Southside Beach, Nude beach in Victoria, Australia

Southside Beach is a legal clothes-optional surf beach west of Torquay, between Bells Beach and Point Addis. A wide crescent of pale sand lies below a continuous cliff of orange-brown layered rock and earth topped by dark green scrub, with a low rocky outcrop at the left end. The beach is very flat, so only a narrow strip of sand remains at high tide.

The beach gained official clothing-optional status in 1983 through legislation. This change followed the relocation of an earlier naturist area from elsewhere on the coast.

Southside became the legal nude beach after the area just west of Point Addis lost that status, and most naturists still use the revoked stretch. Signs at both ends marking the legal zone are regularly vandalised or stolen, so the exact boundary is hard to identify. The nude section sits roughly in the middle of the beach, while the staircase from Point Addis Road lands in the textile part.

The beach is reachable via a steep path from the western car park or by a wooden staircase from Point Addis Road. The western route is longer and more demanding, while the staircase offers a more direct approach.

The legal nude section sits roughly in the middle of the beach, not at either end. Signs marking its boundaries are regularly vandalised or stolen, so the exact legal area is hard to identify, and most nudists in fact stay at the revoked area just west of Point Addis.