In bad news for naturists, one of New South Wales’ few nudist beaches could potentially become a regular old bathing spot (read: clothing will no longer be optional).
Tyagarah Beach was first officially labelled a nudist beach in 1998 by the Byron Bay Shire Council, but in a council meeting late February, the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) group brought forward the notion that the council’s decision was actually redundant because the area is managed by NPWS.
Initially the beach was set to revoke its nudist status this Monday, but protests from the region’s locals extended the decision until June 30 to allow for the NPWS to consult with the community.
Tyagarah Beach is no stranger to drama – a few years ago, the council received requests to revise the beach’s clothing status after complaints about some peeping Toms… But instead, thousands of dollars worth of security TV cameras were installed to mitigate any problems. Cameras at the nudist beach... as a solution? Righto.
NPWS wants to eliminate the clothing-optional aspect of the beach because too many beach-goers were accessing areas beyond the nude territory like the dunes, causing environmental damage in the process. Why would clothing stop this happening? Well, the theory is that if it wasn't a nude beach, less people would frequent this particular beach, so less people would cause environmental issues.
A petition launched by Byron Naturists member Bradley Benham has so far received over 7,000 signatures in support of keeping the beach as is. While the local government seems in favour of the beach’s naturalist state, the decision is now in the hands of NPWS.
So the question remains, will Byron Bay residents (and East Coast beach goers, for that matter) have a place to bare it all come winter?