ABSTRACT
The caravan park, as a subsector of the tourist accommodation industry, has been traditionally perceived by the public as the symbol of caravanning. However, this symbol of caravanning is rapidly being altered. Changing population demographics, with an increasing baby-boomer skew, have had a particular effect on recent caravanning developments. The focus is now more on the caravan itself and its serviceability as a long-term, touring, residential “home unit” rather than as a temporary, short-term holiday unit to be conveniently parked in a caravan park. As a corollary, freedom camping enables contemporary caravanners, particularly those with self-contained units having a shower, toilet and associated waste holding tanks within their vehicles, to pursue a Ulyssean lifestyle of choice. Such a lifestyle, whether long or short term, rejects the notion of containment, uniformity and conformity established by traditional caravan parks. For a growing segment of the Australian population, for example, the self-contained RV that some freedom campers occupy for extended periods of time becomes their home away from home, their mobile “first home” residence. These RVers are motivated and behave, socially and economically, as mobile residents as opposed to tourists, a conceptual shift little understood and often overlooked by destination marketers, community planners and policy makers. A new wave of campers in the form of young families is also now choosing to freedom camp as a lifestyle choice through which to raise and educate their children. This chapter describes the increasing local community tensions associated with the phenomenon of freedom camping in eastern Australia. Using information gained from personal interviews with a range of community actors, together with secondary data such as government reports and media, this chapter provides nuanced insights into the politics of freedom camping, particularly with regards to local government actions arising from responses to the pressures of diverse interests.
