Eyre Peninsula surfing destination sign cut with angle grinder and removed, following online backlash
Eyre Peninsula surfers closely guarded their secret spots in decades past, and now a sign pointing tourists to one of them has been attacked with an angle grinder.
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A tourism billboard pointing to a popular Eyre Peninsula surfing location has been vandalised with an angle grinder in what appears to be a return to the localism the coast was famous for in the 1970s and 80s.
The South Australian Tourism Commission sign indicating the turn-off to Cummings Monument was erected on the Flinders Highway last week.
The large sign, which featured a picture of a surfer riding a wave in front of the area’s distinctive rock pillar taken by South Australian photographer Kane Overall, created quite a stir in online forums and within a few days the steel legs had been cut almost completely through.
Concerned that the unstable sign could pose a safety risk, it was removed by the Lower Eyre Peninsula District Council.
In decades past the waves of the West Coast managed to fly under the radar thanks largely to an unspoken code of secrecy and the active discouragement of photography and surf magazine articles.
Many visiting surfers, including several professionals, have tales of the less than hospitable welcome they received at the time, however the advent of social media has seen many places once considered off limits back in the spotlight.
SATC chief executive Rodney Harrex said the sign was aimed at sightseers rather than visiting surfers.
“Most visitors would see the sign, get out and take a photo of the scenery from the lookout and drive on,” Mr Harrex said.
He said the SATC, which has spent almost $1.5m on tourism signage this year, was now working with police and local tourism agencies to look at replacing the sign with a different image.
“Keen surfers already know about the break, so it is disappointing that a small minority have taken upon themselves to effectively stop anyone else sharing this … brilliant piece of our SA coast,” he said.
For Mr Overall, the use of his image on the sign led to a barrage on online abuse.
“I guess that’s the thing that has shocked me the most,” he said. “I didn’t know the image would be used in that way and then I just started getting lots of hate on my social media and even got blamed for the other signs on the coast.
“Even though I am a huge supporter of SA tourism, I still do not include locations on my images on social media and also do not tell people where they are.”
Long-time West Coast surfer Jeff Schmucker said he understood surfers wanting to protect a resource, but maintained felling signs was not the way forward.
“I’ve been a proponent of promoting the West Coast and its surf,” Mr Schmucker said.
“I have a son (Josiah) who surfs, and we’ve had a hell time travelling the world and visiting other people’s backyards. Telling people to eff off or messing with their gear, I mean what is this, a cowboy movie? I think that’s a group mentality for people who are too afraid to get out and see the world.”
Mr Schmucker said that with Covid shutting down international travel West Coast locals might have to get used to more people surfing their breaks.
“There’s a handful or surfers who might take to a sign with an angle grinder, but at the end of the day nobody’s going to stay away because somebody cut a sign down,” he said. “We need leaders, and people demonstrating good surfing etiquette, because we’re only going to get more people, not less.”
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