Author Archives: Keith Platt

Isolated island life about to end after 16 years

February 26, 2015
FEW people get to live on a small island close to a major city. Even fewer can claim they are the island’s sole inhabitant. Anne Tillig has been in that enviable situation since 1996 after buying Eli...

Eagles soar over shops, freeway

February 23, 2015
THE sound of screeching seagulls is nothing new over the shops at Mt Martha. The birds are masters of the air and making the trip across the road from beach to scavenging on the footpath is just a wi...

Ashram disenchanted find solace online

February 16, 2015
LIKE ripples from a pebble tossed into a still pond, revelations of sexual impropriety at the Mt Eliza-based Shiva School of Meditation and Yoga have been echoing around the world. The ripples have l...

Riders take to the road in memory of Luke

February 16, 2015
AUSTRALIAN of the Year Rosie Batty is taking time out from official duties for a motorbike ride. The inaugural Luke Batty Memorial Ride was held last year three weeks after 11-year-old Luke was kille...

Cutbacks clue to port’s future

February 10, 2015
THE activities of the Port of Hastings Development Authority have been drastically scaled back following the election of the Labor state government. Staff numbers have been slashed from about 100 (in...

‘High priestess’ defends swami’s actions

January 26, 2015
A LOYAL disciple of Mt Eliza-based guru Swami Shankarananda has defended criticism of his self-admitted sexual impropriety as being “a publicity stunt from those that would bring him down”. The “high...

Grey skies, choppy seas no handicap for these surfers

January 22, 2015
THE sight of the little boy running excitedly up the beach and wrapping his arms around his mother’s legs before running in circles is reward enough for the 20 or so onlookers whooping and cheering h...

Hunt promise to protect reef as rains greet protesters

January 22, 2015
FLINDERS MP Greg Hunt says the federal government is “determined to protect and manage the Great Barrier Reef not just for the coming decades, but for the coming centuries”. Since its election in lat...

‘Secret’ sex shakes yoga school

January 20, 2015
ALLEGATIONS of sexual impropriety have shaken the usual calm surrounding the Shiva School of Meditation and Yoga at Mt Eliza. American-born ashram director Swami Shankarananda, also known as Swamiji ...

Surgery offers hope for new life

January 14, 2015
FILMMAKER Sean Cousins and his GP wife Steph Ryan were a bit surprised when their driver in Papua New Guinea took what appeared to be a diversion and drove into the grounds of a school. Once inside t...