ONE of Queensland's most controversial rest areas is to close after an avalanche of complaints.

Pine Rivers Shire Council has finally bowed to public pressure and will ban overnight camping at Wyllie Park in Petrie, on the northern outskirts of Brisbane.

The ban becomes effective on January 21.

Local residents told Caravanning News the attractive area alongside the Pine River and Old Gympie Road had become a "shanty town" full of tents and people sleeping in cars. Some were actually pitched under signs clearly warning this was prohibited.

And they complained that some rogue motorhomers and caravanners ignored the 48-hour limit and stayed for weeks on end.

The popular rest area attracted travellers from all over Australia. It offered free hot showers, toilets, free electric barbecues, a children's play area, dump point, rubbish bins and carefully maintained gardens and was sometimes packed with travellers.

Local resident and caravanner Michael Dickinson told us: "The park has been so full at times some vans and motorhomes overflowed to other areas of the park."

He said some rogue travellers had stayed for up to six weeks, with their washing and bedding hanging on ropes stretched between trees. "No wonder the locals were complaining," he said.

Caravanner Bernie Chambers from NSW told Caravanning News he was not surprised the rest area was being closed. "It had to happen ... people brought it on themselves," he said.

"The main culprits seemed to be people in tents and cars who just flouted the rules. I have seen campers staggering around the site obviously drunk. Sometimes they were quite abusive."

He said it was a pity the rest area had to close because he and his wife used it several times a year while travelling between NSW's Central Coast and Mackay to visit their daughter and grandchildren.

The shire council had said it was powerless and could do nothing about the complaints because the land belonged to the State Government. But on December 21 last year, it became a council road reserve, finally giving it the power to act.

Councillor David Dwyer said the park would be closed to all overnight travellers but it was hoped it could be reopened to caravanners and motorhomers sometime in the future.

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