Protests - Part 46

 Reef Beach

Reef Beach is a beach in Manly, Australia, a suburb of Sydney.  On Oct. 19, 1976, the government announced that nude bathing would be permitted at Reef Beach and Lady Jane Beach.  Local residents immediately protested, despite Reef Beach being secluded and difficult to access.  Above, a protest rally against the nude bathers on Oct. 31, 1976.

Another view of the protest against nude bathing on Oct. 31, 1976.

On Nov. 16, another anti-nude beach protest occurred.  This video clip starts with a calm and reasoned statement by Tom Donnelly, spokesman for the nude bathers.  Then we get a statement from an anti-nude beach protester: "Why don't they go somewhere else?"

The beach continued to be a nude beach for the next two decades.  Above, beach-goers queue for ice cream in 1985.

But the issue continued to simmer.  This 1987 photo was labeled "Local alderman says Manly council has been pretty limp on this."  Of course, the way he's facing, we can't see whether he's limp or not.

Then the Manly Council banned nude bathing beginning in February 1993.  That resulted in another round of protests, from the nudists this time.  Above, protesting nudists on Feb 2, 1993.

More protesting nudists on Feb. 6, 1993.  The issue then got dragged into the courts, because it was not clear that the town of Manly had jurisdiction to ban nude bathing, since the beach was controlled by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Eventually the Environment Minister announced that there would be four nude beaches in New South Wales, but Reef Beach was not one of them.

So, where does that leave the guy with the tattoo above?