It’s a Tuesday morning and Byron Bay’s sweeping blue skies have opened up, and a half-dozen nudists – four men and two women – strip off their birthday suits and take a quick bath in their buff skins.
This beach stretches for 800 meters along the vast coastline and is the only legal strip beach in the county. One of those taking advantage of the opportunity to get outdoors is Duncan James, vice president of Northern Rivers Naturists and an evangelist for embracing the beach as nature intended.
“Many beach users describe clothing-free beaches as their happy place, a place where they can escape the pressures of modern times and a place where they can feel at one with nature,” he said.
However, there is a metaphorical dark cloud on the horizon. Tyagarah will be stripped of its official clothing-free beach status on Sunday.
“I don’t think the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service shares these values. [NPWS]they are hell-bent on closing one of the last alternative community centers and experiences in Byron,” James said.
Tyagarah itself was first designated a clothing-optional beach in 1998, allowing those who wanted to engage in non-sexual nudity to become one with the surf without risking fines or arrest.
This isn’t the only beach or activity like this in Australia. Maslin Beach in South Australia was first designated in 1975, and since then there have been two dozen similar beaches dotted along the Australian coastline, except in Queensland. Every year, hundreds of people brave Tasmania’s freezing temperatures to celebrate the winter solstice at Dark Mofo by swimming naked.
But with Tyagarah now taken away, people on the beach see it as a disturbing sign of the times.
“We are not serious people”
The political issue of public nudity has always been fraught with controversy.
For its part, Byron Bay has always been content with a certain amount of bare skin. The area has one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the country, but when the sun comes out, people sunbath topless on the beach or swim topless. There is an annual naked bike race through the city centre, and in March local newspaper The Echo published uncensored images of the ride, showing male genitalia on the cover.
Maxine Hawker said that before clothing-free beaches opened, she would skinny-dip outside her front door every morning – something she had been doing since she was 18.
“The first time I swam was when I was about 18, on a secluded beach on the north coast. We were on holiday and I thought ‘this is amazing’,” she said.
Tyagarah is far from town, meaning it shouldn’t offend those with more moderate views, while not being so remote that it’s completely inaccessible, Hawke said.
But Bradley Benham, chairman of Northern Rivers Naturalists, said the authorities adopted a “set it and forget it” approach soon after the group was formed, which led to problems with indecent behavior on nearby sand dunes and lakes further inland.
In 2016, a group calling itself the Safe Beaches Committee was formed to clean up Tyagarah, but around this time residents and business owners along Gray Lane, a long road that runs from the Pacific Highway to the coast, began calling for the beach to be closed. In 2018, they submitted an 86-signature petition to the city council complaining about “lewd” behavior.
Describing the period as “annoying”, Benham said the negative publicity only attracted the attention of people who had no interest in nude sunbathing. On one occasion, he said, he was abused by three fishermen as he left the beach.
“The people who are trying to close the beaches are very obsessed with the idea of people having sex on the dunes,” Benham said. “Those who are trying to close the beach are focusing on the idea that this is a sex beach, which has never been my experience.”
Things died down for a while, but the issue resurfaced in February when the council announced the results of a land survey carried out by the NPWS, which found the beach was within Tyagarah National Park and a clothing-optional zone had been established without the appropriate authorization. .
A tense council meeting followed, with impassioned speeches from supporters and opponents. A mother-of-two claims she, her husband and daughter were riding bikes nearby when they encountered a naked man with an erect penis; in his own speech, Benham said those who use the beach responsibly will be It’s unfair to be treated the same as those who might be lurking in the bushes.
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None of this changed the basic position of the council, which announced in a motion that the beaches would be closed on 30 June.
One resident, Gwen Gould, celebrated the news in an interview with ABC.
“We spent about eight years trying to close the store,” she said.
“People say we are prudes. We are not prudes.
Nude frisbee, volleyball and cricket
Like others in the community, Maxine Houck said she was “shocked” by the decision.
“I’m absolutely shocked by this. I can’t believe Byron Bay has become so conservative,” she said. “We’ve become more conservative as a people and a culture, and I think Byron has become conservative.”
She said if residents objected to the beach being at the end of the street, the simplest solution would be to remove it.
So far, there’s been little interest.
A Change.org petition to NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe, which received more than 7,700 signatures, aimed to save Tyagarah Beach or find an alternative, but failed to make any progress. The NPWS is standing by its decision to close the beach, citing in part opposition from traditional owners, but has written to Byron Shire Council asking for an extension to the date.
“The NPWS has asked Byron Shire Council to extend the COA’s licensing period from June 30, 2024, to August 30, 2024, to allow appropriate notification to be given to the nudist community,” a spokesperson said.
It is unclear whether the commission has responded to the proposal. Byron Shire Council Mayor Michael Lyon has been contacted for comment.
Baynum said there was no word yet on alternatives as Sunday approaches, or on when the designation will be lifted or how nudists will be treated legally if they continue to use the beach.
The community is planning a send-off event that could include naked Frisbee, volleyball and cricket. Even if the weather is bad, the group said they will be out. They say immersing yourself in the buff elements will make you feel alive.
What will happen after that is unclear, but Benham said he plans to continue using the beach and is willing to risk fines or even jail time.
“Some people certainly don’t want to be arrested and have to go to court,” he said. “Fortunately, I’m ready to do this for what I believe in.”
“It means a lot to me.”
