We’re becoming a nation of prudes, our nude beaches shut by the nanny state

Have we turned into a nation of prudes when it comes to public nudity? After a 1700-kilometre drive from Melbourne to northern NSW, my partner and I were looking forward to a dip in a long-time favourite nude swimming spot just north of Byron Bay, the tea-tree lakes and beach at Tyagarah Nature Reserve.

A special exception for nudity: the Sydney Skinny, at Cobblers Beach at Mosman, boasts that it is the world’s biggest annual nude swim race. Credit: Edwina Pickles

We parked the car and walked in through a gap in the red lilly-pilly, green-leaved rose walnut and other trees that make up these stunning coastal marsh and swamp sclerophyll forests, stripped off and dived into the warm, tea-coloured lake.

We were immediately approached by a group of locals in swimming gear who informed us that nudity is no longer allowed in Tyagarah. Not wishing to cause a problem and feeling suddenly self-conscious, we apologised and moved to a quieter part of the lake.

Byron Shire Council approved the area as clothing-optional in 1998 and in 2018 rejected plans to abolish it despite complaints about lewd behaviour. However, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, which only recently discovered that it had jurisdiction over the land, closed it down last August following a community campaign.

Later, I saw that signs had been erected at the main entrance, pointing out that this is no longer a clothing-optional area and $500 fines would apply. I’m both stunned and saddened because as a former student here in the 1990s, naked swimming was one of the things I loved most about the area.

Signs at Tyagarah Beach, in February last year, outlined where swimmers could strip down – and where they couldn’t. Since then, the clothing-optional signs have been removed. Nude bathing is no longer an option.Credit: Byron Shire Council

Having just returned from six months in Europe, I can’t shake the feeling that Australia is becoming much more prudish. We spent the last month of our trip in Berlin, where whole families happily sunbake nude at central urban parks including the Volkspark Hassenheide and Tiergarten, as well the lakes outside of Berlin that have dedicated naked zones for families, LGBTQ communities and others – all blissfully buff alongside each other.

Elsewhere in Europe, public nudity has been popular for decades. In Finland, Denmark and France, women fought for and won the right to be topless on beaches and public swimming pools (a movement called top freedom) and nudism has long been accepted in Greece, Italy, Spain and Iceland. Tartu, in southern Estonia, where I spent the last European summer, had a nude beach on the Emajogi River, said to have been a naked swimming and sunbathing spot dating back to Soviet times.

So why are we heading in the other direction in Australia, where the tightening of nudity rules extends beyond the NSW North Coast? In northern Tasmania, the decision of the West Tamar Council to turn Pebble Beach in Narawntapu National Park into a nude beach was rescinded in June after public outcry. Victoria’s Sunnyside Beach on the Mornington Peninsula was saved only after a dedicated online campaign from local naturalists.

It’s perfectly understandable that people don’t want to see exposed penises on their morning walks, but why can more densely populated European cities navigate the issues of public nudity even as Australia is resorting to outlawing it?

Surely Europeans experience challenges with a minority of naked bathers getting overly amorous in the sand dunes or a few creeps instigating unwanted sexual advances (which should never be tolerated). But they seem able to find a middle ground of allowing people to direct their own lives rather than imposing punitive penalties on those of us who simply enjoy a naked swim.

Of course, the advantage of having nominated nude beaches and bathing areas is that if you don’t want to see naked folks, you simply pick another beach. What has happened to Australia’s live-and-let-live egalitarian mentality – especially here in the so-called “alternative” centre of northern NSW?

The new sign at Tyagarah Nature Reserve.

Perhaps it’s timely to reflect on the wise words of former South Australian premier Don Dunstan, who declared Maslin Beach, south of Adelaide, Australia’s first nude beach in 1975. When asked why, he said: “Unless people were hurting others in the community they should be able to be individuals and do their own thing. I believe the richness of society comes from its diversity and individuality.”

No one is forced to go to a nude beach or get their gear off in public. Given Australia’s abundant nature parks and beaches, surely we can find ways for nudists, families and even prudes to respectfully co-exist.

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