October 15th, 2026Gwen Cooke: Cars, planes, fashion & giving back
The Jaguar XJ13 is a prototype racing car that was developed by Jaguar engineering director William Heynes to compete at Le Mans in the mid-1960s. It never raced, was crashed while being filmed for a Jaguar commercial, and only one was produced.
That’s according to Wikipedia but if you keep your eyes open on the Northern Gold Coast you might see one more – a red replica, not the original racing green. The car’s owner is Gwen Cooke, who, in her eighties, still takes it out for a spin now and again. Last week it was in Oatland Parade, Runaway Bay for our photo shoot.
Gwen and her late husband Digby were always car enthusiasts. The Jaguar took nine years to build from a 1:18 model with the original now on display in a car museum in Coventry, England.
“We tried to get a full aluminium chassis, but it was all too difficult with the technology. It’s fully road registered and we did its tests for compliance on the airstrip at Coombabah. The moulds and technology for the build went to America where I believe they are now producing them.”
Gwen got started with her own car history when she bought an Alfa Romeo 1750 in 1968 and the only person who would insure it was Digby Cooke Insurances – because Gwen was in her 20s. “From there, I had a 2.7 Porsche, an XJ ute, a F100, a Fiat 1500, 124, Fiat Sports Coupe and many, many other cars. Digby’s cars included a Ferrari 550 Barchetta, a Porsche 996 GT3 911 and a Robnell Cobra which was personally tuned by Bo and Glenn Seton. Digby and I were just friends for many years. I was widowed in 1966 when the father of my children, then three and five, was killed in Vietnam. He took the first intake of National Service trainees to Vietnam, and he was only there six weeks. It’s 60 years ago this year.”
Gwen said her passion for cars went back to a farm near Liverpool Station, out of Sydney. “My uncle owned the farm, and he had a very old truck with planks of wood in the back. My job was to stand on the back of it when we went around the farm and watch the gauge at the front to see when it went into the red. I loved it. My uncle was also an interstate hauler, and he’d bring these wonderful trucks home and they were always really, to me as a kid, just fast. My parents bought one of the first Vanguard estate cars and then they had old Fords and all sorts of things.
“My family has always been into cars, and I did club racing and Digby and I did lots of races like Speed on Tweed and the Muscle Car Masters. We even went to about every racetrack around doing laps and things. I don’t worry about speed, but you have to learn your limitations – with some of my grandchildren I paid for them to go to Norwell Motorplex or to the Sydney Raceway to have driver training so they know how to control a car.”
Friends over the years included Peter Brock and Jack Brabham and obviously The Mountain at Bathurst was a well visited spot. “Digby actually broke his back at Bathurst – he and Peter had been complaining the cars weren’t travelling well.”
Gwen and Digby’s friendship turned to living together for 16 years and then finally tying the knot in the 90s in the Blue Mountains. “Digby was a real character, but they all were, and I still see them all. We have a Legends’ Reunion and drivers from all over Australia come to that. I think we had 150 at the last one we held. We also have another dinner reunion which raises money for the ministry – people who come to the meets and look after everyone if there is, well, an adverse happening.”
Aside from cars, Gwen is also very much into fashion and marketing, owning her own company and also working as a senior executive with David Jones. (Her huge walk-in robe is reminiscent of a scene from Sex and the City.) She also helped Digby with his business interests including insurance broking and the building industry.
Gwen had a home on the Sunshine Coast and a place in Sydney and when she and Digby got together, he had a building of flats in Wollstonecraft – and the top floor became their penthouse.
“In 1995 we bought our first unit here on the Gold Coast and then we diversified and sold the Wollstonecraft building to a developer. It was an Art Deco building, and it was very hard to get to build the penthouse on the top – North Sydney Council were a little hard to deal with.”
Gwen now lives in Runaway Bay and is very involved in giving back to the community.
“I’m a member of the RSL and helped start the Defence Member and Family Helpline. I also worked at Victoria Barracks and went toe-to-toe with Veterans Affairs for many years getting a fair deal on ComSuper. I see a lot of the boys (Vietnam veterans). I call them boys – they all turned 80 last year – but they are younger than I am. I also go to a VIEW Club (Voice, Interests and Education of Women) which was started by a man to keep his wife happy, and we have 18 Learning for Life children. We pay for all their expenses to get them an education. I also belong to Probus, a group of retired and semi-retired businesspeople.”
Gwen said she had been asked to run for politics but decided she could do more from the outside.
“I was on the Mayor’s Charity Fund in North Sydney, but unfortunately my son had an accident in a creative leisure centre which was owned by North Sydney Council. He had acquired brain damage from that accident when he was just 14. He passed away in March this year – didn’t make it to his 65th birthday.
“I have to look at it from the view that his life was really tough and now he’s with his dad and they are getting to know each other.”
Boating has been another love, with Digby and Gwen owning a 43-foot Mariner which they took up to Hamilton Island for Race Week. “When I was younger, I would also go out on the boats as ballast for the boys when they were getting ready for the race to Tasmania. And we got flown out by helicopter once through the Hydrographer’s Passage and dropped onto a boat to drop off the pilot to bring people through the reef.”
Gwen is also working with another charity called Dress to Succeed, to help people looking for work to look the part. Once a location is settled, there will be more on that to come.
“I was married at 18 and a mother at 19 and then a widow at almost 24. I decided I wasn’t going to sit there and feel sorry for myself. Now I’m in a position, I try to give back to and make sure that people are OK.”
Words: Donna Kelly | Images: Kyle Barnes
