The media attention has been great with TV, radio and press coverage and we hope this will allow for a renewed push for the long overdue granting of a clothing optional beach in Queensland.
The following positive article was issued by Bmag a Brisbane online lifestyle webpage and is a sample of the type of publicity that has been generated:
A petition has been started to legalise ‘clothing optional’ beaches in Queensland. Here are the surprising reasons you’ll probably want to sign it.
When it comes to nudist opportunities, Queensland is very much behind the curve.
That’s why a campaign to legalise nude beaches in Queensland has been kicked off by a resident of Poona, a small town outside Maryborough.
However, not everybody is hastening to unbutton their shirts and feel the ocean water on their skin.
Poona Community Progress Association President Peter Heit told Brisbane Times ”that perverts and blokes like that would probably come along as well, and we don’t want them in Poona, that’s for sure.”
According to Whelan, “the petition to the Queensland government is for the legislation of a nude beach because Queensland and Tasmania are currently the only states in Australia that don’t have any clothing optional beaches. If not on the Fraser Coast, then somewhere within the state, we need somewhere where naturists and tourists can have this facility.”
“It is an innocent pastime, skinny dipping, and at the moment anyone who is caught doing that will face prosecution,” Whelan says. “Most naturists are law abiding citizens and the fact that we can’t enjoy the sun and surf and the simple act of skinny dipping seems rather draconian, especially in this day and age.”
There are some unofficial nude beaches tucked away along the Queensland coast, most of which are hidden or hard-to-get-to beach areas that can not always be considered safe due to their isolated locations. Whelan argues that it would be safer for all involved to have nudist areas on more mainstream beaches and to have them appropriately signed. “In Europe what happens is there is a designated end of a beach where clothing is optional,” he says. “I would think that on every mainstream beach in Australia there would be an area that would be appropriately signed where you could encounter naked people.”
“The idea of ‘perverts’ is another very good reason to have an area that is designated and not hidden away,” Whelan says. “The unsavoury element that might be attracted to a nude beach would be exactly the same unsavoury element that would be attracted to a clothed beach.
“A lot of beaches that people see as clothing optional are hidden away at the moment and that plays right into their hands. They may go there for inappropriate reasons, while really the people that use the beach for the right reason just want to enjoy the sun and surf.”
“The biggest thing to remember is that it is a wonderful experience,” Whelan says. “Once you’ve swam without the hindrance of clothing you’ll keep coming back and enjoying it.
“It’s a non-sexual experience and it works on so many levels to keep a healthy attitude to one’s own body. It normalises the human body and doesn’t objectify it.”
