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When I was asked to write about my favourite beach I had to think laterally. I was born and raised in Parkes in Central West NSW, so the beach was not front-of-mind – especially during a decade-long drought. The coastline was more than 350 kilometres away; beaches were only for holiday road trips. Even now, as a proud resident of western Sydney, with beaches much closer to home, I can never shake that holiday feeling whenever I hit the sand.
Much of my childhood experience with water involved the local pool where I learnt to swim, and feeling the cool mud squelch between my toes while chasing yabbies in a dam on a friend’s farm in 40-degree heat at Christmas. It’s hard to find places to swim when you’re recycling your bathwater in a hose out the window in a bid to resuscitate your lawn.
Wagga Beach on the Murrumbidgee River was named as the ninth-best beach by Tourism Australia. Credit: Louise Kennerley
As a drowning-prevention researcher, I’ve been lucky to visit some beautiful inland waterways and river beaches in Australia. I’ve done interviews beside the Hastings and Hawkesbury rivers, launched river safety campaigns on the Murray, and filmed ads about water safety on the Parramatta River.
But my mind lingered on the Murrumbidgee River, and Wagga Beach in particular. This river beach is a gorgeous place to swim; it took out ninth position in Tourism Australia’s top 20 beaches.
The Marrambidya River, as First Nations people know it, sits on the lands of the Wiradjuri people, the same Aboriginal lands I grew up on.
I hold fond memories of talking to people there as part of my PhD fieldwork in 2018. My research showed that alcohol was an issue in drowning deaths in rivers, but we had no idea how often people were drinking (to excess) at the river and if they thought it was risky to do so. To find out, I spoke to, and breathalysed, river users at Wagga Beach.
I had so many great conversations at the river, talking both about how much people loved it and (sadly) about some local drowning deaths. The community are very proud of their beach and were very interested in ways to make it safer.
Amy Peden breath-testing a volunteer as part of her research.Credit: Julie Power
Wagga Wagga was hot at that time of year. After the day’s interviews were done, there was no better feeling than getting in the river. Instantly refreshing – but the current was relentless. It was nature’s treadmill if you felt like swimming against it – you wouldn’t get far, but it was a great workout.
Wagga Beach has a special place in my heart because it is deeply interlinked with water safety. Local First Nations people shared how water-safety knowledge has been passed from generation to generation via storytelling. Stories of the bunyip and the water dog instilled in children that the river must be treated with respect and is a dangerous place to visit alone.
Wagga Wagga City Council has adopted an inland water safety management plan which pushes the Respect the River message.Credit:
Bunyip holes explained how the river current varies with the flow and direction of the river, while the water dog was thought to be waiting in deep water to pull children under.
Wagga Beach had its own lifesaving club, which patrolled for about 40 years from the 1920s. More recently, Wagga Wagga City Council was one of the first councils in Australia to develop an inland water safety management plan, heartily adopting and sharing the Respect the River message.
Enjoying and respecting inland waterways is a balancing act – but the reward is the cool water, the open sky and somewhere where everyone is welcome, without an entrance fee.
Amy Peden is a senior research fellow at UNSW Sydney’s School of Population Health.
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