Information on who owns the land and if I can get to certain spots

Access rights and privileges in NSW
Fishing access to the sea, rivers and creeks
At common law, the public has a right to fish in the sea, the arms of the sea and in the tidal reaches of all rivers and estuaries.

The public has no common law right to fish in non-tidal watersthe right to fish in those waters belongs to the owner of the soil under those waters. The public may also fish in non-tidal waters if the soil under those waters is Crown land. However in order to allow for angling access in NSW rivers and creeks, section 38 of the NSW Fisheries Management Act 1994 declares that the public has a right to fish despite the private ownership of the bed of the river or creek.

The NSW Fisheries Management Act 1994 No 38
Part 2, Division 5, Section 38
Right to fish in certain inland waters
(1) A person may take fish from waters in a river or creek that are not subject to tidal influence despite the fact that the bed of those waters is not Crown land if, for the purpose of taking those fish, the person is in a boat on those waters or is on the bed of the river or creek.
(2) The right conferred by this section is subject to the other provisions of this Act.
(3) In this section, bed of a river or creek includes any part of the bed of the river or creek which is alternatively covered and left bare with an increase or decrease in the supply of water (other than during floods).

This legislation ranks above anything you may have heard about old title and Queens chain access.

Under this legislation you can legally access streams by entering from public land such as road crossings and some types of reserves.

Access across private land
There is no automatic legal access across private land in NSW to reach angling locations. You cannot walk across a paddock or yard to reach the river without permission of the land owner.

If you are granted permission to walk or drive across private land, make sure you leave gates as you find them, don't drive across crops, disturb stock, interfere with farm machinery, light fires or create any other nuisance, risks or damage. Do not take dogs or guns unless you have specifically negotiated this with the land owner. If you see injured stock or other problems when you are on a farm, immediately alert the farmer.

Negotiating access across private land
Owners of properties adjacent to popular fishing locations are often wary of giving access to anglers. They have quite reasonable concerns about fires and other risks, damage to their properties, disturbance of their stock and crops, presence of dogs, use of firearms and so on. Some anglers also fail to recognise that the land is private property, just as a suburban front yard is, and that the land owner and his family is entitled to privacy and security.

However fishing access across private property can usually be negotiated by a courteous approach to the land owner, giving all due recognition to the owners privacy, rights and concerns. We suggest you visit, phone or write to the property owner, asking for the privilege to enter their property to fish.

You should clearly state your name, address and phone number, the date you hope to fish at the location, description and registration of your car and the number of people in your party. You should promise to stay as close as possible to the stream and not cross the property unnecessarily, not to take dogs or guns onto the property and not to light fires unless agreed by the landowner.

You should try and make contact personally when you visit the property, even if access has been negotiated by phone or letter. If you visit the property to request access, make sure you offer to leave the landowner with your details (name, address, phone number, etc written out) so that they know they can contact you if they discover any problems after you have left.

Remember that if you have negotiated access for yourself, it does not mean you have negotiated it for all your mates. They should get their own permissions.

Being granted access once does not mean you have some sort of perpetual permission... if you intend to visit the property again always make contact beforehand. The situation may have changed, eg at certain times of the year a farmer may not want stock disturbed, or the landowner may have invited someone else to visit the property that day. Be courteous and flexible and ask if access on another occasion might be possible.

Access laws vary from state to state. The advice above applies to NSW. Other parts of Australia have different property laws. For information contact your states fisheries department.

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Access to Water in Australia

Here in Australian Canoeing office we are often asked where paddlers are permitted to paddle, especially in regard to trespassing on private land.

After endless discussions with government departments and the wonderful paddlers who happened to pop up in a variety of our state and territory government offices I was pointed in the direction of appropriate legislation or at least a starting point.

The consensus Australia-wide was that it is most important to recognise that the appropriate legislation can differ from state to state and in some cases from river to river to creek to stream!!!

In most cases on larger rivers you can expect the bed and banks of any navigable waterway to the point of the mean high-water mark to be crown land.

The 'high-water mark', or in some states/territories, the 'mean high-water mark', refers to the highest point at which water normally rises. This does not take into account times of flood. It is recognised in the various legislation that this point is not constant from year to year with the changes in the shapes of waterways.

What does all this mean?

In most cases the bed of the water body and the majority of its bank is governed by Crown Lands Acts or the equivalent in each state and territory. This makes it land owned by the government and therefore often accessible to the general public as long as they do not use private land to access the water.

In situations of very old freeholds, ownership/lease of land can extend to the centre of the waterway and landowners on either side may have jurisdiction over half the waterway each. On a limited number of waterways most notably in NSW, being on a river that passes through a farm could lead you to trespassing.

It would usually be interpreted that if a waterway can be entered through public access you can expect to be able to paddle the water and set foot on its immediate banks. If you wish to venture further up the banks you will require specific permission of the landowner or lessee.

In general the advice received from legal professionals within government departments was to check with the land titles office in your state or territory or the appropriate local council as to who owns the waterways you plan to paddle and if necessary contact the landowner/lessee for the appropriate permissions before setting out on the water.

Australian Canoeing will continue to investigate paddlers' rights and responsibilities Australia-wide with references to some of the more popular destinations. Keep an eye out at www.canoe.org.au for more information.

The acts noted below provide the basis for much of the information outlined in this article: Australian Capital Territory Lakes Act of 1976, New South Wales Crown Land Act 1989, Northern Territory Crown Lands Act, Queensland Land Act 1994, South Australia Harbours and Navigation Act 1993, Tasmania Crown Lands Act 1976, Western Australia Land Administration Act 1997, Victoria Land Act 1958.

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