Long-term travellers camping illegally in bushland near the WA town of Margaret River have been walloped with $4,500 in fines … as the local council cracks down hard.
The Shire of Augusta Margaret River says the ‘high volume’ of campers setting up in bushland was putting ‘significant pressure’ on the environment.
Rangers have increased patrols and shire management is considering contracting additional resources to assist in the policing of illegal campers. Wording on signage at the entrance to towns to deter illegal campers has also been altered to make it ‘more direct’ following continued infringements.
The ABC reports that the town is already buckling under the strain of capacity numbers of domestic tourists left with limited travel options due to continued restrictions.
The shire’s ranger coordinator, Narelle Graue, said something had to be done.
“Our visitor numbers peak at this time of year, with little accommodation or campsites available last minute,” she told the ABC. “The true cost of this type of camping is paid for by the environment and indirectly by residents whose rates go towards cleaning up the rubbish left behind, rehabilitating trampled bushland, and covering water bills from travellers relying on public showers and other facilities.”
Rangers have been fining illegal campers near Margaret River.PIC: Facebook: / Shire of Augusta Margaret River / ABC
The shire’s emergency services manager, Adam Jasper, has also said that illegal camping and the prospect of open fires or gas cooktops being used under current fire alert levels adds to the level of concern around illegal camping.
“Firefighters won’t know where you are if you’re free camping in the bush, and I’ve seen fires move so quickly they can create incredibly dangerous situations in a short period of time,” Mr Jasper said. “Bush cooking on open stoves or lighting campfires in undesignated spots can unintendedly cause a bushfire … this creates a very real risk to the surrounding community where people live and work.”
We’ll if the shire was sensible enough and there is a need for a free camping area, why doesn’t the shire structure one so it’s serviceable for all concerned. Maybe just enough for say 20- 30 campers and shift it around the area for the area to regenerate. If the shire won’t come to the party boycott the town, see how their town will survive without tourist income. Get with the times Margaret river estate!
Gutless anonymous. please don’t comment if you don’t put your name to it.
In these difficult times, south west WA is very very busy, no staff and so on.
We all need to do our bit to survive and life will return to normal at some stage.
Where is that attitude from Grey Nomads that we look after each other.
Love thee next door friend.
My my..dont you have a thin skin. no need for the agro. just grin an bear it and keep your thinking cap on as to how to improve things for all folk..Good luck
We drove straight through and found a caravan park further north . I wasn’t that impressed by Margaret River the town.
Margaret river is totally over-blown.
It’s because a lot of shire council people love to control what they think they own , we are all only visitors to this earth !! Instead of actually doing something positive it’s easier to do the negative. This makes these dickheads feel good about themselves they could be improving there townships and shire’s with money from the visiting campers but they don’t have the foresight to see this so I will keep my money in my pocket and drive straight through there little towns. And towns like them !!!! They remind me of dictators these towns .
If Margaret River refuses to provide adequate camping facilities with hundreds of square miles of State Forest which apparently is fine to clear fell bulldoze and burn but it’s not okay to camp on then I’ll just stay clear of the whole joint and keep my money to spend somewhere else probably Collie
very similar to Port Fairy in Victoria, I called onto the information desk at port fairy and requested information on camp sites in area, I was told in no uncertain terms Port Fairy did not want motor homes tourists in the area, please l leave – which I did there a great free camping area down the road a bit at Portland, camp area is right next to the botanical gardens and a lovely place to stay
Ahhh, good old “Mark up River”. Over priced and over rated.
The place says no camping right thru the area I know have been there all those people would have known just like keep out of truck layovers sorry no sympathy
We’ve been to Margaret river once and were not that impressed to be honest. Overpriced and over-rated.
