Science & Tech · Science & Environment · 1 day ago
Ngarrindjeri elder calls for vehicle limits to protect birds at Goolwa Beach
Ngarrindjeri elder Cedric Varcoe wants vehicle access restricted on Goolwa Beach in South Australia to help protect birds and their habitat.
Drivers can currently travel along a 12-kilometre stretch of beach to the mouth of the Murray River.
The beach is popular with fishers, families and tourists, and there is no permit system in place.
Some birds nest in shallow nests that can be hard to see, including fairy terns, which are considered at high risk of extinction in the wild.
About 1,000 fairy terns remain in South Australia across 10 breeding sites, two of them in the Coorong.
Ngarrindjeri rangers and Birdlife Australia are working to monitor and protect nesting birds, and three hooded plover chicks have recently fledged at Coorong Beach.
The rangers will continue this work with Birdlife Australia.
Ngarrindjeri elder Cedric Varcoe has called for vehicle access to Goolwa Beach to be restricted to protect birds and their habitat.
Four-wheel drives can currently travel along a 12-kilometre stretch of beach between Goolwa and the mouth of the Murray River.
Ngarrindjeri rangers and Birdlife Australia are working together to monitor and protect nesting birds.
A local beach driver says people are generally responsible and a ban would be unpopular.
- Who
- Ngarrindjeri elder Cedric Varcoe is calling for limits on vehicles. Local beach driver Wayde Eldridge opposes a ban.
- What
- Varcoe wants vehicle access to Goolwa Beach restricted to protect birds and the environment.
- When
- Varcoe made the call during the birds’ breeding season. The article was published on 2026-10-11.
- Where
- Goolwa Beach, on a 12-kilometre stretch between Goolwa and the mouth of the Murray River in South Australia.
- Why
- Varcoe says the birds are important to Ngarrindjeri culture and their habitat should be protected. Birdlife Australia says the area is important to resident and migratory shorebirds.
Cedric Varcoe
Wayde Eldridge
Vehicle access
Cedric Varcoe
Wants vehicle access to Goolwa Beach restricted to help protect birds and the environment.
Wayde Eldridge
Says people driving on the beach are responsible and a ban would be unpopular.
In our culture they're our friend, our spiritual guide, our protectors, and when they're not here, or when they're no longer here, our spirit is no longer alive and strong as well
They'll travel down and they'll stop over in China and Korea and then they'll come here and this is where they spend most of their life
They fatten up and they rest and they get all that energy which determines the journey back, but also if they breed successfully when they go back
Cedric Varcoe welcomed birds at a ceremony at the Coorong to mark the breeding season for some birds and the return of others to South Australia.
Three hooded plover chicks fledged at Coorong Beach, coinciding with the welcome ceremony.
- Beach access
- Four-wheel drives can travel along 12 kilometres between Goolwa and the Murray River mouth.
- Permit system
- A permit system has been discussed, but none is currently in place.
- Fairy terns
- About 1,000 remain in South Australia across 10 breeding sites.
- Coorong sites
- Two of the fairy tern breeding sites are in the Coorong.
- Bird monitoring
- Ngarrindjeri rangers work with Birdlife Australia to monitor and protect nesting birds.
Sources
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