LATEST News

Three months on Flinders Island was meant to be a quick posting.

Nearly 60 years later, Peter Sheriff is still here — and he’s lived enough working lives for a whole town.

Postmaster on the manual phone exchange. Farmer through collapsing wool markets and soaring interest rates. Builder. Cartage operator. Concrete bridge maker. Council Warden. Shipping advocate. Fire brigade captain during the 2003 bushfires.

A huge 115kg of items were saved from landfill at Saturday’s Repair Fair at the Flinders Arts and Entertainment Centre! It was a brilliant couple of hours of fixing, sharing skills, learning from each other and giving everyday items another chance — with a Repair Fair sausage or two along the way, of course. 🌭

And we’re doing it again! The next Repair Fair is planned for November at the Whitemark Showgrounds, alongside the Garage Sale Trail and Too Good to Tip.

A remote island can sound like a postcard until you’re the one carrying months of supplies, keeping tracks clear, and watching the weather decide whether you arrive by boat or plane. 

In this episode of Latitude 40, Jacqui sits down with Spud and Kim Murphy, a Flinders Island couple whose lives are shaped by hard work, community, and a deep affection for wild places and they don’t just talk about Deal Island in Bass Strait, they’ve lived it, five separate times, as volunteer caretakers in the Kent Group.  

Join us at the Flinders Island Repair Fair on Saturday 8 August, from 11.00am to 1.00pm at the FAEC, for a practical and welcoming community event focused on repairing, reusing and sharing skills.

Bring along clothing that needs mending, small wooden items, IT questions or gardening needs, and connect with local people who can offer advice and hands-on support.

Flinders Island is home to remarkable native wildlife, but when an animal is injured, orphaned or in distress, help is not always close by.

With support from Animals Tasmania, Furneaux Collective is delivering a Wildlife Carer Education and Recruitment Campaign to help build local knowledge, confidence and capacity.

What does it mean to police a community where everyone knows your name?

Former Senior Sergeant Tony Power and Senior Constable Will Broadbridge reflect on policing across two generations, sharing stories of service, trust, resilience and the unique relationships that come with living and working in a close-knit island community.