Yep, just like Noosa, Byron Bay Port Douglas and a dozen other places
A very short sighted approach to what some may see as a problem, you have a over abundance of tourists wanting to visit your town and spend their money, and don’t for one second say they don’t, there are plenty of studies on the power of the backpacker/grey Nomads spending habits, you don’t have enough commercial resources to accommodate them, and your answer is to put up warning signs and impose fines. Use your brains and create an overflow facility in the town like SOOO many other towns have done successfully, if c/parks, motels and pubs are at capacity then no one is missing out by letting these travellers stay in a free camp or moderately price overflow. Wake up Margaret River.
Excellent advice to the council, wake up or lose what you have that’s so popular to tourist
Are you offering to clean up after these non self contained back trackers, if so rock up and have a go
Don’t always blame the backpackers. Saw a local woman chuck a full diaper by the footpath this morning as she wheeled her pram just 10mts from a bin. Yesterday I offered a local man a bag as he walked away after his BIG dog squatted and he told me to F.. off!
I collect the rubbish left by LOCALS everywhere around the coast. With my catamaran to enjoy nature, I am the illegal one at boat ramps – council provided multi million dollar facilities with stinking fish-clraning tables – collecting plastic bait bags, wildlife-killing fishing lines, fag buts, bottles and cans etc.
Same happens big time in NSW Kiama, plus other coastal towns close by & sadly i have seen first hand who they are & a lot not from this country as i am not also but am a proud Anzac Relative in which the Governments have completely purposely forgot during this time,that is a fact.i had too put that in & no apologies.Good on you John as Sally & i do try too do our small bit around our town as there is a lot of scumbags even some locals who are too stupid to care about rubbish,not lazy just disgusting stupidity.most people including nomads are respectful & clean.
Install a rubbish bin. Too hard?
We always leave our stop over site cleaner than it was when we arrived. There will always be careless people who are not house trained.
no you go & clean up
Like Tasmanian & NZ have too attract campers,nomads etc,we did Tassie & every town we went because went around the whole of it was welcomed & catered for plus free camping hook ups offloads etc too attract customers in which we where plus NZ the same,not everyone you can please on this but i suspect the majority,be happy & share the land it is not Margaret rivers or ours & never will be.Good comments by the way Kieran..
That wouldn’t be interstate travellers only West Australians at the moment
wrong…….. overseas back packers still here and also interstate travellers
Free campers are not the “tourists” who spend money. They look for everything “free”. I agree with the Shire of Margaret River. These campers cost more to service than what they will spend in the region. I can assure you the Shire will survive without “free loaders”.
obviously you dont have a family and limited dollars to stretch to include holidays or getaways for the little darlings…shame on you being so inconsiderate. Holidays are not only about spending money. They are for keeping families together and creating memories, even if its on the cheap.
Totally incorrect. Proven in many locations around Oz. Free camping is simply an option that many prefer. Caravan parks can often be boring whereas free camping is a real alternative. Your so called “Free loaders” do spend at many locations Cobber. They do need other items (provisions, fuel etc) which are purchased in or near towns with free camp facilities. And that’s a fact.
Right on.
It’s not the free campers in general that is the problem. It’s those that aren’t self contained that swat in the bush and leave toilet paper about. Don’t even bother to bury it. And don’t take their rubbish away. Tell them off if you see them as they spoil it everywhere for those doing the right thing setting themselves up to be self contained. Peer pressure can work well.
Ignorant and misinformed comments and totally out of touch! Go and speak to other businesses in town other than caravan parks who hold councils to ransom which result in policies such as these.
There are small towns that survive on “ freeloaders” the locals go to a regional centre to shop, the “freeloaders” shop locally, have morning/afternoon coffee at the local cafe, counter meals at the pub, without the “ freeloaders” these towns would really struggle, the locals are grateful. I live near Albury small towns around here let people camp at the Showgrounds for about $10/15 a night and pubs let “ freeloaders” camp in their yards free, most “ freeloaders” then buy a counter meal, it called good business.
