Australia's Robinson Crusoe may be Forced to Leave his Island Paradise
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.
By Jonathan Pearlman, Sydney, August 2012
David Glasheen, who is in his late 60s, moved to Restoration Island for peace and privacy after losing $AUS10m in the stock-market crash Photo: BRIAN CASSEY
He settled there with a girlfriend, but she found life there too difficult Photo: BRIAN CASSEY
His dog Quasi is his sole companion Photo: BRIAN CASSEY
A former business man, he abandoned a high-flying life in Sydney after losing $AUS10 million £6.5 million in the 1987 stock market crash and his marriage ended.
Mr Glasheen, who is now in his late 60s, said he revels in the tranquillity and privacy and has called himself as "the luckiest bloke in the world". He lives off fish and crab and collects bananas, coconuts and native fruit, as well as growing his own vegetables and brewing beer.
He has solar-powered internet access and still flutters on the stock market using an online trading account.
Though he tends to shun publicity, he made international headlines several years ago after he tried to find a partner on an online dating agency. He received hundreds of responses but had no luck.
"It gets lonely out here," he told a reporter at the time. "My only hope is for a mermaid to turn up on the beach."
However, Mr Glasheen's days as a self-imposed castaway may soon be about to end. He is facing eviction after a court ruled that he had failed to build a resort on the island – the condition on which he received access to the land.
According to a 43-year lease, which commenced in 1996, stated that he and a business partner should develop tourist accommodation and fishing facilities valued at least $AUS200,000. The Queensland Supreme Court has ruled that the land should be repossessed.
Mr 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 vacate the island, he said: "I'm probably going to stay there. I'm sick of the courts."
Restoration Island is about 1,500 miles north of Brisbane in the Great Barrier Reef and was so named because Captain William Bligh and his followers found vital supplies there after being set adrift by mutineers aboard the HMS Bounty.
Mr 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 learnt 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, Mr Glasheen claims he has received approvals to develop a resort and invites investors interested in funding a project which could include private guesthouses and a health spa.
But the court ruled that Mr Glasheen 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 the island, he said:
"I have no idea. I don't think about that sort of stuff. I live on now. Tomorrow I might be dead."