Paul Skewes admits that over his life he has regularly chosen the road less travelled and this has shaped him. From this, there have been experiences … some intuitively driven, some pragmatically driven and sometimes even driven by nothing other than a feeling for what is the right thing to do.

Paul now realises the significance of taking this journey and how important this approach is toward leading a life … in his words … of just “being me”.

So, Paul’s story, philosophy and life acquired wisdom, fully align with the Max’s Island value of “Daring to be human – unique”

Tara is passionate about bringing the beauty and power of Australian Sign Language (Auslan) into early childhood education. This passion is obvious in her emotionally powerful description of the venture she has created with her partner. Called Tiny Hands Signs, it has a purpose to introduce sign language as an additional method to aid the communication development of all children.

Tiny Hands Signs supported community is growing and they are taking the learnings from the lived experienced examples being witnessed every day.

To find out more, connect with Tiny Hands Signs:-

https://tinyhandssigns.com.au/

tinyhands_insta

Raff Di Bartolomeo has spent a career helping others and guiding them to find what’s important for them. Particularly, those with an interest in looking at how collaboration, connection and intentional action can address social need and elevate the voices of those most impacted. Ultimately, he has focused on others and embraced social innovation to make their lives better.

When the effects of a set of physical challenges began to impact on his own professional perception of himself, he eventually had to realise that there were resulting mental health pressures as well. The lived experience from recurring situations, over a period of time, gradually led him to a place where he could manage the process of recovery, identify trauma informed positive action and just acknowledging the importance of the values he lives by.

On Max’s Island, we’ve spent the holiday period reviewing our purpose and taking the time to really connect with our creative reason for being.

It’s been exciting to re-discover that each story shared by guests to Max’s Island, can be aligned to one of the 5 values that guide our purpose.

In the new series for 2025, we will be highlighting this connection and the meaningfulness of each story … they all really matter.

John Meacock has had an extensive business life in consulting and professional services. This has taken him to the boardrooms of many companies and organisations around the world and allowed him to interact with senior C-Suite executives and influential world leaders.

Whilst John is well skilled, has extensive technical knowledge and is focused on achieving outcomes, his use of sound human principles of trust, honestly and building genuine relationships has been the key to success.

Jamie Larson has always been one to travel afar from his native New Zealand, challenge himself and find new ways to connect with people.

At one significant moment, with only a ‘basic’ high school level of Spanish, he made a decision to relocate from England and go to Argentina. With little expectation and not much of a plan, on arrival he set about using his instincts for meeting people as a way of fitting in and looking for work. He had immediate success … but then the pandemic hit, and Argentina was completely locked down … and his world of opportunity vanished overnight.

Shannon Ziegelaar has had some grass roots experiences in the various levels of local and federal politics. This included supporting a close friend in the City of Perth Lord Mayoral elections and then being a volunteer for Kate Chaney as she entered federal parliament at the last federal election as a successful independent community candidate.
The collective views and values of a group of like minded community focused citizens, who were also inspired to think there was a better way for effective representation, has led to the formation of Voices of Moore.

Shannon tells her story of being part of the establishment of this group and how it has evolved into a movement that has engaged many aspects of their community, created some common aspirations and is now positioned to find the “ideal” candidate to represent them.

Davy Rowe was back at square one … his business was gone!

So what next … especially when the advice from his brother was … "You know, realistically mate ... you've got to forgive the guys that cheated you"

Was he really ready for that?

The first step toward accepting any change, occurred when he went with his brother to a “men’s retreat” for a weekend in the USA. The realisation of who he was, and what he wanted to be, was uncovered…along with an interest in “plant medicines” as a way to help his self discovery.

Next was a trip to Costa Rica, where Davy experienced the mind influencing and soul discovery effects of ayahuasca. It changed everything.

"Drive the van off the road Davy … and the pain will stop"

These words came from a voice in the mind of Davy Rowe one morning, as he was travelling down the freeway in Perth. It took him many years to share this experience with anyone … but it formed a catalytic moment for drive and purpose in his life from the moment he ‘heard’ them.

He had arrived in Perth from the UK in 1990 with a wife, two young kids, and a determination to build a business from scratch. The business was beginning to grow when he heard this message, and he was able to use it as motivation for success.

He went on to establish Vortech, a successful air-conditioning installation company — it was the biggest in Perth — and Davy was busy. Busy with work, busy with family, busy raising his kids.

Then his world collapsed when a trusted contractor refused to pay nearly $1 million in work Vortech had completed.

The inspired decision at a young age to study French in school, has lead Rachael West on a path of living and working in France on multiple occasions.

These visits were experiences that have shaped her thinking, allowed her to take study opportunities that have fuelled her passions and ultimately allowed her to be immersed in the French culture.

But, these are not the only interesting experiences she has had … there’s also “Clown School”. Being part of this intensive program of performance, has positively influence her understanding of how humans perform in front of crowds. She has taken this knowledge into her work as a “speaker coach”.

Frank Scatchard has led an interesting and varied life.

During his visit to The Island, Frank shared with us some really interesting details from his original career as an industrial “kiln operator”. Yep, it’s not every day you meet someone that has operated an industrial kiln at dangerous temp’s of over 1000 degrees…and has lived to talk about it.

