• Skip to main content
  • Skip to site footer
img MENU MEMBERSHIP img
  • Home
  • Donate
  • Join
  • Login
img
  • About Us
    • Mission
    • History
    • Values
    • Advocacy
    • Partners
    • People
  • Get Involved
    • What You Can Do
    • State Chapters
    • Become a Member
    • Donate
  • Resources
    • Photo Gallery
    • Conferences
    • Courses
  • Latest News
    • 2023
    • 2022
    • 2021
    • 2020
    • 2019
    • 2018
  • Blog
    • 2023
    • 2022
    • 2021
    • 2020
    • 2019
    • 2018
  • Podcast
  • Contact Us
Australian Coastal Society

Australian Coastal Society

We are the voice of the Australian coast

Port Stephens-Myall Lakes 1960 – Research Opportunities

October 25, 2020
Main Image

Port Stephens-Myall Lakes 1960 – Research Opportunities

Main Image

In 1960 as an honours student in Geography at University of Sydney, I was given an incredible gift. To be free to choose a topic and an area for thesis research, a choice in retrospect that guided my future. Both timing and location was perfect as there was sufficient background material in the literature and diversity of coastal landforms to investigate to keep me busy.

Timing was perfect. Eric Bird’s Gippsland 1959 PhD was a catalyst made available to me by Joe Jennings his supervisor at ANU. Joe had just published work on aeolian geomorphology of King Island and these publications plus his mentoring early in 1960 gave me confidence to go into the field. Trevor Langford-Smith offered both encouragement and access to a copy of the proceedings of the Second Coastal Geography Conference held at LSU in Baton Rouge in April 1959. This was a remarkable volume and later stimulated me to do postgraduate studies at LSU; its relevance will be discussed below. Through access to the NSW Mines Department Library I was able to see two relatively recent studies that offered background to what I was about to encounter in the field: Gardner’s monumental 1955 report on heavy-mineral deposits of eastern Australia (BMR Bulletin 28) and Cooper’s 1958 study of sand dunes of Oregon and Washington (Memoir 72, Geol. Soc. America). Without all these studies I could not have conceptualised this topic.

The area was perfect. North of Newcastle there were a number of discrete coastal compartments each with a distinctive suite of depositional landforms. In the thesis these spatial units were termed “segments”. The area was ripe for investigation. With the exception of Gardner’s work that focussed more on northern NSW—SE Qld, little systematic mapping and Quaternary research had been conducted on depositional features in NSW. Aerial photos offered me an overview of a diverse array of aeolian and beach landforms which had never been described. What existed were reports from an older generation of geologists and botanists that highlighted the need for a more systematic regional geomorphic approach similar to those of Bird, Jennings and what had just come out on the coast of Oregon and Texas.

It was not too difficult to develop a conceptual framework given the reading and mentoring, the availability of an excellent set of air photos, and support from two local geologists and a ground-water chemist. One was Brian Engel of Newcastle University. He was busy mapping the bedrock geology of the Carboniferous sequence. Although I was just a geography undergraduate, he found time to discuss my Quaternary mapping (this was odd because Sydney University geologists at the time thought geology stopped at the Permian!). The other geologist was Peter McKenzie then with BHP but who had just finished his rip-current study at Dee Why as part of a MSc thesis at UNSW. Peter generously made time available to visit me in the field and amongst other things alert me to that wonderful flight of cusps at the west end of Shoal Bay. He also put me in touch with staff of one of the heavy mineral companies that were about to do more drilling in the area. In later years, these contacts became very helpful. The third person was a remarkably generous chemist employed by the Hunter District Water Board (HDWB). He opened my eyes to the subsurface beneath deposits from Tomago to Seal Rocks where sand bodies had been investigated for ground water supplies. Looking back, bore logs he supplied was one of the most important data sets that I had access to for this thesis.

The conceptual framework followed the model of Bird in Gippsland involving Inner and Outer barriers. I called these bay barriers following the nomenclature set out in a paper in 1952 by Shepard. Where I differed from Bird at the time was that based on drill logs, soil type and air photo interpretation, the Inner Barrier was Pleistocene not Recent/Holocene in age. An air photo in the  paper by LeBlanc and Hodgson (1959, Fig. 20) adjoining San Antonia Bay in Texas in the  LSU conference proceedings showed remarkable similarities in beach-ridge topographic form to what I was seeing in several “segments” of the thesis area. Jennings had alerted me to look out for the difference between subdued v fresh morphologic condition that he had noted in King Island. The contrast also applied to dune features. But what sealed it for me were those drill logs and the existence of what the HDWB termed “Woolloomooloo” or coffee rock extending below sea level beneath all Inner barriers but absent below Recent/Holocene Outer barriers. Interestingly I discovered a similar contrast 5 years later in my PhD research in Horry County, South Carolina. And to confirm the age difference, the HDWB obtained a background C14 date on an Anadara shell below the coffee rock at Tomago. John Marshall and I published in Nature in 1976 uranium series dates on corals from the rear of the Inner Barrier at Grahamstown confirming a Last Interglacial (Stage 5e) age for the deposits.

