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.
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Tasmania, the decision of the West Tamar Council to turn Pebble Beach in Narawntapu National Park into a nude beach was rescinded in June after public outcry.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.
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.
Nude beach girls casually enjoys a sunny day naked in public
