British charity worker wins "world's best job" in Australia
Posted: 06 May 2009 1347 hrs

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HAMILTON ISLAND, Australia: A British charity worker on Wednesday won "the best job in the world" as caretaker of a tropical island on Australia's Great Barrier Reef after an unprecedented global search.

Fundraiser Ben Southall beat 15 other candidates selected from around the world after Tourism Queensland received more than 34,000 applications for the job on Hamilton Island.

The 34-year-old will spend six months swimming, snorkelling and sailing around the tourist paradise, earning 150,000 dollars (105,000 US) for blogging about his experiences and promoting the region to the world.

The judges said Southall impressed from his initial application, when he said: "The most important thing to me in life is to have an exciting job that makes me happy, puts smiles on peoples' faces and achieves challenging goals."

Queensland Tourism Minister Peter Lawlor said he believed Southall, who described himself as the "adventurous, crazy energetic one" in his application, would build up a loyal online following after taking up the position on July 1.

"His ideas for how he will make the role his own, plus his initiative and ability to rise to a challenge, impressed the selection panel and secured his place in the top job," Lawlor said.

Southall, from Hampshire in southern England, has previously worked as a tour guide in Africa and most recently was a charity project manager in Britain, running marathons and climbing mountains in his spare time.

He plans to bring his Canadian girlfriend Bre with him to Australia, where they will live in a luxury three-bedroom beach house on Hamilton Island.

Organisers received a phenomenal worldwide response to the competition, causing a dedicated website to crash when the position was first announced in January and again on Wednesday when the winner was named.

Even a blunder when the Tourism Queensland website revealed Southall's win 30 minutes before the official announcement failed to take the gloss off the promotion, which has snared an estimated 110 million dollars in free publicity.

"The 'best job in the world' campaign has had people from all corners of the globe talking since its launch in January and has become arguably the most sought-after job in the world," Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said.

"I've spent the past few weeks watching in amazement the lengths candidates have gone to."

The thousands of entries were winnowed down to 50 earlier this year, with applicants submitting online job video applications in which they had to show how they could promote the region.

A final shortlist of 15 was drawn up, along with a wildcard entrant voted for by the public, and they were then flown to Hamilton Island for the final selection process.

Since then, the 16 finalists, who hail from 15 countries, have competed to impress a four-person selection panel in a process that is part job interview and part reality television show.

With more than a dozen camera crews from around the world in tow, they demonstrated their swimming skills in the island's resort pool, snorkelled the reef and were pampered with gourmet food and luxury spas.

All the while, the judges were watching to decide which of the young, photogenic candidates was best suited to the task.

Southall's win came as a surprise, with local betting agencies tipping sky-diving Taiwanese interpreter Clare Wang as the favourite.

She won a wildcard spot among the finalists after attracting 151,676 votes from the public in an online poll, almost three times as many as her closest rivals.

With tourism numbers dwindling in Australia because of the global economic downturn, Tourism Queensland chief Anthony Hayes said the competition was a creative way to attract worldwide attention.

"The whole idea of this promotion is to find the perfect person to help us sell Queensland, but to tell the rest of the world we really are open for business," he said.

- AFP/yt