Nudists need investors

TOWNSVILLE’S nudist community has rebranded and is looking for investors in the hope of purchasing a bush property as its club grounds.

Townsville Naturist Community, formerly Townsville Nudist Club, has spent a year searching for a new venue and now plans to form a co- operative to buy its own land.

The 48- year- old club was based at a Bluewater property until last year, when the land owner sold up.

Secretary Rhonda Williams said the group continued to meet fortnightly but without grounds, was not able to host travelling naturists.

“We need somewhere private to actually get together as a group and enjoy our relaxing pastime,” she said.

Ms Williams said the club, which stays away from the “sexy” side of nudism, also needed a safe space.

“At the moment there are beaches like Shelley Beach and Saunders Beach, but you get a lot of grubs down there – they hide in the sand dunes and perve or they come up and proposition you,” she said. “Anyone who does that in our club grounds gets kicked out straight away.”

The group came close to securing council property at the base of Herveys Range but negotiations fell through “at the last minute”.

The club will now set up a nonprofit co- operative, run by a board, that would buy and own a bush property. The ideal property would be at least 12ha and be no more than 50km away from Townsville.

“As the price of the land parcels available at present varies considerably according to size, location improvements, etc, it is difficult to gauge exactly how much money we will need, but I would assume, from what I have seen, that something in the vicinity of $ 600,000 would ensure we have a property akin to what we have had previously,” a statement from the president read.

“We have settled on a price per share of $ 1000 and will limit the availability of shares to less than 1000, depending on costs involved in the acquisition of the selected land.”

Ms Williams said she was confident the project would succeed.

“We have a lot of people that come up as visitors from down south and there’s also quite a lot of local people that are interested in investing in the property,” she said.

“It’s not a money- making venture as such, it’s to provide a place for the club to use. The co- operative will be set up with the benefit of the club in mind.”