For the record, there appears to be a misconception that the beach hut, sheds and surrounding land are public property.

They are not.

These structures and surrounding land has been privately owned by my family for four generations.  In the 1950s the little open fronted beach hut with porch was actually the family home, and we ran the family fishing business from the neighbouring sheds. 

Consequently the buildings and land are of huge sentimental value to our family.

Up till now we have not fenced our boundary, choosing instead to quietly leave this area available to the public to enjoy in the hope they will treasure it as much as we do.

Despite having to clean graffiti off the structures, regularly remove rubbish and put up with party goers noise in the wee hours, we have allowed access – the same access that enables painters to capture the huts on canvas, the photographers to capture them in print and the lucky in love to wed there - all things now being touted as reasons why we shouldn't be able to add a necessary water tank to our own land.

Sadly our selflessness has made our family property a target for public comment and debate.

We have been told our new tank structure, which was included on our original DA, does not appeal to a minority who strangely choose to turn their back on the scenic river and beach and instead look at our backyard.

 Apparently they also don't like our spa which sits on the deck, innovatively supported by the tank structure. So they are organising a petition for it all to be torn down.

The tank holds necessary firefighting water to help keep the beach huts and our home safe as we border heavily forested National Parks land. It has been structurally engineered, sized and positioned to ensure no impact to our aging beach buildings.

As for the spa?  It has been reported that it is not 'approved'.  Interestingly the media and petitioners haven't bothered to research that the spa does not need a permit as it holds less than 3000 litres of water. 

This unreasonable intrusion on our privacy may very well force us, after so many decades, to reconsider public access to our land and iconic beach buildings.

For now we will leave our decision in the hands of the protesters and media.  All of the above information would have been made known to them if they had just asked.

Meanwhile, thank you to the many who have offered their support, it is truly appreciated in this disheartening time.