END OF AN ERA? Part of a nudist gathering at Tyagarah Beach in 2007.

END OF AN ERA? Part of a nudist gathering at Tyagarah Beach in 2007. The Northern Star Archives

THERE could be an end to council-sanctioned nude bathing at Tyagarah Beach if a Byron Shire Council staff recommendation is approved at the council meeting this week.

Council's compliance team leader, David Murray recommends council revoke the 1998 clothes optional declaration following complaints of anti-social behaviour in the area.

Mr Murray said council and police have received frequent complaints that the area "has become a focal point for anti-social behaviour", including a detailed complaint from an indigenous woman suggesting the behaviour could be considered a "desecration of a significant Aboriginal women's site".

The motion to declare part of Tyagarah as clothes optional was carried by council in 1998.

The motion may not have been legally valid as management of that area rests with Crown Lands, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Marine Parks Authority.

While council has authority to erect a sign in the area if landowners have given consent, council staff have been unable to find any evidence of that consent.

Councillors will consider a recommendation to:

Revoke the clothes optional declaration;

Erect signs advising visitors they are entering the Tyagarah Nature Reserve;

Advise the relevant government agencies.

Tearsheet, nude beach protest, November 6th, 1998. The Northern Star Archives