add those surfers to the crowd support on the beach and it presents a clear picture that the sand-pumping that has ruined one of world's great surf spots is no longer welcome here.

As co-organiser Andrew McKinnon wrote,

"The whole focus of today's community Australia Day rally is to raise the issue of the loss of Kirra Point at the highest levels of State Government, namely NSW and Queensland State Governments, who jointly manage the Tweed Sand By-Pass operation together with Gold Coast City Council and Tweed Shire Council to renegotiate the 25 year contract of pumping sand.

"The community at large would like to see action on the restoration of Kirra Point considered to be one of the greatest sand bottom point breaks in the world.

"After 8 years of pumping and 10 million cubic metres of sand for Gold Coast beaches only 1/8 moves north, the rest has lodged itself at Coolangatta and more so now at Kirra Beach. The sand by-pass operation began in 2001 and while it created the super bank at Snapper Rocks it wiped out Kirra and hasn't performed since the massive supply of sand to the southern end of the gold coast, the beach now resembles the Sahara Desert and has turned off beach goers. The outside reefs have been covered over and the point break is non-existent. 2002 was the last year that Kirra Point was able to host a pro-surfing event.

"The campaign for restoring Kirra to all its glory will continue, thanks to the efforts of the Surfrider Foundation and their sub-committee KirraPoint.org to make recommendations and offer solutions to bring Kirra back."

The large photo below, by Peter (Joli) Wilson, shows the paddlers and the sad image of a ruined perfect pointbreak.