Blog
Malcolm Fraser And Fraser Island (K’Gari)
Malcolm Fraser And Fraser Island (K’Gari) During 2025 several articles appeared in Pearls & Irritations and elsewhere on the role of Malcolm Fraser before, during and after the 1975 “Dismissal” of the Whitlam Government. There is an aspect of this period that involved...
Dee Why And The Salvation Army
Dee Why area has long provided information on coastal change in the Sydney region. It all started for me as an undergraduate reading the inspirational study of rip currents by Peter Mckenzie in the Journal of Geology (1958, vol. 66, 303-133). I took a class of...
Back On The Myall
Back On The Myall Myall lakes and rivers hold many secrets. It is an area blessed with relatively unspoilt landscapes and tannin-colored waters. North from Port Stephens on the NSW coast, the Lower Myall River winds its way between two sand barriers within the...
River Estuary of Death – Fish Kill on the Richmond River
River Estuary of Death - Fish Kill on the Richmond River At the NSW Coastal Conference in November 2025, held at Ballina on the Richmond River, much was heard of the impact of recent flood events. In opening the conference before the 260 participants, the Mayor of...
Environmental Reforms: Opportunities That Must Not Be Missed
Environmental Reforms: Opportunities That Must Not Be Missed The Australian Parliament has another opportunity to reform laws that will address the huge array of issues confronting the degradation of Australia’s environment. Since 1996 successive State of Environment...
Marine Conservation in Australia
Marine Conservation in Australia My attention has been drawn to a paper just published with the very forthright title” Marine conservation leadership: does Australia walk the talk” (C. Klein et al., 2025, Conservation Letters, https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.13147). It...
Coastal Management in NSW – Auditor General Report September 2025
Coastal Management in NSW - Auditor General Report September 2025 The Auditor-General in NSW has recently released a report on coastal management in NSW. The specific objective of the audit was to assess whether the Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment...
Climate Change Risk To Our Coastal Cities
Climate Change Risk To Our Coastal Cities Confronting the nation’s coastal urban cities as it approaches 2055, 30 years on, will be both higher sea levels and air and water temperatures. And 50 years from now (in 2075) sea levels will be substantially higher (and...
Nature’s coastal beauties: A selection
Nature's coastal beauties: A selection A listener to ABC Radio NSW South Coast recently called and asked if someone could explain beach cusps. He had observed them at Wallaga Beach and knew they also occurred at Hyams Beach in Jervis Bay, and Pearl Beach just inside...
Torres Strait Islanders Court Case and Climate Change
Torres Strait Islanders Court Case and Climate Change Judgment in the federal court case involving traditional owners of islands in the Torres Strait against the Australian Government has recently been handed down. The decision by Justice Michael Wigney has attracted...
Joint National C2C and Queensland Coastal Conference, Gold Coast, 2025
Joint National C2C and Queensland Coastal Conference, Gold Coast, 2025 This year the opportunity arose for the Queensland Chapter of the Australian Coastal Society to take on the task of organising a joint National and Queensland Coastal Conference. It was held at...
Last Interglacial Sea Levels
Last Interglacial Sea Levels I recently attended a talk by Professor Chris Turney, now at the University of Technology Sydney, on his research in West Antarctica. He spoke of work on the response of the Antarctic ice sheet to rising temperatures alluding to...