Ten weeks in the field in 1960 was full of new findings. Dune morphology became a focus given the existence of a variety of both mobile and stabilised dune types. West winds in May that year had transferred the active sand sheet of Newcastle Bight into a remarkable field of asymmetric transverse dunes. Cooper’s 1958 memoir came to light and for each segment I was able to map each dune type and compare features with what he had described. I enjoyed traversing these dunes and observing soil and vegetation patterns. I borrowed the term “transgressive dune” from Gardner in place of Cooper’s term “precipitation ridge” which he applied to active slipcase of sand invading a forest. In an exchange of letters Cooper told me what he thought of my use of terms and interpretations on modes of stabilisation by vegetation. There was a slight difference of view!

The Myall Lakes area was the subject of an amazing report following the expeditions of Sydney University Rover Scouts in the 1930s (see paper by Osborn and Robertson in Proc. Linnean Soc., NSW, 1939, v 64). This work provided me with botanical guidance although I was also able to turn to current staff in the Botany School for advice, especially the palynologist Tony Martin with whom I later published. What they noted about the area in 1939 remained true in 1960 and thankfully to a large degree to the present: “Though the area has been inhabited by white men for over a century, much of it, especially the dunes, heaths and swamps, is still in a primitive state” (p.279).  More substantial ecological work in the Eurunderee segment was later undertaken by Caroline and Myerscough (Cunninghamia, 1986, 1, (4), 399-466) also from Sydney University. They utilised my geomorphic work by then published in part in a paper in the Journal of Royal Society NSW (1965, v.98, 23-36).

Looking back at that 1960 thesis I am reminded how much I learnt in one year and just how grateful I am now for the chance to have been a geography student at that time. Fortunately, I was able to return armed with a drill rig in the 1970s. But more important was that the area became a location for many others to study. In the 1960s Mike Shepherd completed a PhD on part of the area north of Hawks Nest. Pat Hesp, Cheng Ly, and Greg Bowman all undertook PhD research that used sites here and contributed significantly to our understanding of coastal sediment dynamics and evolution. Peter Roy from the NSW Geological Survey also worked in the area with us especially in the Port Stephens estuary. Many publications have resulted. We attempted to bring much of this together in a monograph in 1992 (Thom et al., 1992, Coastal Geomorphology and Quaternary Geology of the Port Stephens-Myall Lakes Area, Monograph No. 6. ANU Dept. Biogeography and Geomorphology, Monograph No. 6, 407pp.).

Words by Prof Bruce Thom. Please respect the author’s thoughts and reference appropriately: (c) ACS, 2020. For correspondence about this blog post please email austcoastsoc@gmail.com

#174

By

Prof Bruce Thom |

Sunday, October 25, 2020 |

Category: Blog
Previous Post:Main ImagePort Stephens – Myall Lakes 1960 – the journey.
Next Post:SHORELINE RESPONSES TO SEA-LEVEL RISEMain Image

