I TREMBLE at what is happening to the Inverloch foreshore. I tremble at the speed with which it is happening. And I tremble at what, in the absence of a workable plan, will happen to it.

At the time of writing, nine houses in Surf Parade, Inverloch, are for sale. I have had a connection with this street since 1963. In my adult life, this is the greatest number of houses to be on the market there at one time. The market is jittery.

Trevor Forge (‘Time to listen to the experts’ Sentinel-Times, 22 July 2025) says the [sand] ‘dunes work as a natural line of defence and have done [so] for centuries.’ 

With unfeigned respect to Mr Forge, the sand dunes between Ozone Street and Flat Rocks, Inverloch, have all but disappeared. As a result, we have lost our natural line of defence.

Mr Keith Godridge, formerly Woorayl Shire Engineer, has publicly proposed the placement of a line or lines of rock bags to stave off Bass Strait’s aggressive land grab. As Mr Forge points out, it will not protect the dune system. However, that system is on its last legs. You don’t have to be a coastal engineer to see that it can no longer defend itself.

The status quo is not working. The costly remedies which government is pursuing are akin to band-aid treatment for a gaping wound. Without anything more, they are no remedy.

In that context, is Mr Godridge’s proposal not worth considering? Why not give it a shot?

Faced with nature’s erosive – the word is insufficiently strong – force, does Spring Street have the humility to change tack and the gumption to help save Inverloch’s foreshore by adopting the Godridg option?

Nicholas Green, Inverloch