But whilst that was a significant part of his early working life, there was a drive for the freedom to work for himself. So, after some careful planning and creative working arrangements with employers, Frank was able to build up from scratch … his own lawn-mowing business.

This freedom of working for himself allowed him to embrace one of his passions … music … and become involved in community radio. After a couple of goes at it, Frank eventually did a course in radio announcing and then began a commitment to hosting a regular show on 6HFM … RockAria.

As a developing child, Larissa Muir’s son was being excluded from aspects of the community and faced challenges in his initial years of education. Through clinical support and a medical process of discovery, he was initially diagnosed with ADHD, and eventually this led to a recognition of autism.

But, what do you do when you realise that the way he thinks … is the way you think and view the world. For Larissa, this was a revelation and allowed her to also be diagnosed with both conditions. As a professionally successful adult in her mid 30’s, she was now in a position to realise why her intuition and behaviour was shaped the way it was. But, it also presented a dilemma … how would people acknowledge her when she shared with them this important information.

When faced with the emotional pressure of a long term relationship break-up it would seem natural to find the security of a safe space, in the company of loved ones and looking for stability in your life.

But for Alexis Naylor, when this happened she chose something quite different. She decided to embark on an adventurous life of living on the road and travelling around the country. With her re-fashioned ex-ambulance named “Van…essa”, Alexis was able to spread her wings, re-capture her independence and take control of her own destiny.

Being a successful musician, Alexis spent the next two and half years travelling around Australia, booking into studio’s to satisfy her creative expression and just playing gigs wherever she could.

After only 3 and half years knowing each other, Seb and Rhys chose to leave the professional comfort of Not for Profit organisations working in the disability sector, to create a business for themselves. They had a vision to create an entity that would continue to allow people with disability to exercise their independence through personal choice and control. And they did this in classic “bootstrapping” style … by believing in themselves.

The NDIS has created an interesting marketplace in the Australian disability landscape and the opportunity for independent, customer focused contract providers to create an impact, is strong.

Yvette Thomas and her husband had well established, long term careers. But they were forced to make a considered decision, during the worldwide pandemic, to seek a new life … and future.

This involved a move to regional Western Australia to operate a tourist accomodation … a project that lasted for 2 years and 9 months. However the intensity of running a 24/7 operation created physical and mental burnout which led to the need for both of them to take a break. The only way to deal with this was to take 3 months for “complete rest and recovery”.

After this time of contemplation, Yvette began a process of discovery to determine …”what’s next?”

This involved a simple Google search of “trauma informed education” and opened her world to new opportunities. The first step was to complete an online course called “The Trauma Informed certificate for Coaches and Healers”

Ali Horriyat established Compassiviste to unite individuals into collectives that can make real change to the world.

Following a self described “ mindset experience “ with a homeless person who shared food with him when he was “on the streets”, … Ali embraced a clear understanding of compassion, and most importantly, the actions of compassion that help others to make real change…from these thoughts came Compassiviste.

In 2016, businessman-turned-charity founder Ali Horriyat gave away his entire personal fortune of almost $100m. This was not just a meaningless distribution of cash to satisfy an ego charged desire for personal fulfilment, but it came from a real belief in a better way to shift the social impact dial.

He went to the extremes of experiencing homelessness, connecting with people who’s human values mattered more than their wealth and spent many hours, weeks, months and years capturing a manifesto of beliefs that were used to set the basis for his future life.

He is one of the great moral and social thinkers of our time.

Ryan Honschooten has been on Max’s Island before … when he has shared stories about his world renowned blind sailing expertise and his “later in life” interest in playing blind cricket that has also seen him travel the world with his ‘baggy green’ cap… most importantly to India, the current heartbeat of world cricket. Ryan is the epitome of the uniqueness that exists in all humans … and that is not to be defined by his life story, but be shaped and cultured by many individual stories of his life.

In this episode on Max’s Island, Ryan shares his passion for community radio and reflects on his many years of involvement in this world … and then experience of most recently, reengaging with this interest to the extent of becoming the Chairperson of 6HFM 107.3.

In Western Australia where Max’s Island is recorded, we are in the midst of another exciting Aussie Rules football season.

At the highest level of AFL, the local scene has featured the strong “on-field” improvement of the Fremantle Dockers and “Harley Hype” is gripping the West Coast Eagles fan base.

The local WA Football League also continues to generate incredible community support and be the important “feeder” system for the elite players.

But, it wasn’t that long ago when things were compromised by the pandemic and in WA, we experienced an isolation that actually allowed this local competition to continue and provide a real emotional outlet for many…at a time of collective community anxiety.

In today’s episode, we reflect on the two occasions Cameron Britt, CEO of the South Fremantle Football Club, visited the island to share his story about his journey in football, how he came to WA and the bizarre times of successfully running a football club during a pandemic.

Following a casual comment at work a few years ago, Dott Dacey and Odette Jordan discovered they both had a hidden desire to not only walk the Kokoda Trail but also absorb the spiritual experiences of those who had gone before them … especially those soldiers who had defended the Australian heritage in WWII.

They both challenged themselves to reach the physical and emotional heights of successfully walking Kokoda. Yet, this didn’t happen by chance, it came after a determined period of physical training, a focus on mental preparation and a commitment to support each other through the experience.