Homesteading on a South Sea Island

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PHOTO: MOTHER EARTH NEWS STAFF

This couple shares their adventure moving from suburban Australia in order to start homesteading on a South Sea Island.

Six years ago, my husband and I put the trappings of suburban Australia behind us and went homesteading on a South Sea Island called Wild Cattle Island, a tiny puddle of sand off the Queensland coast. Although there are a few holiday homes that share our island, we’re the sole permanent residents, and we lead what some would say is an idyllic life. (And, to be honest, we’d have to agree with them!)

From the beginning, in fact, our island lifestyle has been pure pleasure for us. We were in our late forties when we made the move, with five children grown and independent, and we had no more taste for city life than we did for prepackaged, preservative-laced foods. Everything around us seemed deodorized, synthesized, and sanitized. We yearned for realness, for a life truly of our own making. And nothing, we decided, would be more real, or more satisfying, than living on an island on our own.

So we bought a small piece of Wild Cattle Island–just enough property to live on and support some fruit trees, a garden, and some chickens–and today we find ourselves in the best of both worlds: We’re close to the mainland (we do like to go shopping and socialize on occasion), but we’re also just 25 miles from the Great Barrier Reef. The center of the island is ancient forest–with huge, primeval trees that probably once sheltered aboriginal tribes–and the perimeter is sandy beach. Kangaroos in all shapes and sizes bound to and fro. We breathe unpolluted air and drink rainwater untainted by chemicals. And, instead of the constant cacophony of trucks and traffic and sirens, we hear only the cry of sea birds and the rhythmic breaking of waves against the shore.

A SOUTH SEA PARADISE? WELL, NO.

  • Published on Nov 1, 1985
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