Less than 1 per cent of Australia’s population lives on the small islands dotted around our continent. This number is growing as more people head across the water after the onset of COVID, rejecting costly city living and office-based work.
But is “island paradise” a myth, fuelled by a desperate search for escapism? Or have these far-flung residents truly found the key to happiness? AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHIC checks in with a few of them in this year-long seriesto explore the realities of island life.
Western Port, in southern Victoria, is home to 139 people, but even more koalas. Thanks partly to the island being wonderfully short on introduced predators such as foxes, it supports Victoria’s single largest population of Australia’s most iconic tree-climbing marsupials. Terry Martin, the former president of French Island Landcare Group, used to spot 20 koalas every time he drove up his 300m-long driveway. That was two decades ago. Now he’s lucky to see five. But that’s more to do with oversupply if anything. Parks Victoria monitors the koalas on French Island, and when the recommended density (one per hectare – the
