Thread: Stockton Beach

First post - sounds like a an agenda - if I am wrong I apologise in advance.

Sand mining has been going on there for years as well as where I come from down Belmont way on Nine Mile Beach.

I believe that at Stockton the miners either own the land they have or have had a long term lease and this area is outside the area that is owned/managed by the Indigenous people/National Parks.

While it would be preferred not to have sand mining in these areas it has been going on for a long long time and would seem to not have an impact on the recreational use of the area - the dune areas are closed at the moment for other reasons which have been discussed at length in other threads.

Garry

I was surprised to hear from my son on Saturday that the Quad operators are allowed on the high dunes North of Lavis lane.
I won a quad trip for two in the raffle at the beach cleanup last year which he used on Saturday and according to him was able to access the highest dunes.
My understanding was that the area was closed because of the sacred sites uncovered in the bad storms last year.

Anyone know if the Quad operators have exclusive access , as they told my son? If so I am prepared to raise my dudgeon level.

Regards Philip A

Phillip,

I think there is some "private" land at the rear of Stockton Beach and I believe that is where the Quad bikes sometime go. The bulk of the beach and dunes are still restricted to the public. No idea when, if every access will be permit again.

With regards to sand mining as noted earlier they have been mining in that area for a long time, again usually on Private land but also public land and Govt. owned/controlled land such as land associated with the Dept. of Defence.

Not 100% sure of the impact this will have in access to the Beach proper but I for one would find it strange if access was denied so they could sand mine. Lets also remember there is a lot of beach still open and accessible, unfortunately it seems all the fun dunes at the rear are no longer part of that.

It would be very sad indeed if we were locked out of areas like Stockton as it is a great place to go, however sometime the behaviour of so called 4wders leave a lot to be desired and this impacts us all.

Regards,

George

4WD Action just did a video update recently on what is going on with Stockton.

Behind The Scenes - Stockton Update! | Australian 4WD Action

Might be worth a look.

Thanks lickity for the video link as that's what I wanted to see and i'll make sure like everyone else should as well to pass it on to everyone as it's suppose to be not to late. I'm just worried here as being 56 years old I've seen too many beaches closed for driving on or camping. I know that the sandmining has been going on there for decades but this is a new company opening up apparenty for the next 20 years because Stockton has the 3 different grades of sand thus explaining the dunes going to be pushed back with dozes to make it easier to get.So Bad luck quads and trikes. I've also heard that most of the beach will be fenced off near to the water, leaving 1 small area open for camping in the future. So C'mon people, Watch the video that lickity has posted and do any and everything possible before it's too late.

The beginning of the end?
Port mayor's sand mine approved | Newcastle Herald

Originally Posted by PhilipA

Anyone know if the Quad operators have exclusive access , as they told my son? If so I am prepared to raise my dudgeon level.

I've been on one of the quad bike tours at Stockton and they do take you on some of the largest dunes - it's a hoot.

The quad bikes tours are operated by the indigenous owners, so that would give them exclusive access if they wanted it.

The High Dunes are not, and never have been, part of the Worimi Conservation Lands (See MAP). This has been private land for many years and has not always been policed as "off limits" to general users of Stockton. The more recent declaration of NPWS/WCL management of Stocton has provided more resources for signposting and even patrolling, but the access situation has never changed. It's private land, and the tour operators would have negotiated access with the owners. If the owners want to sandmine (or licence commercial tour operators to access their land), that's up to them.

The restrictions on camping are more recent, and have resulted from Storms in 2012, and have nothing to do with any sandmining proposals. By the tone of the management notice on camping, it is likely that the restriction will remain in place for some time to come, but it is not explicitly stated to be permanent.

If you think this is a blanket directive from the "Land Council" or NPWS to outlaw camping or unnecessarily restrict access to parts of Stockton, bear in mind that the decision was made with information and consultation from the WCL Consultative Group, which includes strong representation of 4wd clubs and recreational users.