Michael Duncan

Co-Founder and Board Member, Michael Duncan, also pens the Business Department.

Michael’s achieved the rare feat of being considered a 'local' across multiple towns in Gippsland. As one of the founding members of Gippslandia, Michael has contributed in many ways to the developing and ongoing progress of the publication. He lights up when given the opportunity to problem solve, be that for the publication itself or to help a wider community cause.

Throughout his role, Michael has inspired several initiatives that have created huge impacts across the Gippsland community. In his day job, Michael is the founder of Simplexity Consulting Group, supporting business across Australia to thrive through strategy development and coaching.

Gippslandia: What do you love about being based in Gippsland?

Michael Duncan: Everything. I’ve got it all at my doorstep, but most importantly it’s home, family and friends. It has everything you could want, at a pace and a price that allows anyone to make a start and enjoy life.

Why do you support Gippslandia?

Part of the reason for starting Gippslandia with Tim and John was that over my journey I’ve been lucky to work with a broad range of people and businesses that do incredible things, yet their stories were not being told.

Gippslandia is our small way of contributing to a larger cyclic problem of community pride + negative press.

What is your favourite piece that you’ve worked on for Gippslandia?

Tough one. When I wrote the article on Ted Hopkins, I met him in Windsor for an hour, which then became an entire afternoon. He was such an interesting human.

Mark Howard would be up there too. I’ve always been a huge fan of his podcast, The Howie Games. I love his ability to bring out the real personalities and stories of his guests. So to have him on the other side of an interview was pretty cool. He spent much of his younger years in my hometown of Tyers, which is cool too.

What does a successful and supportive community look like to you?

It looks like the one where my kids have grown up. Where they’re proud of their upbringing and the opportunities they have. Regardless of where they live or what they do, it will be a passion, not lack of opportunity that leads them there.

A supportive community is one where we celebrate everyone’s wins, not just our own, whilst shooting down others, which is an all too common a trait in Australia.

I recall walking into a pub in Ireland (I can’t recall all the ones I walked into) but it was a Tuesday night the town was smaller than Glengarry and the pub was full, everyone from young to old was singing, dancing and having a good time. That’s a picture of a community for me (naturally, it involved a pub of some description).

Share with us your hot tip, how can visitors have the best time in our region?

Sounds simple, but get off the highway. Don’t come to Gippsland purely seeking the destination – take in the journey.

Eat all the food. Gippsland produce is as good as it gets, we've got so many unique breweries and wineries in the region, give them a shot.

Head to the prom and let yourself explore and connect with nature.