Sidebar

2023 (6)
  • Thursday, March 23 Federal Coastal Legislation – Public Trust Principles
  • Thursday, March 9 Public Trust Doctrine Part 1: Tribute to Jim Titus
  • Tuesday, February 28 Coastal Adaptation in Aotearoa New Zealand
  • Wednesday, February 15 US Coastal Barrier Resources Act: Model for Strategic Federal Intervention?
  • Tuesday, January 31 Philosophers and the Coast
  • Tuesday, January 17 Ocean Pools
2022 (24)
  • Thursday, December 22 Protecting Nature: Art of the Impossible?
  • Tuesday, December 13 Drainage Window Concept
  • Thursday, November 24 Cootamundra Shoals Survey 1982
  • Thursday, November 10 US Coastal Zone Management Act 1972: A Model for Australia?
  • Wednesday, October 26 Great Barrier Reef—More or Less Gloom
  • Wednesday, October 12 Bondi Pavilion Reopened and Rejuvenated
  • Wednesday, September 28 Coastal Journey Begins: September 1962
  • Monday, September 12 Protection For Sydney Harbour: Berrys Bay Case
  • Thursday, August 25 Coastal Inundation: A Hazard Not to be Underestimated
  • Tuesday, August 9 Beach Access – An International Perspective
  • Wednesday, July 27 SoE 2021 and Coasts
  • Tuesday, July 19 Human Rights and Beaches
  • Wednesday, July 6 Coastal Walks and Local Councils
  • Thursday, June 23 EPBC Act and Regional Landscape and Resilience Plans
  • Wednesday, June 15 29th NSW Coastal Conference
  • Thursday, May 19 Lament for Estuaries? (0)
  • Wednesday, April 27 East Coast Floods 2022 (0)
  • Monday, April 11 East Coast Weather ‘Traffic Jam’ (0)
  • Tuesday, March 29 VALE: PAUL BISHOP (0)
  • Thursday, March 24 IPCC Throws Down the Gauntlet on Australian Institutional Deficiencies
  • Friday, February 25 Recent federal coastal initiatives – February 2022
  • Tuesday, February 8 Resourceful ‘lucky’ country
  • Friday, January 28 FUTURE EARTH AUSTRALIA: SUSTAINABLE OCEANS AND COASTS NATIONAL STRATEGY 2021-2030
  • Monday, January 10 Sunflowers and hope
2021 (27)
  • Wednesday, December 22 DISCOVERING MORUYA 1971-2021
  • Sunday, December 12 PROTECTING A BIG CITY: NEW YORK DECISION MAKING
  • Wednesday, December 1 ICA REPORT: CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT “ACTIONS OF THE SEA” AND FUTURE RISKS
  • Friday, November 12 NATIONAL CLIMATE RESILIENCE AND ADAPTATION STRATEGY (NCRAS)
  • Thursday, October 28 COASTAL FAMILY—THE ELIOTS
  • Sunday, October 10 COASTAL CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: ROLES FOR THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT
  • Monday, September 27 Sydney Harbour: Impact of contamination studies
  • Friday, September 17 Geological indicators of seabed mobility – Narrabeen Beach (Sydney, Australia)
  • Monday, August 30 LAST INTERGLACIAL SEA LEVELS: RECENT RESEARCH AND MEET “STROMBUS BUBONIUS”
  • Wednesday, August 18   COASTAL NEWS – AUGUST 2021
  • Monday, July 19 Reflections on past coastal recommendations by the Australian Government
  • Monday, July 5 LARGS: A GEOHERITAGE SITE?
  • Thursday, June 24 PROPERTY RIGHTS: WHAT CONDITIONS PREVAIL IN A CIVIL SOCIETY?
  • Monday, June 14 UNIVERSITY RESEARCH—PERSONAL SADNESS
  • Saturday, May 29 SEAHORSE MONITORING BY WOOLLAHRA COUNCIL, NSW
  • Tuesday, May 18 US Climate Indicators
  • Saturday, May 8 AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT MARINE AND COAST INITIATIVES 2021
  • Sunday, April 25 Travelling west of the sandstone curtain – to Orange (NSW) and back
  • Tuesday, April 20 Big surf at Port Fairy (Victoria) – April 2021
  • Thursday, April 8 LAND: OWNERSHIP AND RIGHTS
  • Sunday, March 14 ESTUARY WETLANDS AND SEA-LEVEL RISE
  • Saturday, February 20 COASTAL ZONE AND CATCHMENT BOUNDARIES
  • Sunday, February 14 Coastal Archaeology Revisited
  • Saturday, January 30 JUDITH WRIGHT – POET, COASTAL CONSERVATIONIST AND MUCH MORE
  • Monday, January 18 COASTAL STORIES FROM THE FIELD,1970-2020
  • Monday, January 11 US COASTAL MANAGEMENT UNDER TRUMP
  • Monday, January 4 2020: A COASTAL PERSPECTIVE
2020 (26)
  • Wednesday, December 23 EPBC ACT CHANGES –WILL THEY BE WORTH THE EFFORT?
