‘Robinson Crusoe-style Living’: The Australians Turning to Private Islands

THE GUARDIAN: Sale of Temple Island on the Great Barrier Reef for $1.75m reflects trend towards Australians seeking isolation and pristine environments

Temple Island, off the coast of Queensland on the Great Barrier Reef, is up for sale for the third time in 40 years, amid increased interest in the purchase of private islands. Photograph: Richard Vanhoff/Private Islands Online
The way Bill and Barbara Collyer tell it, a private island is just about the best place to raise a family. The middle-income couple (Barbara is a public servant and Bill is a Queensland University of Technology lecturer) bought their own slice of paradise in 1985 after seeing a tiny ad in the Courier Mail listing the island for $120,000. They held on to Temple Island for 30 years.

Now a new family has a chance to buy, with the island near Mackay put up for sale again – although it will set buyers back $1.75m.

“We went there every school holidays,” Barbara says. “It was a great place. The kids just would run wild, you know, they all learned to fish and swim and drive cars.

“It was just the isolation and, you know, being able to do your own thing. We would get a shock if someone pulled up in a boat on the beach.” » | Andrew Messenger | Thursday, August 31, 2023