Coopers Island Road provides access to popular waterways. Photo: Brady Rogers.
UPDATE: An earlier version of this story said the sale would close the sole public northern landward access to the Tuross Lakes estuary. This is incorrect. Crown Lands investigations have confirmed the access is on private land
Residents and regular visitors are concerned by Eurobodalla Shire Council’s proposal to close and sell Coopers Island Road. For decades it has provided public access to popular fishing spots in the area around Trunketabella Lake.
The proposal goes against a decision that councillors made on 8 June 2021 to retain the road to give people access to the tidal zones and non-private land around Coopers Island and Bowns Creek, including an unformed boat launching area.
Councillor Rob Pollock proposed the June 2021 motion and Clr Anthony Mayne seconded it.
As part of the motion, councillors voted to write to the property owners requesting they remove a fence within 28 days. They also voted to allocate up to $40,000 to realign the road back to the road reserve and other work to improve safety and the operational management of the property to minimise conflict between livestock and road users.
Tom Webster, vice president of Tuross Head Progress Association (THPA), is a retired sheep and cattle grazier with 30 years’ experience as a marine journalist. He said previous owners of the property had not blocked the public – including Aboriginal people who had used the area for generations – from using the road. The road has been open to the public since the 1930s.
When the current owner bought the property in 2017 conflicts arose.
Council’s June 2021 decision to retain the road and public access was intended to put the contentious issue to rest.
On 10 November however council issued a press release notifying its intention to close and sell Coopers Island Road. People have until 12 December to make submissions.
This map highlights Coopers Island Road heading to the waterway. Photo: Google Maps.
Bernie O’Neil, co-convenor of A Better Eurobodalla (ABE), is asking what has changed since 2021 to lead council to propose selling the road.
ABE is a community forum that lobbies for good governance which includes transparency, expert advice and community consultation.
Council said a detailed Crown Solicitors’ investigation had revealed the causeway and adjoining land were privately owned.
Council’s director of finance and corporate services Stephanie Speedy said it made sense to close the road and transfer ownership to the adjoining property owner.
“Without access to public land and water, there is no community benefit to keeping and maintaining Coopers Island Road,” Ms Speedy said.
In 2021 Ms O’Neil made a presentation to council about the alienation of public assets including a gate across Coopers Island Road which ABE said was illegal at the time.
She said the landowner had made a commercial decision in 2017 to purchase the property “as is with existing public use and access rights”.
“The issue has a long history. My concern is that council is considering this without reference to what happened in 2021,” Ms O’Neil said. “It isn’t clear to me what has changed. Why aren’t the community and councillors being informed of this history prior to submissions being due on 12 December?”
She also noted advice from the Office of the NSW Crown Land Commission to council in May 2021 “that, as a matter of principle, it is of the utmost importance to retain public access to Crown waterways on council-owned or Crown lands and that those roads should not be privatised to exclude that public access”.
Not all of Eurobodalla Shire’s current councillors were in office in June 2021. Photo: Eurobodalla Shire Council.
Mr Webster said THPA was concerned the proposal “may give a single ratepayer an unfair, possibly illegal advantage at the expense of a very large local community”.
He said riparian rights belonged to almost everyone, giving them free access to the zone between the high-water and low-water marks.
Mr Webster said council had not consulted local Aboriginal elders despite Indigenous and NSW waterways laws that gave Indigenous people significant input into management of most islands in rivers and estuaries.
He also took issue with council’s statement that there were several other access points to the Tuross waterways including the Tuross River bridge boat ramp that is three kilometres from Coopers Island Road. He said by water it is an 8 km paddle each way.
Tuross resident, THPA member and fishing association spokesperson Max Castle asked what price council would get for the land. He noted the 2024 Upper House inquiry into access restrictions to public land and waterways for recreational activities such as fishing and kayaking.
“Is it prudent to be selling the land before we have the outcome of that inquiry,” Mr Castle asked.
People can lodge submissions on the proposed closure and sale of Coopers Island Road until Friday 12 December, with councillors considering the feedback before deciding on the matter at the February 2026 council meeting.