  • Monday, December 14 TWO JIMS—BOWLER AND COLEMAN
  • Thursday, November 26 AUSTRALIA UNDER THREAT—WHAT TO DO NEXT?
  • Saturday, November 7 SHORELINE RESPONSES TO SEA-LEVEL RISE
  • Sunday, October 25 Port Stephens-Myall Lakes 1960 – Research Opportunities
  • Wednesday, October 14 Port Stephens – Myall Lakes 1960 – the journey.
  • Monday, September 28 LEGACY ISSUES AND COASTAL MANAGEMENT
  • Friday, September 11 TYPHOONS AND HAINAN ISLAND, CHINA
  • Tuesday, September 1 Impact of sea-level rise on coastal natural values in Tasmania
  • Saturday, August 29 ENVIRONMENTAL VALUES REMAIN THREATENED
  • Thursday, August 6 HAMELIN POOL (Shark Bay, Western Australia) —AN ESTUARY?
  • Thursday, July 16 Estuary Health
  • Friday, July 3 UNIVERSITY RESEARCH AND TEACHING—THE NEXUS IS IT BROKEN?
  • Sunday, June 21 Sandy beach morphodynamics – a new book
  • Sunday, June 7 Cliffs in the Narrabeen Group, Sydney
  • Thursday, May 21 PROGNOSIS FOR A CHOKING MOUTH: THE RIVER MURRAY
  • Wednesday, May 6 Geomorphologic Mapping
  • Wednesday, April 22 DOVER HEIGHTS CLIFFS, SYDNEY
  • Sunday, April 12 Recent Coastal Legal Cases
  • Tuesday, March 24 CHALLENGE AND RESPONSE—THE CURRENT CRISIS
  • Wednesday, March 18 Recent papers in the journal Nature
  • Thursday, February 27 HOLOCENE SEA LEVELS AND COASTAL EVOLUTION
  • Monday, February 17 Brian Caton ‘a coastal legend’- RIP 9 February 2020
  • Tuesday, February 4 NATIONAL COASTAL ADAPTATION AGENDA 2010: A RETROSPECTIVE
  • Wednesday, January 22 TIME FOR ADAPTATION ACTION
  • Friday, January 10 EAST COAST FLOODS 2022 (0)
2019 (29)
  • Monday, December 30 Parsley Bay in the Summer
  • Monday, November 25 Australian Coastal Systems: A New Book from Andy Short
  • Tuesday, November 19 South Australian 2019 Coastal Conference and the ACS AGM
  • Wednesday, November 6 28th Annual NSW Coastal Conference – Terrigal, 2019
  • Sunday, October 27 Coastal Incidents
  • Tuesday, October 8 Coastal morphostratigraphy: two papers from Denmark
  • Friday, September 27 Climate Change Attribution
  • Tuesday, September 10 Vale Jack Davies at age 97 – leader, teacher and mentor
  • Wednesday, September 4 Coastal erosion and accretion beyond the historical timescale in NSW
  • Monday, August 19 Rethinking Landscape in Aotearoa
  • Friday, August 2 Collaborative Science and Coastal Adaptation
  • Saturday, July 20 CLIMATE CHANGE AND RELATIVITY – SOME PARALLELS
  • Sunday, July 14 DOUGLAS W. JOHNSON 1919 AND BEYOND
  • Tuesday, July 2 The Sandiford Line
  • Saturday, June 22 A Curiosity of Cusps
  • Monday, June 3 Federal Election 2019 and Coasts
  • Monday, May 13 Mangrove Generations
  • Sunday, May 5 John Sinclair of K’Gari (Fraser Island) 1939 – 2019
  • Monday, April 22 The Mighty Ord
  • Thursday, March 28 Climate change adaptation: perspectives from Canada and England
  • Monday, March 18 Foreshore land grants in eastern Sydney
  • Friday, March 15 The right to bath on the beach
  • Wednesday, March 6 Victorian Coastal Monitoring Program
  • Thursday, February 21 Future national need for a healthy environment
  • Wednesday, February 13 ANZGG CONFERENCE AT INVERLOCH, VICTORIA
  • Wednesday, February 6 Coastal science and the Murray River mouth
  • Saturday, February 2 INDIA COASTAL MANAGEMENT
  • Tuesday, January 15 Sydney Harbour Sea Fog – Summer of 2018/2019
  • Saturday, January 5 COASTAL RESILIENCE AND ADAPTATION
2018 (31)
  • Monday, December 17 CLIFF-TOP DUNES
  • Saturday, December 15 The whereabouts of climate change adaptation
  • Sunday, December 2 Observations from a long time marine debris collector.
  • Sunday, December 2 Backbarrier flats – a relic coastal landform
  • Monday, November 19 King Tides in Venice
  • Wednesday, November 14 27TH NSW COASTAL CONFERENCE 2018
  • Monday, November 12 Is the coast losing out with NRM? Proposed changes for South Australia
  • Saturday, November 3 Slicks (Part 2)
  • Tuesday, October 16 Twofold Bay – A Great Coastal Laboratory
  • Sunday, October 7 VALE: Professor John Chappell FAA (1940-2018)
