Seventeen beaches across Wollongong are among those in the Illawarra about to start patrols, but lifeguards and life savers still need community support to keep people safe. Photo: Keeli Dyson.
Red and yellow flags will soon emerge across our coastline as surf life savers and council lifeguards prepare for a bumper beach season boosted by a prediction of hot weather.
More eyes will soon be watching the water to ensure beachgoers are safe, with patrol season at most Illawarra beaches set to start on 26 September.
Lifeguards and life savers will monitor Wollongong’s 17 beaches, with the spring season also seeing patrols start at Shellharbour North Beach, Shellharbour South Beach and Warilla Central Beach, as well as Kiama’s Surf Beach and weekends at Werri Beach.
Further patrols in Shellharbour and Kiama are set to start in December.
“The Bureau [of Meteorology] is forecasting a hot, dry summer, so we’re anticipating that visitation will increase accordingly with that,” Wollongong Council beach services operation manager Murray Copas said.
“We’re ready to go; we’ve got our side-by-side vehicles, we’ve got our response craft on the water and we’ve got 150 casual seasonal permanent staff ready to go.”
“We are looking the same [volunteer numbers] as we were last season with an extra five per cent, so we seem to be doing between two to seven per cent uplift year on year for the last five years,” Surf Life Saving Illawarra President Gunther Enthaler said.
The Royal Life Saving National Drowning Report recorded 109 drowning deaths in NSW last financial year, with a quarter of those occurring at beaches.
The state followed a nationwide trend showing some improvement in the number of infants and young children losing their lives to drowning compared to the 10-year average, while there was an increased number of drowning deaths in all age groups from 45 to 74 years.
Across the country, males accounted for 80 per cent of the drowning deaths at beaches, with 47 per cent of cases rip current related.
“We could definitely do more on a national level to educate people about the dangers of surf and particular rips,” Gunther said.
“It’s also about people being aware of their own swimming ability and being overconfident.”
“We’ve got a very strong education program; we reach out to 6000 primary school students every year, and rip current education is a big focus of that,” Murray said.
“So getting to that primary school age, they go back and talk tot their parents and pass that message on so it becomes a real family discussion.”
People born overseas accounted for 39 per cent of Australia’s beach drowning deaths, with education around beach safety an ongoing priority for local authorities especially with large numbers of people travelling to the Illawarra.
“We’re working with some of the councils up over the mountain and making sure that they’ve got the right messaging as well for their community,” Wollongong Lord Mayor Tania Brown said.
“It is a fact that a lot of our migrant population don’t know how to swim, so it’s about making sure that they see the messages and we need to put them in as many formats as we can.”
While the flags will now be up at many locations until April, drowning risk is not isolated to summer.
In 2025/26 34 per cent of drowning deaths in NSW occurred in summer, followed by 29 per cent in autumn, 19 per cent in spring and 18 per cent in winter.
Currently North Wollongong beach is the only year-round patrolled service.
“It’s always something we’re looking at and it does come back down to the community’s expectations and that’s what council is driven by,” Murray said.
“We just need to encourage them to go to North Gong – that’s where the patrol lifeguards are – but we’ve got the rockpools, we’ve got our community pools, the Conti is open all year round and there are lifeguards there, so I would encourage them to please use a facility that does have lifeguards,” Cr Brown said.
Even once the flags go up, people swimming in unpatrolled areas continues to be an issue, with 58 per cent of drownings on Australian beaches more than a kilometre from a Surf Life Saving service.
“The message is simple – only swim between the red and yellow flags,” Kiama Mayor Cameron McDonald said.
“Our beaches are beautiful and they’re a popular attraction for local residents and visitors to our area but conditions can be dangerous so it’s essential that everyone follows the rules and listens to the instructions of the lifeguards on duty.”
“There is a strong element of personal responsibility when visiting the coastline, whether that’s walking along the rock shelves when there’s waves or swimming in unpatrolled locations,” Murray said.
“We have our 17 patrolled locations; we strongly encourage people to come to those locations.”
If you find yourself or see someone in distress, alerting authorities through emergency response beacons along the coastline, or by calling triple zero is crucial.
“I encourage people if they do get in trouble to please raise their hands so that people know they’re in trouble,” Gunther said.
“Don’t go out and rescue people; if you see someone in trouble call triple zero – we have too many people going out and getting into trouble themselves.”
For details on patrolled beaches and hazards, visit the SLS Beachsafe website or download the app.
The full National Drowning Report is available on the Royal Life Saving website.
