Scot gets his dream job as a lighthouse keeper on an Australian island

A Scottish man has landed his “dream job” as a lighthouse keeper on a remote Australian island.

Sandy Duthie, 42, jumped at the chance when the former lighthouse keeper decided to retire after 25 years working on Gabo Island, off the coast of Victoria.

Sandy, from Aberdeenshire, visited Australia five years ago with her partner and has never left. When he arrived at the island with the small lighthouse, he realized that he really wanted to one day become part of the island’s history.

Getting a job as lighthouse keeper and island caretaker means he now spends six months of the year there – one month on and one month off – with a flock of penguins for company .

Sandy is from Kirkton of Durris, near Banchory.

He studied ecology at Aberdeen University before becoming a horticulturist.

He visited Mallacoota in 2019 with his partner Brodie Gaudion on an initial three-month holiday visa to meet her family for the first time and ended up staying.

He first came to Gabo island two years ago and dreamed of becoming the island’s caretaker.

The Gabo lighthouse itself was built more than 160 years ago.

Previous goalkeeper Leo op den Brouw, 70, has been alone on the island every two months for the past 25 years.

When he decided to return to family life on the mainland earlier this year, the position remained vacant and Sandy landed a job with government organization Parks Victoria.

He and another goalkeeper – who has worked there for 16 years – split monthly salary rotation and monthly vacation.

Sandy and his giant beard – which he’s grown for years and which he thinks might help in job interviews – started his new job in March.

He came and went from the island using a small rented boat.

It takes about 30 minutes weather permitting – conditions are often rough – and there tend to be whales nearby.

Sandy’s first experience of Gabo Island was when he visited the island for two weeks to do weed control work.

“I felt immediately at home, it feels very much like the north-east of Scotland,” he explains.

“The foliage – quite dense – and the granite were unlike any other part of Australia I had seen. I immediately fell in love with the place.

“Then I asked the custodian how he got the job and he told me it was just luck being in the right place at the right time. And since then he retired and I’ve been Apply for a job – right place, right time.

“Work doesn’t come often.”

He described the island of Gabo as small but with “amazing” wildlife.

“We have little penguins – a big flock of them,” he said.

“We have whales, sea eagles and seals. We now have whales passing by constantly.

“Today I saw about 15 or 16 of them. Sometimes there are 30 or 40 a day.”

Sandy said work itself is more like a way of life.

“You have to really get into the rhythm of what you have to do and not have too many expectations or plans because Gabo Island has the ability to upset any plans you have.

“You have to be able to solve problems. Our duties range from observing the weather every six hours to cleaning public toilets, painting everything – we have 80% humidity with air containing salt so everything rusts and corrodes and everything needs care.” .

“There is a lot of ongoing maintenance that needs to be done on the house.

“You just have to expect the unexpected.”

He said this job is ideal for him but it also has many challenges.

“There’s enough variety to keep your mind busy,” Sandy says.

“I quite like having myself. I also like having other people. My partner comes to visit.

“Don’t get me wrong, some days it feels like a prison sometimes.

“The previous caretaker described it as being like the rock of Alcatraz. You can’t leave, attend family events if you’re here. Sometimes we get stuck here for days on end because of the weather .

“But at the same time, you can basically script your own day and do your own tasks.

“It can be difficult when the phone signal is lost but I don’t miss much..

He said supplies could run out if boats don’t arrive.

“But on the other hand, when I returned to the mainland, I realized that I had to be extremely cautious in crowds.

“If you’ve been here for weeks alone and haven’t seen another face, going to the pub or attending an event can be quite intimidating.”

He also discovered that there were other Scottish connections to the Island of Gabo.

“The pink granite from Gabo is very hard compared to other Australian granites,” Sandy explains.

“The documents I found show that the person responsible for building the lighthouse in 1859 actually sought out Scottish stonemasons, especially those who had worked on the Aberdeen and Peterhead lighthouses, because they are used to working with such hard materials.

“Unfortunately we don’t know more about the person who built the lighthouse.

“There is a book of all the caretakers who have been on the island since 1859, and a lot of them were Scottish – people from the Highlands and Islands, Perth, Edinburgh, Glasgow and also from Northeast region.

“It’s amazing the Scottish connection here.

“It was 100% a dream job. To me it’s perfect.”