  • Thursday, September 27 Coasts and Legal Systems
  • Sunday, September 16 Moods of Sydney Harbour
  • Sunday, August 26 Community Consultation
  • Saturday, August 18 Managing water quality through regenerative agriculture
  • Friday, August 3 Tomorrow’s Coasts – Complex and Impermanent
  • Thursday, July 12 Murray-Darling Basin Royal Commission
  • Monday, July 2 New South Wales Coastal Reforms – NSW Coastal Council’s first meeting
  • Tuesday, June 26 Victoria’s Coastal Reforms – ‘fit for purpose’ or an opportunity lost?
  • Wednesday, June 20 New SA Government promises improved coastal management
  • Thursday, June 14 OCCUPATION OF THE AUSTRALIAN CONTINENTAL SHELF
  • Wednesday, May 30 National Budgets – Some Thoughts
  • Wednesday, May 16 Guiding Principles for Marine and Coastal Management
  • Friday, May 4 Last Interglacial Marine Deposits at Mary Ann Bay, Tasmania
  • Sunday, April 29 Coast to Coast Hobart 2018
  • Thursday, April 5 Coastal Reforms in New South Wales – The Next Stage
  • Monday, March 26 Coastal Archaeology
  • Monday, March 12 Barrier Islands – An American Obsession?
  • Monday, February 26 Climate Change Adaptation in Australia – A Loss of Momentum
  • Thursday, February 15 Bruce Thom Blog – SUMMERAMA
  • Wednesday, January 31 King tides and extreme events
  • Sunday, January 14 Coastal Geomorphology 101
2017 (39)
  • Friday, December 29 Bruce Thom Blog – Speaking Truth to Power
  • Wednesday, December 20 National Surfing Reserves
  • Thursday, December 14 Beachrock
  • Saturday, December 9 Higher Tides
  • Monday, December 4 Keeping the Murray Mouth open
  • Monday, November 27 Victorian Coastal Management in 2017
  • Thursday, November 16 26th NSW Coastal Conference at Port Stephens
  • Thursday, October 26 Ancestral rivers and terraces
  • Monday, October 16 Murray Valley: a recent visit
  • Wednesday, October 11 The National Construction Code and coastal planning
  • Tuesday, September 19 Geomorphic evolution of Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth
  • Wednesday, September 13 Queensland Coastal Conference 2017 – Ten years in the making
  • Tuesday, September 5 Hurricane Harvey and its implications
  • Friday, September 1 Gippsland (Victoria) and relative sea level rise
  • Sunday, August 27 US Office of Naval Research and the Australian Coast
  • Monday, August 21 Managing the unique wetlands of Gippsland Lakes
  • Thursday, August 10 Lifecycle of coastal environmental law
  • Friday, July 28 Charlie Veron – A Life Underwater
  • Sunday, July 23 Coastal Sediment Management
  • Friday, July 7 Coastal walks -Malabar Headland National Park, Sydney
  • Friday, June 30 Honeycomb Weathering
  • Friday, June 23 Disaster preparedness
  • Wednesday, May 31 Sept-Iles: Managing a migrating foreland
  • Wednesday, May 24 Achievements of the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility
  • Saturday, May 13 Coastal Shacks
  • Wednesday, April 26 Empress Augusta Bay, Bougainville
  • Thursday, April 20 The Blue Mud Bay case – Aboriginal property rights in the Northern Territory
  • Tuesday, April 4 Botany Bay Sands
  • Saturday, March 25 Wave Energy Resource
  • Wednesday, March 15 Clustering of Storms
  • Wednesday, March 15 Cape to Cape: A voyage around Botany Bay
  • Tuesday, March 7 The “Venice Effect”
  • Monday, February 27 Port Stephens Bioherms
  • Thursday, February 9 Coast Ambassadors
  • Friday, February 3 Coastal Graphics
  • Tuesday, January 31 Irukandji on the move
  • Tuesday, January 24 Acceleration in mean sea level
  • Wednesday, January 11 Concerns of an American coastal scientist under a Trump presidency
  • Sunday, January 8 EXTREME STORM EVENTS IN THE USA, AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2021
  • About us
  • Get involved
  • News and events
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Contact us

Banner Photography by Pixabay

© 2023 Australian Coastal Society. All Rights Reserved.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Mail
  • LinkedIn