Lockout on Moreton Bay Beaches

The beautiful Tangalooma wrecks at sunset. Photo courtesy D. Baker. Dave
took this photo from the back of my boat after we'd spent the day sailing
to Tangalooma.

I think it is wrong ot the Tangalooma Resort to barricade the beach and prevent visitors walking along the beach after 5.30pm.

The resort chopped down several large gum trees which it placed at the north and south ends of the beach to form a blockade preventing access to the beach. Signs at either end of the beach proclaim that the resort owns the land down to the low water mark. The resort placed security guards on motorbikes at either end of the beach, only allowing access to guests who were staying at the resort.

It is outrageous to have resort operators in Queensland barricading beaches and stopping people going for an evening stroll.

I visited Moreton Island with my family this week and took them for a walk along the beach. We were confronted with a barricade of trees, and a security guard on a motorbike who said we weren’t allowed on the beach near the resort after 5.30pm. Not only is this a terrible restriction of freedom, it is a huge embarrassment for tourism in Queensland. Imagine if word got out that tourists weren’t allowed to walk on some beaches here after dark? The Tangalooma resort is doing a grave disservice to Queensland Tourism.

Either the resort has got its wires crossed about where its property boundaries extend to, or the Queensland Government is allowing corporations to buy up our beaches, and stop us walking along them. If that’s the case, then the law has to be changed.

Most coastal property boundaries in Queensland extend to the high water mark, which gives anyone free access to the beach. Who did a deal that allows tourism operators to lock us out of our own beaches?

Not only that, who chopped down the huge eucalypts on the island to build this ugly barricade?”

The Tangalooma Resort should lift its ban on visitors walking along the beach outside the resort after 5.30pm. The Queensland Government should review laws which allow resorts to restrict access to beaches to anyone but resort guests.