Greek-born George Nole, 85, was killed in NSW’s bushfire crisis.
Mr Nole’s body was found in a car at Kangawalla fire ground, near Glen Innes, north of NSW. Former Wytaliba director Vivian Chaplain was also mortally injured while trying to save her home, and she succumbed to injuries in hospital.
Mr Nole was viewed as a genius electrician. The local newspaper, Glen Innes Examiner, refers of him as a “genius electrician so good with circuits he had worked on NASA’s Apollo program”.
He moved to Australia in the 1980’s by luck after tossing a coin: A for Australia or Z for Zimbabwe.
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In Glen Innes, he was welcomed into the community, largely made up of nudists, and he was known as the “reclusive nudist”.
Initially, called a “wog”, he didn’t want his Greek origins to be known and changed his last name to hide his heritage and had an accent that was an odd mix of Australian, Greek and South African.
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In 2014 he was diagnosed with leukaemia.
Mr Nole is one of four victims of the NSW and Queensland bushfires.
