Rally for beach action before it’s too late

IF YOU are concerned about the threat being posed by ongoing erosion of the beach and dunes at Inverloch, you’ll turn out for the rally next Wednesday, January 12.

The event, ‘Rally Round our Dunes’, is being organised by the South Gippsland Conservation Society, in conjunction with various community groups, including the Inverloch Surf Life Saving Club.

It is designed to put pressure on the Inverloch Coastal Protection Working Group to take immediate action, ahead of expected storm surges in autumn and winter this year, instead of waiting for the long-winded Cape to Cape Resilience Project to reach a conclusion and get funding.

Inverloch Coastal Resilience project leader Philip Heath, a member of the South Gippsland Conservation Society and one of the organisers of the rally, said this week that short-term program of dune renourishment at Inverloch Surf Beach was urgent.

But he acknowledged it won’t come cheaply, estimating the work will costs upwards of $435,000.

“The South Gippsland Conservation Society welcomes a statement from the Inverloch Coastal Protection Interagency Working Group, in its December 2021 Community Update, that it is ‘looking at short-term treatments’ in response to the scour that is occurring at the eastern end of the Cape Paterson Road rock wall,” Mr Heath said.

“However, with the next update not scheduled until March 2022, it appears that the onset of the next autumn and winter storm swells might outpace the Working Group’s response.

“Similarly, authorities associated with the Cape to Cape Resilience Project have ruled out taking action until that study is complete, probably around the middle of the year at the earliest.

“In an attempt to encourage some action, the society has released its low impact, short-term dune management proposal for the Wreck Creek and Flat Rocks sections of Inverloch Surf Beach, the two sections of coastline that are currently at most risk.

“The proposed program, developed in collaboration with Professor Rodger Tomlinson, foundation director of the Griffith Centre for Coastal Management, is based around restoring the dunes over the 325 metres long Wreck Creek section of coastline to what existed in 2018, in order to delay the Wreck Creek estuarine lagoon system from being washed away during future storm surges.

“From our calculations, this would require trucking 10,000 cubic metres of sand from the Point Norman-Point Hughes sand mass in Andersons Inlet. The beach level would be raised by one metre at the current dune face and ramped down at a gentle grade over around 10 to 20 metres on the ocean side of the dune.

It would be best done during the summer to give the sand time to settle prior to the onset of the autumn and winter storm surges,” Mr Heath said.

“Installing wet sand fencing in conjunction with the reformed dune would protect and potentially build-on the imported sand. Once the dune has re-established, its resilience would be further enhanced by thatching and planting of Spinifex native grasses and indigenous ground-cover shrubs, similar to what has been trialled behind the Surf Club wet sand fence.

“We are aware that some community members have been critical of the existing wet sand fence trial, and agree that the first version installed in late 2019 was clearly not up to the task.

“However, the second version is much sturdier and has combined well with the sandbag wall and associated dune revegetation in front of the Surf Club.

“We believe that lessons learned from the trial could result in the future wet sand fencing having an important role to play in complementing the proposed dune renourishment in ‘holding the line’ over the next few years.

“The society is also proposing dune renourishment at Flat Rocks, in an attempt to save the remaining 80-years-old Coast Banksias that are being undermined and falling into the ocean. This would require importing approximately 7500 cubic metres of sand over a 500-metre section of the coastline.

Inverloch Coastal Resilience Project

“All up, our proposed dune management program would cost around $435,000, including $160,000 for the dune renourishment component. This is just under what was spent in building the 70-metre-long, sandbag wall to protect the surf club.

“What we are proposing is of a similar scale compared with the dune renourishment undertaken at Apollo Bay, where 16,000 cubic metres of sand was placed over a 500-metre section of the coast.

“Similar to the Inverloch situation, this was done to provide short-term protection while a longer-term protection plan was being developed.

The society’s proposal is supported by Bass Coast Shire Council, who are yet to receive a response from the Commonwealth and Victorian governments to letters seeking “funding for temporary coastal protection works at the Inverloch Foreshore, with a particular focus on the coastline at Wreck Creek, west of the Inverloch Surf Life Saving Club”.

It also has the support of Professor Tomlinson who said: “The dune erosion that is occurring at Inverloch Surf Beach calls for low key, coastal protection to be done in parallel with the development of a longer-term solution to the problem. Our natural defence, the dunes, need a helping hand.

“Active dune management involving dune renourishment, wet sand fencing, managing beach access, maintaining native vegetation and fencing off sections of the dunes will all help to maintain the buffer provided by the dunes. The whole dune system needs to be managed, both on the ocean-side and the land-side.”

According to Mr Heath, the upcoming ‘Rally Round Our Dunes!’ is an opportunity for Bass Coast locals and visitors to come together to show how much they value Inverloch Surf Beach and its dunes.

“A strong showing at the rally will increase the pressure on the government and its authorities to take the type of short-term action that the society is proposing to protect the remaining dunes, before they are lost forever.

“In addition, our refreshed Inverloch Coastal Resilience Project exhibition is on display at the Bunurong Environment Centre over the summer. We’d love people to come in and have a look, and while they’re there, sign our petition calling on all levels of government to commit funding for both short and longer term works to save Inverloch Surf Beach.”

The petition can also be signed online.

The Rally Round our Dunes event will start at the Inverloch Surf Club at 10.30am on Wednesday, January 12, a feature of which will be a mass assembly of people on the beach to show where the dunes used to be less than 10 years ago.

Further information on the ‘Rally Round Our Dunes!’ can be found at sgcs.org.au, where a link to the online petition is also provided.