Beaches belong to all, not just the rich
Resident resistance to a modest development at a beach in Adelaide’s south raises broader questions about who really can claim ownership of these public spaces, writes David Penberthy.
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About 20 years ago, the good burghers of Bondi Beach became agitated when the NSW Government entertained plans to extend the city’s rail network further through the eastern suburbs so that people from right across Sydney could have easy access to Australia’s most famous stretch of sand.
Reprising his role as Daryl Kerrigan in The Castle, actor and Bondi resident Michael Caton was the star performer at a protest staged by angry locals to kill off the rail extension plan. “Tell ’em they’re dreaming,” he said to wild applause.
The train never went ahead. Invoking the spirit of The Castle was a clever but inaccurate tactic to use against the Bondi rail plan.
It has been a very long time since Bondi could be regarded as a working-class suburb.
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It is now officially the playground of the rich, and many of the people who were campaigning against the rail plan seem to have concluded that the beach was also theirs.
The successful campaign against the railway wasn’t a victory for the little people, as per the Kerrigans when they saved their home in The Castle.
It was a successful campaign to keep people like the Kerrigans out of Bondi, and back in Penrith or Campbelltown where they rightfully belong, with their ugg boots, their flannies and their early model Commodores.
I was reminded of this episode in Sydney’s history this week while reading about the actions of a group of Port Willunga residents who banded together to kill off what struck me as a modest and pleasant proposal for a small wine bar to entertain people over the coming summer.
Just to be clear from the start, I am not calling these Port Willunga residents snobs or toffs, although I would note that these days you need to inherit money, marry well or sell one of your kidneys to buy anything in what’s known locally as the “old survey” triangle of land at this beautiful southern beach.
What I am saying is that cases such as this Port Willunga one beg a question — whose beach is it? Does this beach belong to the locals, or is it there to be enjoyed by all of us?
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The saddest thing about Sydney is the extent to which so many of its waterways have become private enclaves where only the cashed-up have direct access to the harbour and the oceanfront, and where obscene carparking prices are used by the local council NIMBYs to keep the riffraff at bay on economic grounds.
In the case of the Port Willunga pop-up bar, several arguments were put forward against the idea. Some residents had problems with the fact that it was going to sell alcohol.
This struck me as a bit quaint, in a wine-loving state such as ours, and given that the operators weren’t planning tequila layback competitions, or a re-enactment of the Schutzenfest, but a chilled riesling and a plate of chorizo as the sun wentdown.
There were also claims that it would be too loud, both with conversations and music, even though the bar was to be located at the northern end of the beach’s lower carpark where there aren’t any homes, with organiser Justin McCarthy, from the Australian Trade Alliance, promising there would be no “doof doof” music.
From what I can gather, the biggest concern went to the number of people it would attract, with the 100-odd locals who voted “no” to the plan in the Onkaparinga Council survey already being worried by the fact that so many people turn up over summer, anyway.
To me, this mindset displays a little bit of selfishness. If life comes with a bit of quid pro quo, part of the deal of being lucky enough to live or have a beach house at one of the greatest beaches in Australia is that other people will want to come and enjoy it, too.
I was lucky enough to buy a block at our southern beaches years ago, when they were still giving away land in the cheap seats at the Aldinga end, and I am sometimes puzzled by the trifling issues that agitate some of the more politically minded locals.
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You hear complaints about cars on the beach, especially around Australia Day when it is bumper to bumper, with some locals arguing that cars should be banned completely because they bring in the “hoon element”.
One of the more absurd issues, which only came to my attention when a local hippy knocked on my door and asked me to sign a petition (and was stunned when I wouldn’t), involved the proposed creation of a bike and pedestrian way along the SilverSands esplanade.
There is currently no verge there and cycling and walking is a bit dicey, especially on the blind corner towards the end of Silver Sands. This concerned local chap said the proposal was ridiculous because it would bring youths on bicycles into the area who would be making a terrible racket and potentially riding at great speed. Heaven forbid, kids on bikes. What will they get up to next?
The great thing about South Australia, unlike the more mercenary and moneyed cities to the east, is that our lives here are much more democratic, and we have shared access to these special parts of the state.
Any talk about proposals that bring in “the wrong people”, or jar with the local definition of “amenity” and “ambience”, should be recognised for what they are: a misplaced sense of entitlement and exclusivity.
As part of the bargain, decisions like these do everything to perpetuate the impression that Adelaide is a city for boring old farts, who live in fear of anyone doing something fun or different.