For 26 years, Tyagarah Beach has been an oasis for the region’s naturist community – a space where bodies of all shapes and sizes could roam free without threat of fines or reprimands.
But with the flick of a bureaucrat’s pen, the famous stretch is set to have its clothing-optional designation stripped away like a soggy cozzie on a hot summer’s day.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has determined that having the beach as a clothing-optional area is ‘not consistent with their values’, and demanded that the designation be revoked.
But the local naturists community isn’t giving up without a fight.
On Sunday, around 150 proudly-naked members gathered at the beach to protest against a decision that they described as ‘exceptionally unfair’.
More than 3,000 people have also signed a petition on change.org demanding that NPWS immediately reverse its decision.
3,000 signatures
‘Anyone who has spent time on a nudist beach knows the indescribable magic of the experience,’ one member of the group said.
‘You know what it is to be alive, to be truly free. Once governing bodies take away our freedoms, it is almost impossible to ever get them back.’
The naturists are also upset by the manner in which the decision occurred.
In the past, it has been Byron Council and not the NPWS that has made decisions in relation to the beach, including the original decision to designate the beach clothing-optional.
However, in May 2023 NPWS conducted a land mapping survey which found that a large section of the clothing-optional area was actually part of the Tyagarah Nature Reserve and therefore under its jurisdiction.
It is effectively using this newly-discovered power to put an end to Tyagarah as a nudist beach.
In a letter to Byron Council, NPWS’s Acting Executive Director, Deon Van Rensburg, said that maintaining a clothing-optional area in the nature reserve was ‘not consistent with the values the reserve is managed under’.
‘For example, people are accessing not only the beach but also the dune and hind-dune which is creating environmental issues,’ the letter states.
‘The continuation of a clothing-optional area in Tyagarah Nature Reserve is not supported by NPWS.’
Bradley Benham, president of the Byron Naturists, told The Echo, ‘We are very disappointed that a process to close the beach has been underway for many months, but there has been no engagement with beach users’.
No notice given
‘Closing the beach on such short notice and without public consultation or the offer of an alternate location is exceptionally unfair’.
A key moment in the fight to save the nudist beach will come at this Thursday’s Byron Council meeting.
Staff have recommended that, in light of the NPWS decision, councillors vote to remove the clothing-optional designation as of April 8.
Unlike the NPWS, a key part of the staff’s argument is the issue of antisocial behaviour, including a number of sexual assaults that have occurred, at and around the beach, over the past 26 years.
‘While Council’s designation was not intended to promote or enable the antisocial activity, the designation created a “honeypot” attracting individuals seeking out sexual activity,’ council staff said in their report on the matter.
‘These activities permeated through the nature reserve into culturally and ecologically sensitive areas.’
But the naturists say serious antisocial behaviour has not been an issue at Tyagarah since 2018, when Council tightened up its management of the beach.
‘There is no community clamour to close the nude beach,’ said David Dixon, another member of the local naturist community.
‘Issues with antisocial behaviour are historical and they should not be a motivator for the decision.’
‘We’re asking councillors to defer so that there’s adequate time for a better way forward with this.’
‘We believe that a compromise is possible, that a management solution can be found that doesn’t involve closing down the nude beach.’
Police neutral
Detective Chief Inspector Matt Kehoe told The Echo, ‘Ultimately this is a NPWS matter. Police have a neutral view. Yes, we continue to get reports of lewd and antisocial behaviour around the area. This may lead to a perception around safety. I’m not aware of any reports of violence or sexual assault in recent times.’
The Arakwal Corporation, who are consulted around such things, could not be contacted as its CEO, Brent Emmons, was unavailable.
Local Bundjalung woman, Delta Kay, who is not part of Arakwal Corporation, said in a social media post, ‘Yes our bodies are beautiful, and growing up along our Shire beaches has been a family affair of fishing, getting pipis and swimming with lots of cultural stories handed down to us’.
Care for Country
‘With that, comes the responsibility of our cultural duty to care and look after Country. As a kid, I was never scared when we went to Tyagarah, but I am now.
‘Our family-friendly clothes-optional beach has changed. Feeling uneasy, scared on a public beach is not okay. I believe our free-spirited and relaxed community is not at risk, and I’m happy to engage in community consultation with stakeholders’.
She said, ‘Our dunes are trampled owing to beachgoers using the shade and committing inappropriate behaviour. As a Bundjalung woman, I support removing the clothes-optional status for safety and to protect our fragile dune system’.
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