Erosion is posing an ever bigger threat to numerous beachfront campsites and caravan parks along Australia’s magnificent coastline.
In recent years, huge waves and strong currents have caused massive changes to many, many areas. The caravan park at Kingscliff in northern New South Wales is just one that is literally hanging over the precipice as great chunks of beach and cliff regularly topple into the ocean.
Further south, a study commissioned by Greater Taree City Council found that, under current erosion rates, by 2100 the local school, surf life saving club, part of the caravan park and all properties on beachfront streets would be under water.
And it’s far from just an issue in our towns. Woody Head in Bundjalung National Park is one of the fastest-eroding beaches in New South Wales … and is retreating at about two metres every year. Artificial dunes planted with wattle, banksia and she-oaks have slowed erosion considerably along part of the beach but the magnificent Woody Head campground will almost certainly be gone by 2025.
It’s a similar story up in Queensland. A series of severe weather events since January have damaged beach infrastructure and washed away metres of sand on the Gold and Sunshine coasts. Bulldozers have since been used to help rebuild the beaches and a major sand pumping and replenishment program has been carried out in an attempt to hold back the forces of nature. Many fear it will ultimately be a losing battle.
Over in the west, the picture is equally alarming. A study completed by the Peron Naturaliste Partnership (PNP), a collaboration of nine local governments, found more than $1 billion worth of assets along the coastline between Cape Peron in Rockingham and Cape Naturaliste in Busselton were at risk from coastal hazards arising from climate change.
The study, Developing Flexible Adaptation Pathways for the Peron Naturalist Coastal Region of WA, found that the Peron Naturaliste region faced a significant threat of erosion until the year 2110, with a 200m wide strip along the coastline at risk.
Have you noticed erosion at some of your favourite beaches? Have you been to nay van parks or camping areas recently that you fear will not be there for future generations to enjoy?
All the old camping grounds I knew got eroded away by greedy developers.
We’ve noticed the erosion problems especially along the east coast and most of all on the Gold Coast at Surfers Paradise. We were astonished as it was our first visit there and we expected to see beautiful wide beaches instead of the narrow strip of sand that could hardly be called a beach. The tall multi storied apartment buildings are now very close to the water’s edge – quite frightening!
Now that we are back on the west coast we are experiencing the same problems at Barn Hill Station, 145 kms from Broome. Regulars here tell us the beach areas closest to the caravan park/camping grounds used to be wide and beautiful, but most of the red dirt dunes have washed away into the Indian Ocean and the boardwalk steps to the beach have had to be repaired and altered as they too were damaged during the wild weather. Is it a sign of the times with more of it to come in the future and is climate change a real threat or is it just a phase we’re going through? Only time will tell…
With regards to the erosion of beach at Woody Bay, Woody Heads (Bundjalung NP, NSW). I have been a regular attendee at Woody Heads for 57 years and enjoyed the pre NPWS years when it was a true camping area on Crown land overseen by an appointed trustee. At one time we had a permanant campsite there for 23 years and got to know most of the local commercial fishers who plied the waters and still see many of them socially and on the water.
The Hammond family were the pioneers of Woody and of the 3 sons, Charlie, Bert and Bill (all commercial fishers), Bill survives in his early 90’s. Their original family house (hut) has been restored and offers accommodation to holiday makers. If you’d been fortunate enough to have known Charlie and Bert particularly, you might have seen one of their little trawlers (“Woody H” or “Endeavour”) moored in the bay adjacent to what is now the boat launching area.
What you may not know is that at the top of the boat ramp there is a small green shed, the purpose of which is unknown to most. The shed housed a ’29 Chevy engine that was hooked up to a windlass and in times of heavy seas wooden ladders were placed on the beach and into the surf, along which the trawler would be hauled to eliminate the danger posed by big seas. When this happened, it was literally all hands on deck, as wooden rollers were attached to the vessel to steady it as it was retrieved from the water. The beach where this happened is long gone and where it was is now eroded to the rock at the right of the boat ramp. Those days, when we launched our boats to head out for snapper, we parked our vehicles on the beach above the high tide mark. Nowadays you can’t even get to the beach. Keep in mind, however that the beach at that time was a straight beach to Shark Bay Rocks. There was no ramp to launch from and one had to negotiate a soft sandy track and a small creek (evidence of the creek is seen near the Ranger Headquarters in the swamp that exists after heavy rain as a consequence of the creek being blocked by other works that have been carried out. When the Maclean Shire Council took over control of the park they mitigated the creek by way of concrete pipes and the large concrete block at the ramp is the old outlet.)
When one looks at many of the problems that exist along the coast it becomes evident that somewhere nearby there will be a seaway and groins extending seawards. The Tweed and Southport bars were perfect examples and the problems of shoaling of these bars and the depletion of sand at Rainbow Bay, has virtually been eliminated by the installation of sand pumping facilities.
Construction of the network of walls in the Clarence R commenced in around 1900 and over time the impact has been felt hardest at Woody Hds, which is similar in its geography to Rainbow Bay, in that it faces north. As such, sand that moves past the ends of the Yamba and Iluka walls is possibly far enough out to sea that it passes wider than in its northern migration, no longer making it’s way into Woody Bay.
Nothing new about the erosion. At the northern aspect of Woody Heads there is a rock, locally called “Boatshed Rock”. So named because old man Hammond had a boatshed there and to get there they walked over sand dunes. Long before my time. It’s also well known that as part of the New Years celebrations, horse races were conducted from Shark Bay Rocks to Woody Hds, as described to me by Charlie Hammond – we might be able to conduct boat races now.
Probably my most noticeable indication of the amount of erosion lies in a “bommie” just south of Shark Bay rocks. It’s a bommie that I used to step onto at low tide when I was a kid. It’s now approximately 150M offshore and a great place to drive a boat around fishing for tailor. How things have changed.
I recently spoke to a chap who was doing theodolite readings from the ramp to the beach and he explained that it was part of a contract that he has with (from memory) the NSW Dept of Hydrology. (Being political) he was unsure of the potential outcomes should the erosion continue at its present rate. Interesting and a little worrying that nobody seems to be taking any real issue with the matter, apart from monitoring.
Retired now with a house in Iluka, hopefully I will continue for many more years to admire what is still one of my favourite places in the world. One that I grew up with, as did my kids and now my grandchildren – and the fishing’s still pretty hot as they’re beginning to find out.