In this second part of our occasional series, we speak to three locals who grew up on the island, moved away and have now returned.

Social researcher Bernard Salt recently told a local conference it was important to attract young residents back to Phillip Island to stop the brain drain, ensuring we keep highly trained workers on our shores.

So here the Advertiser speaks to local kids who are now all grown up.

We ask them about their childhoods, why they left, what made them boomerang home and whether establishing their careers here has been easy.

While some say the lifestyle made them return, others say it was housing affordability, being close to family or wanting to give back to the community.

Kara Cassells
 

Physiotherapist

If you’ve got a pet, chances are you know the Cassells family name.

David Cassells has run the Cowes Vet Surgery for about 40 years and his daughter Kara remembers helping out as a kid.

“I would have been about nine when I’d help with paper work, in the days there was paper, and I’d even help him with basic things in surgery,” recalls Kara who was born on the island.

But animals were not to be her chosen career.

Instead after attending Cowes Primary School and Newhaven College (which her grandparents Norma and Alex Cassells helped found), Kara studied physiotherapy at Melbourne University.

She graduated in 2005 and worked around Melbourne and New Zealand, before making the decision to return home, with the main consideration housing affordability.

“There was nowhere in Melbourne that was affordable and the aim was to buy a house, not rent and I had two small dogs so needed a backyard,” the 39-year-old recalls.

So she bought in Cowes and has not regretted it since.

“I was not expecting or planning anything and it has exceeded any expectations.

“I love the freedom. Covid especially has taught me to appreciate the small things and I really appreciate going for a walk on the beach and watching the sunset.”

While the lifestyle has ticked boxes, her work has been more of a challenge, thanks in large part to Covid.

Initially Kara worked for Gippsland Physiotherapy Group and Bass Coast Health and then set up her own business, Coastal Health with a business partner, which then led her to open Balance Health Phillip Island in Warley Avenue.

Her opening date was March 2020 on the first day of lockdowns.

“It has been emotionally challenging. Every step of the way it has been hard, mainly because of the changing rules and making sure we abide by the guidelines.”

She started with three practitioners and now there are 15 staff working at the clinic, offering physio, osteo, myotherapy, pilates and massage.

“Ultimately my goal was to create a work place where everyone feels emotionally empowered to achieve their own goals and that’s been achieved so it’s satisfying and rewarding.”

Such is the appeal of working in the place you grew up that three other staff also returned to the island: Christine Miles, Casey Cleeland and Kirsti Hayward.

Adam Mitchell
 

Engineer

Growing up in Silverleaves, the son of one of Phillip Island’s well-known builders, Adam Mitchell’s earliest memories is of his father’s big shed full of tools.

“It definitely gave me an understanding of making things,” the 40-year-old says.

“But my academic background lent me to pen and paper rather than hands-on building.”

Rather than following in the footsteps of his grandfather (builder Jim) and father (builder and engineer Adrian), Adam became a structural and mechanical engineer.

After attending school at Cowes Primary and Newhaven College, Adam studied and gained degrees in engineering and computer science at the University of NSW and went on to work overseas and around Australia, with stints working for Australia’s largest construction companies, including Grocon, Lamborghini and Audi, as well as making F35 jet fighters.

He also specialised in public art with composites (carbon fibre and glass fibre), using engineering techniques he learnt whilst working in Germany and the UK automotive industry.

But in 2016 he and his wife Ruth decided to settle down in Cowes with their two sons – Tommy, 10 and Austin, 7 - where Adam started his business AM-A Consulting Engineers, specialising in structural engineering design. 

“We really came here to be back with family, to be close to mum, dad and nan.

“Also we didn’t want our boys to grow up in the city playing computer games all day. Here they are safe to ride their bikes on the streets with people we know.”

Adam, a keen surfer and angler, also shares his hobby with the family, even Ruth learning to surf in the last few years.

Adam says initially moving to Cowes was difficult for Ruth.

“She found it a bit quiet at the start because she’d been in Melbourne since she was 18.

“At times we thought maybe it would be nice to have a few more restaurants, for example, to eat at but even that has improved lately.”

As for his profession, moving to Phillip Island “is not a career move”.

He advises anyone considering making a return to a childhood home to have established a solid network base before making the move.

Even now about 40 per cent of his work is local residential building, with the remainder clients along the eastern seaboard, thanks to his previous job contacts.

Adam’s office is directly opposite the Cowes post office, which is Phillip Island’s NBN HQ, so he has no problems with uploads.

Equally he says his generation feels comfortable with email and phone calls, rather than face-to-face meetings.

His best advice for anyone contemplating a move home?

“Have a plan b if your business idea doesn’t work out to save you uprooting again.

“Although having said that, for everyone I know who has relocated it has worked out. No one I know who has come home hasn’t been able to make a go of it financially.”

Rebecca Naughtin
 

Architect

Like most teenagers, Rebecca Naughtin was impatient to leave home.

“I couldn’t wait to get away and broaden my horizons,” says Rebecca, who attended Newhaven College.

But after studying architecture for nine years, travelling and working around the world – including in Spain and the USA – then having two children, she admits her priorities flipped.

“I’d visit mum and dad in Cowes and every time I’d drive back to Melbourne I’d feel sick. I didn’t want to leave.”

So at the very start of 2020 she moved to live in Cape Woolamai, with her husband, stay-at-home dad Andrew Werner, and her two kids, aged 5 and 7.

The 42-year-old says the decision was largely a lifestyle one: to give the children an upbringing on the island and an education at Newhaven College.

But it didn’t come without risk.

Having established her own boutique architecture business in the trendy Melbourne suburb of Northcote – specialising in heritage buildings, additions and alterations - Rebecca was aware the move could go belly up.

“In architecture it’s all about branding and I didn’t know how my branding would sit down here.

“The move was 100 per cent risky. I thought the business might fail and I’d work on tiny, minor alterations and my Melbourne network would lose faith in my ability to deliver projects for them.

“But I was prepared to fail.”

Then Covid struck and in a twist of fate Rebecca – who had discovered Zoom ahead of everyone else - benefitted.

“Covid meant my clients became more open-minded about me working remotely. Everyone’s perception changed. That shift in mind set to remote work needed to happen more broadly. 

“I have never lost a job because I’ve moved here. No doors have closed, only doors have opened.”

Moving to the island has also delivered a wider spectrum of work, now taking on local projects such as urban planning, single residential developments and even an ecotourism project in Gippsland.

She struggles to name a disadvantage of working remotely but says she has to travel more, about every fortnight to Melbourne to visit building sites and work at her Northcote office alongside her team of eight staff.

“But I think that’s the best of both worlds. I get to eat in Melbourne, take my team out, and stay with old friends.”

Rebecca was school captain at Newhaven College and recently returned to her alma mater to speak at the school’s foundation day, explaining in coming back to the island she wants to advocate for a work/play balance.

“People, especially in architecture, burn out and work excessive hours for very little pay.

“Moving here has exceeded my expectations on so many levels. It’s a far healthier lifestyle.

“There are so many like-minded people – families who come here for the environment.”