FAR from being solely Inverloch’s problem. The battle against beach erosion is worldwide, and a new video from Jeffreys Bay in South Africa might just offer an insight for local land managers into what not to do, even if it doesn’t provide a real solution.
The YouTube video, by long-time local surfer, fisherman and adventure seeker, Trevor Hansen, entitled ‘J Bay Sand Bag Suicide!’, which has only been up for a few days, has already been viewed tens of thousands of times, attracting comments from the east coast of Australia, from New Zealand and California, to name a few.
“The east coast of Australia is having the same problems,” was one early comment.
A link to the video was provided to the Sentinel-Times by a former Parks Vic officer who was reluctant to make public comment but nonetheless pointed to the similarities between Jeffreys Bay, albeit with less swell at Inverloch, but with similar issues, principally calls for extensions to the geotextile bags at the surf club, and other vertical barriers.
“You can see the embankments are gone completely and those bags which were lying on sand have dropped down a long way and that whole section of beach embankment that was here is now gone,” says Hansen as he walks the length of his beloved beach.
The problem he says is the fact that the waves are rebounding off the bags, or steeper sections of dunes, where the sand has been washed away, instead of the wave energy being dissipated by the gradual slope of the beach up towards the shoreline.
“And the first big swell, as I keep saying, once it starts hitting the bags and rebounding, it’ll pull this down, so the level will drop and the bags will drop with it,” he says indicating where metres of sand have already been lost.
“And what you’ll end up with is the bags at this level, with no beach whatsoever. It will be horizontal bedrock and all of the remaining sand will disappear.”
Of course, it’s easy to say don’t have geotextile barriers, rock walls or even a vertical build-up of sand to bolster the dunes which are protecting the Inverloch Surf Club initially and the houses and infrastructure behind, but what else can you do?
Bass Coast Shire Councillor, Cr Meg Edwards, said letting nature take its course at Inverloch, and also at Silverleaves and other locations along the coast, would also be a catastrophic outcome with houses and infrastructure being washed into the sea, and a corresponding impact on the economy.
“There are no cheap solutions here and anything you do in one place will impact somewhere else.”
Cr Edwards said it was her understanding that the council would continue its emergency sand replacement works, until the major works proposed by the Department of Energy Environment and Climate Action kicked into gear, in late spring, to be completed by Christmas.
Works include:
* Dune reconstruction and major nourishment works. Designs have been prepared for on-ground works to nourish a 1km extent of Inverloch Surf Beach. Approximately 150,000m3 of sand will be sourced from Anderson Inlet and placed according to designed profiles to reconstruct the dunes and beach. The final works designs have been developed by registered professional coastal engineers including a process of peer review. These major on-ground works are the first step in a pathway of adaptation actions to provide a safe, accessible beach for the Inverloch community and retain environmental and community values. These works are funded through the $3.3M federal grant from the Coastal and Estuarine Risk Mitigation Program.
* Inverloch Surf Beach Sandbag Seawall. The sandbag seawall in front of the Inverloch Surf Lifesaving Club on Surf Beach will be repaired and extended to address damage resulting from the significant storm event in spring last year. As expected with hard structures against sand dunes, there has been terminal scour at the ends of the wall and Bass Coast Shire Council has been regularly backfilling this area to maintain ongoing protection, while preparations continue for seawall repair and extension. DEECA has allocated funding for the seawall works, and detailed designs are now complete. The sandbag seawall repair and extension construction works will be delivered by Bass Coast Shire Council (BCSC). This will deliver greater protection for the Surf Life Saving Club building. The sandbag wall will be buried under the reconstructed dune and major beach nourishment, and DEECA will be working with BCSC to ensure collaborative delivery for all on-ground works.
* On-ground works are planned to take place in late spring and to be completed prior to Christmas, subject to logistics and favourable weather and conditions. Operation during this time may take place 24 hours a day, seven days per week. Allowing the contractor to work to this schedule will result in fewer delays and less impact to community.
* Wreck Creek Management. DEECA has also funded detailed designs to extend and further protect the Wreck Creek culvert under Cape Paterson–Inverloch Road. The Department of Transport and Planning is working with Parks Victoria, West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority, Bass Coast Shire Council and DEECA to secure funding to deliver the works in 2026. The eastern branch of Wreck Creek (under Surf Parade) is being managed through the major beach nourishment design which includes a lowered nourishment level and dune berm to help manage catchment runoff flowing out to sea.
Mary Aldred weighs in
During her first address to the Australian Parliament last Tuesday, July 29, the new Member for Monash, Mary Aldred, also weighed in on the problems at Inverloch and Phillip Island.
