Mayor's plea in wake of deadly cliff falls: 'Stick to designated areas'
Cape Solander, in the Kurnell section of Kamay Botany Bay National Park, is famous for being one of Sydney's best whale watching spots.
But after two tragic cliff falls in just six weeks, its reputation now comes with a warning.
In the wake of 19-year-old American tourist Gavin Zimmermann's death on Sunday, Sutherland Mayor Carmelo Pesce is pleading with visitors to take more care in the area.
It's believed both Mr Zimmermann – and a man in his 30s who died in the same area last month –were taking photographs on the cliff when they lost their footing, falling more than 10 metres to their deaths below.
Offering his condolences to the young man's family, Mr Pesce said these recent tragedies highlight the need for visitors to pay close attention to signs, use their common sense and "stick to the designated areas" at risky locations like cliffs and tidal pools.
The deaths at Cape Solander could have been prevented if the men had remained on the designated viewing platform instead of moving to the cliff's edge, he said.
"The area that I believe this has happened ... wasn't where the viewing platform was, where people normally go," Mr Pesce said. "The gentleman went down below onto the rocks where he lost his balance and tragically fell into the water."
But a glance at Instagram posts tagged at the location reveals Mr Zimmermann was far from alone in venturing beyond the designated viewing platform at Cape Solander for the sake of an impressive photo.
Some have posted photos dangling their legs over the cliff, while others are jumping, even doing backflips, dangerously close to the edge.
On Sunday – the same day Mr Zimmermann died – a woman posted a photo of herself mid-air at the edge of the cliff.
The caption reads "Don't look Mum... Fortunately the ledge did not shear 1 sec after this photo, and I did not plummet to a watery death..."
Fencing and signage are a matter for the National Parks and Wildlife Service, but Mr Pesce says fences alone won't stop people determined to put their safety at risk for a photo.
He pointed to the ongoing popularity of Instagram-famous danger spots, like the precarious Wedding Cake Rock and Figure Eight Pools, where dozens of people have been injured in recent years.
Both of those locations are now "highly fenced," Mr Pesce said.
But when visiting the areas recently, he noticed a lot of people had ignored the signs and jumped the fences. "There is signage there," Mr Pesce said. "But people continue to ignore it and put their own lives at risk, which is unfortunate."
"We live in a beautiful country. Especially this part of town ... we're surrounded by natural beauty, we're surrounded by national parks and waterways and beaches.
"We can’t fence everything off, but people need to take responsiblity for their own actions and think before they do something."
A spokeswoman for National Parks and Wildlife Service echoed Mr Pesce's comments, saying there are concerns that visitors' desire for photographs is overriding their personal safety.
"National parks are natural environments and NPWS has developed a number of safe vantage points throughout our parks for people to enjoy the many beautiful views without going close to inherently dangerous cliff edges or rock platforms," the spokeswoman said.
Perhaps ironically following the recent tragedies, Cape Solander is suggested by the NPWS website as a "better spot for a selfie" than the dangerous Figure Eight Pools.
But given "thousands of kilometres of coastline" cannot all be fenced off, the spokeswoman stressed that visitors need to take personal responsibility "by observing all safety warnings, staying behind safety barriers and on marked tracks, pathways and designated visitor areas".
"It is extremely difficult to try to regulate the parts of our parks which contain natural hazards when people ignore warning signage, information and other safety measures and will not take responsibility for their own actions," she said.