I can see the point about camping in the bush, especially if they have fires and leave rubbish, this is not grey nomads, it’s 4wder’s, bush bashers, weekend worriers and yobbos. In one spot I regularly camp I counted 11 campfires about 1 or 2m apart, the council mow the grass and the 4wder’s, bush bashers, weekend worriers and yobbos wreck the place, the council put up a line of posts and a gate they ripped the gate off it’s hinges.
The shire should wake-up and open up the Showgrounds at a nominal rate. Caravan park owners have too much influence and they are disadvantaging other businesses.
When I was teenager I used to ride my horse through the bush on Gunbower Island, beautiful natural red gum country, last time I visited it was a mess, totally destroyed by 4wder’s, bush bashers, weekend worriers and yobbos, dozens of tracks everywhere most of them roughly parallel, muddy patches all churned up, rubbish all over, nearly made me cry.
Alan Hunter
On our trip down the WA coast 6 years ago we mostly free camped, no rubbish just grey nomads and no 4wder’s, bush bashers, weekend worriers and yobbos. We were forced due to breakdown to stay in a caravan park, $45 a night for an unpowered site, that’s $315 a week without kids a family would be $400, too much for a lot of workers and pensioners. I will admit the facilities were 1st class. When we free camped we spent our money on fuel, food and coffee and counter meals, tourist attractions, tours and boat trips. If we had stayed in caravan parks all the time there wouldn’t be many coffees and counter meals etc.
There you are Geoff that’s the life of a “freeloader” and his wife on a pension.
so us “freeloaders” are “freeloading” on nobody, we just send our money on what we enjoy the most, which ain’t caravan parks.
We do a mix of paid free and low cost camping. I enjoy the happy hours at free camps most of all. Just a different type of person three compared to high cost parks. We probably spend an average of close to $1000 per week when on the road. That covers food, park fees, tours and fuel. That’s a lot of money for the towns we visit. If the towns are not free camp friendly we tend to bypass them on principal or restrict spending even if we would have stayed in a paid park at that particular town..We are fully self contained. I think the best area of Australia for free camps is the North West of Western Australia. Pitty the rest of Australia couldn’t follow suit.
I agree, as I know people personally who just want to free load and will not spend money unless absolutely necessary.
Right on Geoff, they leave brown stained confetti around (used dunny paper, was in Hopey last week, and saw two females in camper van parked in IGA parking area having a cook up letting waste water run down the road, when they could have just gone 100m down the road to parking area on the groyne with facilities
Even “freeloaders” have to eat, buy fuel and booze, so i am sure they would spend some money in the towm. Very short sighted reactions by the shire. Clear an area for 24 to 48 hour camping with even drop toilets and rubbish bins and get the results for the local economy
Well Margret River is in the minority as the majority of towns across Australia welcome and provide facilities for free or a nominal fee and reap the benefits of people travelling through
I can understand both sides of the argument. I have left many a free bush camp because I couldn’t face cleaning up someone else’s rubbish left behind. Having said that I really don’t like caravan parks either. As far as I can recall free camping has always been prohibited in the Shire of Margaret River. The solution is pretty simple. Find another location to camp and if this exodus of travellers effects the economy of the town they will be forced to reconsider. For the record, the last time I visited I stayed at a paid (self contained) bush camp near the town. Not free but inexpensive.
I come from Darwin and one of the things that really impresses in WA is the friendlyness in most places except the places that are really touristy. The only thing that places like Margret River and others like that seem to care about is the $ and they are the place I do not want to stay.
Like some of the caravan parks that cost exceptionally high dollars. They have no care for their guests. I have seen most of them just care for the grass and the power they have over the clients. I will not be back to those places but I will be telling a lot of people who they are. And believe me Gray Nomads have a lot of power and money.
Steve Johns
Steve, you’re 100% on the money. Often you feel like an inconvenience in certain van parks while they rip the dollars out of your pocket.
