time robbery where three bandits stormed the motel’s reception, wearing balaclavas, demanding money,” Peter explained.
“My father, calmly as always, asked them how much they would like while reaching for the ‘stick’ he kept out of view behind the counter. He fought back, and the bandits panicked and fled.
“They were caught by the police and later complained of being terrified of my father’s self-defence.”
Joseph and Therese would later return to Sydney as their children grew up and moved away from Coffs Harbour, continuing to stay active in their local business scene by buying and running a cafe opposite NSW Parliament House.
Peter says his father’s memory is as precise today as ever.
“My father has property investment properties in Brisbane, and he still visits with relatives in Brisbane and Toowoomba,” he said.
“He visited there in February and knew all these functional details that had been forgotten by others much younger than him.”
Peter believes his father still has much more to experience on his life’s journey, and will continue to read The Catholic Weekly.
“He has always lived by his personal motto – ‘live and let live’,” he said.
“He is the last of his siblings, and we hope to enjoy his loving company for years to come.”