Back to 1974?

June 19, 2007 on 11:26 pm | In Uncategorized |

I lived at Narrabeen in 1974, when a lot of properties along the beachfront nearly got swept away in a terrific storm. I can vividly remember the line of trucks dumping boulders onto the beach to save the ‘Marquesas’ from being undermined. You can still see them when the beach erodes again, as it does every year or two.

I read at the weekend that the recent storms have meant the beach at Collaroy/Narrabeen is into people’s yards, just like it was back then. The weather looks pretty grim down there again tonight so I wonder if this will be the night when the ocean begins to reclaim land that should never have been built on in the first place.
They’ve been arguing for 33 years about what should be done to prevent the inevitable, and never came close to reaching an agreement. As the local council puts it:
Collaroy and Narrabeen Beaches have experienced a long history of storm damage and coastal erosion, with the beaches ranked nationally as the third area most at risk from coastal processes. To help address these issues, Warringah Council worked with the State Government and local community to develop the Collaroy/Narrabeen Coastline Management Plan (the Plan). The Plan is in accordance with the State Government’s Coastline Hazards Policy and was formally adopted by Council in 1997.
But ‘a plan’ is the only thing of substance they’ve actually done, despite claims that they’ve ‘carried out a number of the recommended actions aimed at preserving and protecting the beach as a national asset for public recreation and amenity’. What that basically means is they dump sand on the beach every time it erodes. Every option to do something more permanent would cost too much and/or cause too much inconvenience.
As a miniature pilot scheme for human ability to cope with global environmental change, it hasn’t provided much reason for optimism.

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