Island tales put the rumours to rest

What an amazing job Mr Blackwood-Sewell did and while it takes one mystic tale away, the real story is nearly as romantic.

Old Woman Island. Picture: Mike Garry

I LOVED last week's stories on Old Woman Island by Kathy Sundstrom.

It certainly put some rumours to rest - some that I thought were gospel.

Kathy interviewed Libby Tory, widow of surfing legend Peter Troy who leased the island from 1985. She cleared up a few things and then Kathy ran a story on John Blackwood-Sewell, who leased it from the early 1960s until 1985, which was fascinating.

My memory of it before I started swimming around it (good luck to the charity swimmers who, weather permitting, will be swimming around it today to raise money for Nambour and Currimundi special schools) was paddling my kneeboard across from Mudjimba with my mates to go for a surf in the '70s.

I don't know who told me but legend had it that a local important indigenous woman had been buried there way back when and the dwelling was put there by international movie star Diane Cilento (at the time married to Sean Connery) who incidentally was born in Mooloolaba in 1933.

Just to digress, local legendary restaurateur John Douglas used to always insist he was the first white baby born in Mooloolaba but that dispels another rumour unless he is 84.

Anyway, I believed that Diane owned it and had a helicopter put all the infrastructure out there in the day, which I have gladly told plenty of folk for the last 40 years until I read that story the other day.

Miles Sewell looks through family photographs of his dad, Johns, time on Old Woman Island.Licence for publication only in The Sunshine Coast Daily. Picture: Contributed

It seems that Mr Blackwood-Sewell got it all over there via boat and barge and built everything by hand and maybe the helicopter story was something Peter did later on, but it is amazing how rumours can end up facts because I truly believed it when I was growing up.

What an amazing job Mr Blackwood-Sewell did and while it takes one mystic tale away, the real story is nearly as romantic.

I think my first surf there was about 1974 or '75 and because I had a George Greenough kneeboard that lacked any type of floatation, my mates used to make me paddle over first on the way over and last on the way back to make sure there were no sharks around.

We actually got chased off there a few times by what must have been John and looking back, I can fully understand why.

Miles Sewell looks through family photographs of his dad, Johns, time on Old Woman Island.Licence for publication only in The Sunshine Coast Daily. Picture: Contributed

At the time, one of my mates was an expert on everything and used to argue that he didn't own the rocks and we could do what we liked.

He must have touched a nerve because shortly after that there were signs up that said not to trespass past the high tide mark, which at least meant we could sit on the rocks without fear of getting rounded up.

So no Diane Cilento and no 007 but to me it looks like John Blackwood-Sewell would have made a pretty good real life hero.

Thanks Kathy.