‘I was able to sleep through’: The deaf contestant taking on Alone Australia

Out in the majestic wilderness of the West Coast Ranges of Tasmania (Lutruwita), by an icy lake, with nothing but the wailing wind through the trees and wildlife for company, another 10 survivalists try to outlast one another on their separate patches of land, for a $250,000 prize. This third season of Alone Australia comprises, for the first time, equal numbers of men and women. Among that group is another first: two participants with a disability. NSW ecologist Tom Covell, 33, from NSW, has limb difference, and 34-year-old Queensland disability services officer Ceilidh Marigold is deaf.

Ceilidh Marigold will be the first deaf person to compete in Alone Australia.Credit:

“It was my childhood dream to be isolated in the wilderness,” Marigold says. “To build a shelter and to see how I can fend for myself. That’s one of my passions – to be self-sufficient and to be strong.”

By turning off her cochlear implant at night, Marigold was spared the screams of Tasmanian devils, among other unnerving sounds of the bush after dark: “Because I am deaf, I was able to sleep through.”

Marigold hopes others will be inspired to follow their wild dreams. “Even though you don’t have hearing – of course, it might affect you in different ways in survival – you can still do it. You can still survive.”

This diverse bunch, including a 63-year-old “bushman” from Victoria and a 52-year-old permaculturalist from Victoria, attended a pre-production “boot camp” where they were instructed in how to operate the 70 kilograms of camera equipment they must carry in addition to their 10 chosen essential items.

Eva Angophora, 31, from the NSW town of Wollombi in the Hunter Valley, was accustomed to filming herself for social media to support her rewilding education business. Having first applied for season one, Angophora (an adopted surname taken from the scientific name of her favourite tree, the angophora costata, or smooth-barked apple myrtle, rusty gum) is pleased to take up the mantle from her friend and fellow rewilder, season two winner China Chick.

Eva Angophora hopes to follow in the footsteps of fellow rewilder Gina Chick in Alone Australia.Credit:

“Gina has brought the rewilding world to the wider public, which is incredible because so many people are searching for that deeper nature connection but don’t often know how and where to get that. It’s important for us humans of the modern world to realise that we are all stemming from some kind of land-based, hunter-gatherer ancestry. It’s about reconnecting with those origins.”

In the series, Angophora explains that a decade of hard partying that began in her teens and culminated in an incident involving the law led to her transition to a natural lifestyle.

“I grew up with a lot of confusion and pain and was trying to find my identity,” she says. “I walked away from that party lifestyle and deep dived into re-establishing a relationship with myself through nature.”

Indigenous Youth Worker from Broome Matt Allwood (whose brother Jason Allwood competed in the second season) is a 31-year-old Yanyuwa, Waanyi/Garawa man from the Gulf community of Borroloola in the Northern Territory. He brings hunting and fishing skills he learnt from Elders. A former rugby league player with the New Zealand Warriors, Allwood believes his elite sports background is an advantage too. “Having the physical training and the mental side of it, with competitiveness, is something that I can put in my toolkit.”

Unlike some of the others, Allwood chose not to gain weight ahead of the lean hunting times.

“I don’t believe that putting on a massive amount of excess weight is necessarily healthy,” he says. “If I put on 20 kilos, I’d be tickling 110 or 120 kilos, and burning a lot more energy. In professional sports, I’ve got joint injuries, so I didn’t want to put on too much weight for that reason, either.”

All three returned from the experience profoundly changed.

“It’s given me different perspectives,” Allwood says. “When you’re out by yourself, you get the chance to internalise and do all this soul-searching … I remember looking around, just taking it all in, thinking how beautiful the lake was, and the picturesque mountain edges. It was unreal.”

Alone Australia returns with a double episode on Wednesday, March 26, at 7.30pm on SBS.

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