There is a special kind of comedy in Ashley Geelan calling himself a “local correspondent”.
Local to where, exactly?
Because Kinglake does not seem to remember him as a trusted local newsman. It remembers the mess. It remembers the fights. It remembers the threats, the dramas, the online carry-on, and the long-running habit of inserting himself into a community that had already had enough.
The “local correspondent” nobody wanted
Geelan likes titles. Publisher. Editor. Journalist. Local correspondent. The words get bigger whenever the work gets thinner.
But the Kinglake record tells a less flattering story. When Geelan presented himself as some sort of local media figure, the actual local media scene was not rolling out the red carpet. The Mountain Monthly, the community paper that actually mattered to people in the hills, did not want him as a contributor.
That alone says plenty.
Local papers depend on people pitching in. Football reports, club notes, school items, community notices, the little pieces of local life that do not make anyone rich but keep a town connected. If you are useful, fair, and not a nuisance, a local paper will usually find room for you.
Geelan apparently managed the opposite.
According to the account given to us, he did not simply volunteer football reports for The Mountain Monthly and leave it there. He allegedly tried to turn the whole thing into a money demand. In plain English, he wanted cash for material he had put forward as a volunteer contribution. Locals saw it for what it was: not community spirit, not journalism, and not local service. Just another Geelan shakedown dressed up as media work.
That is the problem with the “local correspondent” act. A correspondent is supposed to be trusted by the place he writes about. Geelan was not trusted. He was not wanted. He was not some beloved district scribe with a notebook in one hand and the pulse of the town in the other.
He was the bloke the town learned to avoid.
Kinglake had already made up its mind
Geelan Lies previously asked whether Ashley Geelan was welcome in Kinglake. The result was not close. Out of 121 responses, 117 said he was not welcome in Kinglake. Four went the other way.
That is not a split community. That is a door closing.
Another local account, attributed to Robbie Tucknott in a Facebook message, said Geelan had “single handedly” caused the loss of almost 100 members from a group in under a fortnight. That is quite an achievement, in the same way reversing into a police car is an achievement.
And then there is the public Facebook material from The Local Paper era. In December 2019, a Local Paper post reported that former Kinglake internet publisher Ashley Geelan was in custody on remand after charges including stalking, bail breaches, and intervention-order breaches were further adjourned.
This is the man now wanting the world to treat him as a sober local correspondent.
Please.
Correspondents contribute. Geelan corrodes.
Geelan is less a local correspondent than a local corrosive: the fellow who turns up, creates friction, burns goodwill, then wonders why the town has stopped answering the door.
A real local correspondent earns trust slowly. They know the difference between a story and a personal vendetta. They understand that local news is mostly service, patience, accuracy, and showing up without making yourself the centre of every room.
Geelan’s version is different. He collects titles, picks fights, demands recognition, and then tries to rewrite the memory of the town after the town has already rendered its verdict.
Kinglake did not run a ticker-tape parade for Ashley Geelan. It did not embrace him as its voice. It did not beg him to chronicle the life of the ranges.
By every available sign, Kinglake had had enough.
So when Geelan now presents himself as some sort of “local correspondent”, remember the local part first. Local means the people there know you. They remember you. They have seen how you behave when there is no grand title to hide behind.
And in Kinglake, the memory is not kind.
Source notes before publication:
- Geelan Lies, “Geelan is not welcome in Kinglake”: https://geelanlies.com/geelan-is-not-welcome-in-kinglake/
- Geelan Lies, “Geelan pisses people off”: https://geelanlies.com/geelan-pisses-people-off/
- Public Facebook Local Paper post, 10 December 2019: https://www.facebook.com/groups/LocalPaper/posts/2317455391692279/
- Mountain Monthly / football-report money-demand account: supplied account, not independently verified in this draft. Keep this line sourced before publication or soften it further.