in PNG. He first visited the country in 1966 as a companion of King Charles while the two were studying at the exclusive Geelong Grammar School near Melbourne. After moving to London, he became involved in pharmaceuticals, eventually turning a small research company called Medeva into a AU$460 million entity in the 1990s. Gowrie-Smith returned to PNG various times over the years exploring for gold and gas – a highly speculative business that bore fruit in 2009 when another one of his listed companies, Rift Oil, made a significant find and was sold for $200 million. Gowrie-Smith used some of those earnings to build a plantation-style clubhouse with six bungalows and staff accommodation on Panasesa Island, the largest of the Conflict Group, and a grassy airstrip on an adjacent island. He also established a world-class sea turtle nursery and research station plus an Australian- registered charity to fund its activities. The Conflict Islands Conservation Initiative releases 57,000 hatchlings into the wild each year, and pays and trains locals from neighbouring atolls to protect these endangered species instead of hunting them. Gowrie-Smith spent 10 wonderful years holidaying on the Conflict Groups like a boss with his family and friends, reeling in metre-long yellowfin tuna from his sportfishing cabin cruiser, and scuba diving undisturbed by other tourists on the reefs. But as time wore on and he spent more time pondering the ecological future of the atoll, he concluded that the only way to preserve them was to develop them.“I’d be happy to leave things as they are and keep the islands all to myself, but that’s not going to work,” he told me the first time
I visited the Conflict Group in 2015. “The message I keep on hearing is that 40% of the 100,000-odd people living in Milne Bay are under 15, and when they grow up they are probably going to be involved in unsustainable fishing practices for their own survival. So, the only logical answer is to develop the place for tourism and create employment opportunities to support the neighbouring communities. That way,” he said, “they’ll have a vested interest in protecting the environment and keeping it pristine.” Conservation International concurs: “Until recently, this environment was under minimum stress, mainly due to the small human population of Milne Bay Province and its remoteness. However, there are increasing signs of habitat degradation, mainly due to land-based activities and over- harvesting of sedentary marine resources.” Gowrie-Smith proposed to sell waterfront plots to like- minded investors to build their dream holiday villas, with prices starting at AU$250,000. Entire islands would also be offered for AU$1.5 million to AU$2 million a pop.To get the ball rolling, he commissioned Stuart Huggett of Architects Pacific – a master draftsman whose curriculum vitae includes Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz’s billion- dollar Laucala Island Resort in Fiji – to draw up a master plan. It envisioned the Conflict Group transformed into an ultra- luxury resort on par with The Cotton House on the Caribbean island of Mustique. Prospective features included a deep-water marina for superyachts, a 3.1km- long landing strip capable of receiving wide-bodied and private jets with customs clearance for international arrivals, a St Andrews-style golf course threaded through tropical forests, luxury spas,
A cruise ship visitor handfeeds baby turtles in the world class nursery and research station Conflict Islands’
title to a succession of foreign investors who levelled its jungles for coconut plantations. Now 100 years of age, Hawaiian real-estate magnate Mary Ann Nevels, whose late husband Lu bought the atoll in the 1970s, is the only surviving former owner. She sold them to Gowrie- Smith for an undisclosed sum rumoured to be between AU$5- $8 million. Like Wickham, Gowrie-Smith has a long and storied history Some of the Conflict Islands Resort staff, including history tour guide Jeff Everett (right)
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