Articles
Turquoise Coast Coastal Nodes
Along a remote stretch of Western Australia's Turquoise Coast, five popular beachside camping spots were upgraded in a single coordinated program spanning four local shires.
Backed by a $2.52 million investment - $1.5 million from Tourism WA through the WA Caravan and Camping Action Plan 2013-2018 and $1.02 million from Royalties for Regions - the Shires of Irwin, Coorow, Dandaragan and Northampton came together to roll out new toilet buildings and shelters to free and low-cost campgrounds from Kalbarri down to Jurien Bay.
By procuring one consistent Modus design across every site, the councils stretched their budgets further and gave campers the same welcoming standard of facility wherever they stopped.
Ablution Blocks for Camping Sites Across Turquoise Coast
The program covered five coastal camping nodes across four Mid-West shires - part of a wider State Government push to improve around 200 campsites in the region. The map above runs north to south, from Kalbarri down to Jurien Bay.
Backing tourism along the Coral Coast
The upgrade wasn't just about replacing tired facilities - it was a deliberate investment in the region's tourism economy. These free and low-cost beachside campgrounds had grown increasingly popular with WA's caravan and camping travellers, but their amenities hadn't kept pace with the crowds. The grant was designed to close that gap, through two State Government programs:
- Tourism WA's Caravan and Camping Action Plan - a state-wide push to expand affordable, high-quality camping and caravanning across regional WA
- Royalties for Regions - reinvesting in the infrastructure and economies of regional communities
Sitting along the Coral Coast touring route between Perth and Kalbarri, these campgrounds are a key draw for the drive-tourism market. Comfortable, reliable amenities encourage visitors to stay longer and come back - and every traveller who stops brings spending into the small Mid-West towns nearby, from fuel and food to local businesses. Better facilities help these communities capture and grow that visitation for the long term.
One design, shared across four councils
Rather than each shire commissioning its own buildings, the four councils approached Modus together, to develop one toilet building design that suited every location. Buying as a group made budgets go further; a shared design gave the whole coast a consistent, recognisable standard.
In all, Modus delivered 13 Capricorn 3 toilet buildings across the four shires - eleven in the initial rollout and two more in early 2017 - every one built to the same coastal specification.
Toilet Buildings Built for the Remote Coast
Each node received a Capricorn-3 custom toilet building - a compact three-cubicle layout designed for accessibility and durability in an exposed setting. Every building includes:
- One AS1428-compliant universal-access cubicle, one ambulant cubicle and one standard cubicle
- Stainless steel pans and hand basins, with grab rails and ambulant rails
- A custom laser-cut aluminium feature panel in a wave pattern wrapping the verandah
- A self-contained waterless system - concrete holding tanks with passive flue venting for natural breakdown and odour control
All finished to a full coastal specification: a light Surfmist palette with charcoal-grey trims, marine-grade stainless fixings, tough Ultra steel sheeting and a two-pack coating - built to shrug off salt air and sun.
Shelters Designed to Match
Alongside the amenities, Modus delivered a run of Custom Oceana shelters for shaded seating, cooking and gathering - in two sizes across the nodes:
- Lucky Bay - 4 x Oceana Medium shelters (7.7m x 4m)
- Cliff Head - Oceana Large shelters (6m x 8m), one with an integrated food-prep bench
- Sandy Cape - Oceana Large shelters (6m x 8m), with a food-prep bench and BBQ
- Milligan Island and Leeman Beach - Oceana Large shelters (6m x 8m)
Crucially, the shelters were designed as a matched family with the toilet buildings: the same Surfmist roof and sheeting, hot-dip galvanised frames, and Ironstone aluminium feature panels that echo the wave motif - so shelter and toilet clearly belong together at every site. Picnic settings, BBQ shelters and fire pits complete each node.
An Outstanding Result
The upgraded nodes now give travellers a real reason to stop, stay longer and spend in the local towns - clean, accessible amenities and comfortable shaded shelters at some of WA's most beautiful free and low-cost campgrounds, where visitors can stay up to three nights at no charge. For the four shires, buying together delivered better facilities for less - and a consistent standard that's easy to maintain from Kalbarri to Jurien Bay.
Modus is proud to have partnered with the Shires of Irwin, Coorow, Dandaragan and Northampton to help open up the Turquoise Coast for the campers, fishers and travellers who love it.
