About Simon Golding
“I’d rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not.”
My name is Simon Golding. I’m a sailor, adventurer, and a man who has never been afraid to live life on my own terms.
I’ve sailed across the Pacific, base-jumped from cliffs, explored remote islands, and chased freedom wherever it took me. I make no apology for that. I’ve made mistakes like any human, but I’ve always stood by my decisions and told the truth — even when the truth was dangerous.
Two Storms That Changed Everything
In 2007 I was sailing across the Pacific with my mate Andy Whitton when he disappeared overboard. I made the hard calls to keep the yacht alive and get to safety in Galapagos. Years later the coronial inquest turned into a witch-hunt full of hearsay, bias, and convenient omissions. I wrote a full response to the ABC’s Australian Story because they got it badly wrong — you can read that on this site.
Then came 2010.
I was arrested in what became known as Operation Collage (AFP) / Operation Bergonia (Customs/ACBPS – now Border Force) — the Mayhem of Eden cocaine case at Scarborough Marina. What the public was told and what actually happened are two very different stories.
The Corruption They Tried to Bury
While the agencies claimed everything was clean and by the book, the evidence I have gathered over 16 years shows otherwise:
- Up to 24 Customs officers were at the marina in 2010 — a fact hidden from the defense for years despite subpoenas, FOI requests and court orders.
- AFP officers were filmed leaving the yacht in the early afternoon with bulging shirts and bags — yet swore under oath they didn’t board until evening.
- CCTV footage was edited, duplicated and partially withheld.
- Cocaine went missing from the yacht and from a car. Replacement drugs with different stamps appeared three days later.
- A Customs officer from the bust was caught snorting cocaine in a Sydney nightclub days afterwards while others allegedly ran.
- Officers involved were promoted instead of charged.
I have the photos with timestamps, conflicting transcripts, redacted lists, internal emails, and court records. This is not allegation — this is documented perjury, evidence tampering, theft of seized drugs, and perversion of justice at the highest levels.
ACLEI has known since 2012. They even told me directly they knew the evidence was stolen. Yet after years of so-called “investigation” — nothing. No charges. No transparency. Just silence and promotions.
My first trial was aborted because of the lies and non-disclosure. The second trial became a sham when Customs involvement finally came out — but the judge refused to stop it. I was sentenced to 30 years.
I am still serving that sentence at Palen Creek Correctional Centre.
Why This Site Exists
This website is my stand. It holds the original letters I sent to Parliament, Ministers (including Peter Dutton), ACLEI, the Ombudsman and others — plus the transcripts, photos, media reports and court documents that prove the cover-up.
I am not asking for sympathy. I am demanding accountability.
If you believe law-enforcement agencies must be held to a higher standard than the people they police — if you believe in real justice, not convenient convictions — then you are in the right place.
The mouse versus the dragon continues.
Read the evidence. Share the truth. Help demand a full judicial inquiry or Royal Commission into AFP and Border Force corruption in Operation Collage/Bergonia.
Because if they can do this to me — and protect it for 16 years — they can do it to anyone.
Simon Golding
Palen Creek Correctional Centre, Queensland
Still fighting.
Still speaking truth.