‘ Robinson Crusoe’ faces ouster from island paradise

Court rules man broke lease by not building resort

SYDNEY – An Australian who has been living alone on a remote island for almost 20 years after losing his fortunes on the stock market is facing eviction from his solitary paradise.

David Glasheen, dubbed Australia’s Robinson Crusoe, has lived on tiny Restoration Island, off the northeastern tip of Australia, since 1993, accompanied by his dog Quasi. A former businessman, he abandoned a high- flying life in Sydney after losing $ 10.3 million in the 1987 stock market crash and his marriage ended.

Glasheen, who is in his late 60s, said he revelled in the tranquillity and privacy and has called himself “the luckiest bloke in the world.” He lives off fish and crab and collects bananas, coconuts and fruit, as well as growing his own vegetables and brewing his own beer.

He has solar- powered Internet access and still takes a flutter on the stock market, using an online trading account.

Though he tends to shun publicity, several years ago he tried to find a girlfriend on an online dating agency. He received hundreds of responses but had no luck. “It gets lonely out here,” he said at the time. “My only hope is for a mermaid to turn up on the beach.”

However, Glasheen’s days as a selfimposed castaway may be about to end. He is facing eviction after a court

It is a fabulous place, I am a lucky bloke to be there. I have learned a huge amount. I started to value what is really important. Trust, honesty, respect — simple things.

DAVID GLASHEEN

RESIDENT ON RESTORATION ISLAND

ruled that he had failed to build a resort on the island, the condition on which he received access to the land.

A 43- year lease, which began in 1996, stated that he and a business partner should develop tourist accommodation and fishing facilities valued at least $ 206,500. The Queensland Supreme Court has ruled that the land should be repossessed.

Glasheen agreed to speak to the Daily Telegraph in the hope that it may help him find a lawyer to lodge an appeal. “This judgment was just horrible,” he said by phone from Cairns, in northern Queensland, where he was meeting prospective lawyers. Asked whether he had been given a date by which to leave, he said: “I’m probably going to stay there. I’m sick of the courts.”

Restoration Island is about 2,400 kilometres north of Brisbane and was so named because Captain William Bligh found vital supplies there after being set adrift by mutineers aboard the HMS Bounty.

Glasheen initially moved to the island with a girlfriend, but she found life there too difficult. He receives visits from passing yachtsmen and kayakers, as well as occasional groups of organic farmers.

“It is a fabulous place, I am a lucky bloke to be there,” he said. “I have learned a huge amount. I started to value what is really important. Trust, honesty, respect — simple things. I have learnt that you can do things with very little. You soon learn in the bush to survive. If you don’t you die pretty quickly.”

On his website for the island, Glasheen claims he has received approvals to develop a resort. But the court ruled that he and his business partners were “trespassers” and must vacate the land.

“The defendants have wrongly deprived the plaintiff of its asset for over a decade during which time they have enjoyed its benefits,” the court said. Asked what he would do if he has to leave, Glasheen said: “I have no idea. I live on now. Tomorrow I might be dead.”