Photograph: Darren England/AAP
The great wall of Coolangatta is about a metre high, constructed of hollow plastic and filled with water. The barriers now stretch across the eight suburban back streets, at the formerly invisible line separating neighbours in New South Wales and Queensland.
Last week, Queensland had the world’s most porous closed border; restricted for the first time since the Spanish Flu outbreak of 1919, but locals described the relatively lax measures as a “detour”. Suburban border roads were mostly not blocked or closed to avoid causing disruptions to daily life.
On Friday, the entwined twin towns of Coolangatta and Tweed Heads were wrenched apart by the red-orange and white barriers and police enforcing the “hard closure” at three checkpoints.
Police spoke with most cars crossing the border and asked for identification and documents to prove they had a valid exemption. Papers, please.
Officers also boarded buses heading north and, in at least one instance, removed a backpacker who had been trying to enter Queensland from Byron Bay.
During morning peak hour, traffic was backed up for about 2km.
More Qld / NSW border closures tonight at Coolangatta as Qld Gov now makes it tough to enter unless you essential services, work over the border, a transport driver or have a permit. pic.twitter.com/cstfHhjBTX
— Mark Hanrahan (@MarkHanrahan9) April 2, 2020
In any other year, this Friday would have been among the busiest days for travellers heading to the Gold Coast. School holidays are scheduled to begin on Saturday, and the mild post-summer break on the coast’s beaches can be as busy as the Christmas period. Two years ago on Saturday, the Commonwealth Games began on the glitter strip.
Those famous long stretches of surf and sand have also been the subject of police enforcement in recent days.
The police commissioner, Katarina Carroll, said on Friday they would begin to fine people for breaking rules about public gatherings, or who lingered on the beach without excuse.
“You can attend the beach to go for an exercise or a swim, but don’t sunbake or congregate,” Carroll said. “Activities like sunbaking ... should not be taking place.”
Carroll said that by midday on Friday police had inspected more than 4,000 cars at border checkpoints and turned back 75 people from interstate who did not have an exemption to enter Queensland.
The state disaster coordinator, deputy police commissioner Steve Gollschewski, said police were “very pleased” with the levels of compliance.
On the ground, though, locals were processing the reality of dividing what they consider a single community.
Brooke Smith lives at Terranora, a New South Wales community near the border on the Tweed River. She told Guardian Australia her husband works in Sydney and would typically return for weekends via the Gold Coast airport at Coolangatta. (The airport’s runway is mostly in New South Wales, but the terminal is in Queensland).
“In non-apocalyptic circumstances he flies into Coolangatta. We haven’t seen him since March 22 and I don’t anticipate we’ll see him until Good Friday and in that case he’ll drive home.
“I think it’s ridiculous, everyone seems to be doing the right thing, except for Queensland when they had their elections last weekend,” Smith said.
“If they closed the beaches then people would have no reason to swap states to go in. [The Tweed and Coolangatta] is one big community. My favourite restaurants are in Coolangatta. I’m one of the fortunate ones, I still have a job and I could put that back into the local community.”
One Tweed Heads resident, Michael, said some locals were parking in streets near the border and walking around the barriers.
“The barriers are at the end of my street,” he said. “Two cars can barely pass each other at the best of times, so I don’t think there’s too many caravans going to come through there. It’s annoying but I guess we understand why they’re doing it.”
For others, the roadblocks were barely a hindrance.
A motorist driving a NSW-plated car, heading from Ducat Street, Tweed Heads, towards Kirra was photographed mounting the kerb and crossing the border along the footpath. Police said they were investigating the incident.