Our policy is to avoid and boycott such regions. Margaret River another one to add to the list!. Over priced and utterly over rated anyway! Prefer to spend our money in RV Friendly towns that provide services and welcome free campers, as we have during the last 19 months on the road. In the south west of WA now where we have not spent a dollar in a caravan park and proud of it! Spending thousands of dollars elsewhere in RV friendly towns. In the last 6 weeks alone, Motorhome serviced, new tyres, Auto Electrician services, Cel Fi Go Range Extender, Diesel, Gas, R&M, Laundromats, Food, Entertainment, Restaurants and Ballroom Dancing! Those who say free campers don’t spend money are blissfully ignorant and out of touch. It’s time other businesses in RV unfriendly areas such as Margaret River spoke up and not let caravan parks dictate terms to Councils. They are not the only rate payers. Time to publish a list of RV Un-Friendly towns (and WA has plenty of them) so we can extend the boycotts! Grey Nomads Times a task for you with input from readers?
There are people everywhere who will always leave a mess, party or have poor toilet habits as far as disposing of their personal waste who wreck it for the more responsible campers. Personally if MG shire find it a problem why don’t they cater for campers in a controlled area with limited facilities with a caretaker and a small affordable fee not priced through the roof
Margaret River was a waste of time to visit. Nothing but overpriced shops and overpriced petrol. No parking for people who are towing a caravan. One park with one table and bench seats.
There is a reasonably priced campground on Warner Glen Rd which is very central to the lighthouses, caves, and galleries in the area. With no free camping and no parking for long vehicles I am assuming that caravanners are not the type of customer that Margaret River seeks to attract. It certainly didn’t appeal to me.
When we travelled thru in 2019 it was difficult to find a place to stay with our caravan and subsequently we did not stay long at all when we would have liked to stay a bit longer, a loss to the town really as we spent about a thousand a week on our travels. Their loss. Not good facilities for caravaners must say. Other towns far more welcoming. Basically they indicated that no tourists welcome as you can see from their sign since put up. Will not return next time around.
M.R. Probably more inclined to want to see those from their Canberra like ‘bubbles’ who are likely to be ‘latte sippers’ and overpriced wine snobs. They’re welcome to them as it means they are not near the rest of we ‘travellers’.
Not all Canberrans are ‘latte sippers ‘ and wine snobs! You get them everywhere. There are many ordinary Canberrans who also travel to enjoy the rest of Australia. You should not be so narrow minded as this puts you in the same category as the few from Margaret River
My comment did not single out all Canberrans, merely the over pampered petals etc. Take a chill pill, enjoy a coupla sundowners and find a like minded traveller nearby to have a friendly conversation with.
I understand the concerns with fire and rubbish but most country town have RV Friendly parking areas. No one is saying this has to be free. Just somewhere to cater for the overflow. Margaret River is a tourist hot spot in WA and priced accordingly. I think most people accept the pricing but there is just nowhere to park a car and van when visiting.
Margaret River is not the only shire, try Coral Bay and Exmouth they have discouraged camping even getting rid of overnight rest stops close to the towns.
The last time we were in WA was 2019. We stayed at Bullara Station which was great but we had to go into Coral Bay for fuel and it was like Port Douglas on steroids no way would we want to stay there in June/July. There were caravans parked along the edge of the caravan paying $60/night with no power or water and you would have been lucky to get a spot to walk on the beach. However we stayed there in 2014 late August and it was fantastic. We dont free camp for health reasons but there are similar issues in other states where free campers are not welcome.
I’ve spent around 8 years working in the WA mines and also touring the State, last year was our final visit, the WA Premier is pathetic and the NW tour operators are ruthless, apart from say Eighty Mile Beach caravan park. The WA Government don’t want interstate visitors, that’s obvious. I certainly won’t be crossing the WA State Line again, that’s for certain.
Our “pathetic” WA Premier has, through this pandemic, saved many lives by his good decisions. Unlike some other states. Very sorry you do not plan to return. Please remember you will always be welcome though. The WA Government do want interstate visitors. After February 5 that is.