She called on the government to commit to “a national framework to address coastal inundation across Australia”.
Here’s what she had to say in part:
“During the last few years, I've worked with local communities in Inverloch and Phillip Island who are staring down the barrel of coastal inundation. They cannot afford to wait years for mitigation; their homes will disappear. They face a problem which many other coastal communities are grappling with, which is why I believe we need a national framework to address coastal inundation across Australia.”
You can view the ‘J Bay Sand Bag Suicide!’ video HERE.
Here's what Inverloch Surf Lifesaving Club President Glenn Arnold said:
Glenn Arnold, President of the Inverloch Surf Lifesaving Club was on ABC radio last week speaking about the club’s concerns and those of the community.
So, what’s the situation down there at the moment?
“I guess it's this time of year when we have those high tides, or those spring tides, they call them the high winter tides,” said Glenn.
Mr Arnold said the high tides when combined with storm surges were scouring into the sand dunes with more than 80 metres of beach in front of the surf club, and extending along the foreshore on both sides, lost in 10 years.
“So, the dunes are really being battered, and it's getting close to roads. It's getting very close to the surf club. It's literally three to four metres away from the surf club, which is quite concerning.
“Once those foundations are unstable, then I guess the club has to go. So, we're at that point.
“We don't want to accept the word “retreat” that the government keeps telling us about. We think there's a better and smarter alternative.
“So, there's been a lot of work done by DEECA, a lot of research done through them. And where we're up to now is that it's very drawn out and obviously the community is getting very frustrated here.
“But we're at a point where they're going to extend the sandbag wall, which is for the short term with sand dredging to load on top of that, hopefully, all thumbs and toes and moons and planets aligned that should be done before Christmas.”
But is there a long-term fix?
“Well, that's the thing, you know, that's the contentious issue. So, yes, we think something permanent needs to be done. There's a multitude of solutions that are in play already around, in particular around Victoria, but also around the country.
“For some reason, they're sticking to their plan of dredging sand. They're not really looking at alternatives, which, again, is frustrating when there are some really significant solutions in place already.”
What sort of solutions?
“If you look at Apollo Bay and Torquay, for example and even Phillip Island, they’re using rocks, sand, rock bags. They're not, I think, there's a bit of a concern that someone's trying to build the Great Wall of China on the beach. That's not at all the case.
“It's not going to be a hard vertical up and down wall. It's going to represent the dunes, if you like, and then throw sand on top of that, start replanting on top of that, and then off you go.
“So, it may not be perfect, it may not be forever, but it's certainly a more solid structure than just throwing sand at it.”
How much would something like that cost. I see from council’s notes they’re spending an average of $61,000 a year. How much would a more permanent solution cost?
“Oh, look, I'm not the expert in that side of it, but I would have thought it'd be, you know, somewhere around that $10 to $20 million mark.
“It’s not insignificant, but at the same time, in Victoria's language at the moment, let's face it, it's probably petty cash. So, I think, you know, we're not talking about a train station or a tunnel here. We're talking about a community. We're talking about a significant number of houses, you know, 500 odd houses that are at risk.
“And that just doesn't make sense that we would put that in jeopardy when you know, when it can be held at bay.”
Maybe, they’re thinking if they don’t do anything, it will just happen and there won’t be any remedy?
“That would be pretty sad if that is a government position. I think for a long time a bit of complacency has set in to the whole conversation down here, and I think it's like, who in their right mind, or which government in their right mind would let my house sink.
“I'm sure it will get sorted out would be the general sense but it's not being sorted out. It's dragging on. And so, you know, this isn't a fresh conversation. This has been a conversation going backwards for forwards for quite some time.
“We’re not the only ones in this situation. There are other areas around Victoria in particular that are having the same concerns, but we just don't understand what we're missing down here.
“Why are we so unique that we just can't get a more significant solution, and at least a conversation about a more significant solution. They’re really hell bent on just sort of sticking to their original plan of dredging sand with the ultimate plan of retreat, which I don't see as a recommendation.”
How urgent is it now?
“Well, the Council have been doing a great job at pushing sand up around, in particular to protect the club. And I guess, you know, the club is going to be the first thing that's going to fall into the water. So, we’re like the canary in the coal mine, right.
“So, the council has done a good job of keeping the sand up around the edges of the sandbags and across the sandbags.
“So, they have done a good job in anticipation of this further sandbag work, which last heard is on schedule between September and hopefully December, so it can't happen soon enough,” said Mr Arnold.
