Help in the fight to save our beaches!
The following are extracts of letters written by supporters of Free Beaches in Victoria. We’ve included them here to show that there are real people out there who are willing to stand up and help protect the facilities that we often take for granted. The letters are also included as examples in case you want to write your own letters!! (Note: Only one letter has been included for now, until we figure out a way to nicely summarise the list we have - stay tuned for the rest to appear shortly!!)
Some details have been sanitised by request of the author. If you are going to use these letters to write your own, please don’t simply copy and paste!!! Use them as ideas, and make the letter a real reflection of why you feel strongly on the issues.
If you would like assistance with letter writing, please check out the links pages.
If you need contact details for who to send your letters to, please check out the addresses page
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From a letter to the Geelong Advertisier
Good Morning,
I write regarding current moves by the Surfcoast Shire to have the current legal status of the clothing-optional section of Point Impossible beach revoked, and its intention to review the status of Southside Beach during the forth-coming summer.
I am unsure whether this is an issue locally, but it is certainly of concern to those of us for whom the Geelong / Torquay area is a summer mecca.
It is with regret that I read of the Council’s resolution at their meeting on 18th July to request the revocation of the long-standing prescribed Clothing Optional status of Point Impossible Beach, and the flagging of the possibility of a similar resolution regarding Southside Beach.
As a visitor to your area, I have enjoyed the opportunity to swim and sunbathe clothes-free on both of those beaches over many years - our more recent visits at Southside, due to the shorter walk required from the Point Addis side stairs with our kids and essential supplies.
Like the Council, I am concerned about offensive behaiour of those who sometimes attend free beaches for other than the enjoyment of enjoying the sea and sunshine unencumbered by clothing. I do not believe, however, that the best way to address this issue is to shut-down the free beach. ( I note your newspaper has been very active in generating considerable publicity in Geelong regarding inappropriate behaviour in various areas along the Barwon River, but to my knowledge, no-one has suggested that a sensible solution is to demolish all the public toilets in the
area!)
I am a member of Free Beaches Australia (FBA) Inc, a body which was formed to not only promote, defend and lobby for more free-beach areas around Australia, but also to act as a responsible body which can work with local government and police to ensure that free-beaches remain safe, family-friendly environments.
As such, FBA has developed a “Free Beach Etiquette”, which can be found on our website, along with other information about the organisation and its goals.
http://www.freebeach.com.au/goals.htm
At this stage, I am wondering if there is anything that can be done to prevent the area from losing what should be a valuable tourism asset?
Again, your newspaper printed some articles in January 2004 (by Rochelle Smith and Nicole Mayne) which profiled some of the people who used the free-beach area at Point Impossible and members of Corio Valey Nudist Club. Those stories were quite sympathetic, and I don’t believe they would have outraged local communities, since most people have very much a “live and let live” philosophy.
I believe that there would be members of FBA, and other genuine nudists in the Geelong / Torquay area who could work more closely with the Council and local police to try to eliminate problems.
An important part of this may be to identify the extent to which beach users are able to assist in responding to problems, perhaps by notices advising of local police phone numbers, as well as publicising the Free Beach Etiquette via brochures. I am also unsure as to the extent to which local tourist information services promote the clothing-optional beaches - they may be another distribution point for such information. (I firmly believe that the more accessible and heavily used a free-beach is, the less likely it will be that behavioural problems will occur. This would seem to be supported by the history of free beaches in Europe.)
It would be interesting to see the story being aired in your newspaper, since, despite the statement in their “Governance Manual” regarding involving the community in policy and decision making, it appears that this decision may have been based around a knee-jerk reaction to a problem, supplemented by some fairly illogical thinking and possibly personal views put by councillors.
Indeed, it is intersting to note that the two female Councillors present(including the Mayor), voted against the resolution. I have written to the Mayor (on about 20th July) in an attempt to obtain further information, but have not received any response to date.
Victorian “free beach” users are now attempting to inform the community and co-ordinate communication through a website, which lists some further contacts and contains further information, including a copy of the relevant section from the minutes of the Surfcoast Shire Council meeting at which the resolution was passed:
http://www.fbanavic.org/
In any case, I am sure that all genuine users of these beaches would be keen to work with the communities to ensure that fears of deteriorating behaviour at these are addressed, as there is now a very real prospect that Victoria may be on the way to losing all of the legal clothing optional beaches which have been valuable and valued recreation areas for more than twenty years.
Yours Sincerely,
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