We are Qlders who have enjoyed the wonderful hospitality of WA for a year. Feeling safer here than elsewhere and will stay another year. We use some cheaper van parks and some free camps and are fully self contained including grey water tank. It cost us to set up this way.
Some town sites will allow short term free camping if you abide by their rules. It is their town and they have good reasons for them. We have all seen just how bad behaviour ruins these places for all.
Found some tiny towns, usually with no van park, will set up a free or low cost camping area for self contained. Most people are grateful for this and can use it to travel to areas with more expensive or booked out van parks. We all have to be more understanding or we will lose out. Be more thankful for the good places to go please.
It’s easy folk’s, just do as the sign says, don’t stay at this area, so no need to spend on fuel, food, tourist attractions etc. The Council miises out on tourisim dollars.
We have always stayed at conto Np for a very reasonable price
As an aside to the serious discussion here , I used to attend and report on Margaret River Council meetings as a cadet journalist in 1973-74. During one debate on tourism, which was just starting to take off, one of the councillors commented that they should move an old WW2 artillery piece that was on display somewhere there to a hill overlooking the main road into town and shoot at tourists as they came south into town! There was also some grumbling about good dairy country being wasted with new-fangled blow ins planting grape vines, a then-new initiative that was clearly a waste of time and damaging to then-predominant dairy industry!
Broome manages to have a additional space available when all caravan parks are full, and those people add revenue to the town, it’s simple really, just set up a camp ground with demountable toilets and charge a nominal amount of $$ for Dec and Jan..
Truthfully We avoid free camps like Covid. I for one don’t blame the Shires no matter where they are. There are so many grubs who leave human waist and Toilet paper laying around. Who wants to be a council worker putting themselves at risk cleaning up human waist. Hubby worked for the Shire of Wyndham East Kimberly and caught Whooping cough and Rota virus after cleaning up disposable nappies. Each year the repaired and picked up tons of rubbish along the Gibb River Road.Yes he wore gloves. As for camp fires there are so many who have no idea how to build a campfire and insist on having blazes with uncontrollable sparks.Nor do they know how to prevent their spread. Perhaps being responsible campers or reporting irresponsible grubs might change Council attitudes. Council workers put their heath at risk every time the clean up human waste and disposable nappies. My opinion is free campers clean up your act, stop blaming backpackers and prove to Councils you can leave no trace of your visit.
The solution is not that hard really, supply long drop toilets and rubbish bins in short term camps, even charging a small serving fee , I just returned from a 6 month trip through the great central road and a lot of central WA and found very little rubbish at all even in camps with no facilities, the attitude of councils to shut down overnight camps etc is down right dangerous, some places we could not even find off rd parking, but a lot of smaller towns welcomed us and catered for travelers, lots to be learned on both sides I think, Margret River was a nice small town once now it finds it’s not so in need of campers overnighting in their shire , pity really very short sited maybe
Another cash grabbing GRUB council. Their controling Government Doctrine is FALL INTO LINE!! , We can’t live a better more free life. We’re all told to conform with the Government control Zombies Process lines.. Equality means freedom for all people, not just the wealthy!
Anyone can camp for 24hours anywhere that’s in our consultation. the business people like our money we spend. Be friendly !!!
Shame on you, Shire of Augusta Margaret River. Everywhere else is welcoming visitors. You can’t get your act together. I remember a previous discussion. You were going to discuss the situation over the next 2 years. So, your decision was to fine the bastards. How dare they come and visit. Hint taken. I won’t be going near you. Or buying Margaret River wines any more.
Heads up. Adam Jasper. Stop wingeing and install some fire places. Clear some space and add some waste bins. Doh!!!
Hi Bill, This is an employee at Margaret River, no chance of any sensible outcome !
we stayed down in Augusta at Westbay retreat it was a lovely park reasonably priced for a month and toured the area from there
Why should Rate-Payers foot the Bill for illegal campers? They should have to pay for everything just like the rest of us. I doubt that their country’s inhabitants would allow sponging & flouting local laws?