South Coast Journey: 31st NSW Coastal Conference
Eurobodalla Shire Council was selected this year as host of the 31st annual NSW Coastal Conference (6-8 November 2024). It was a delight to return once again to Batemans Bay where the conference was held in the new Bay Pavillion. This proved to be an ideal location for a conference of just over 200 participants able to easily access the theatre, two breakout rooms and other facilities. The nearby Soldiers Club was an ideal venue for the dinner. A variety of half-day local field trips was another conference highlight. More on the conference later.
Irene and I made the most of our journey to Batemans Bay with visits to friends and an array of sites. The weather was kind, which enabled us to enjoy some of the many coastal features that this south coast of NSW has to offer. One surprise that was not so pleasant was the “outbreak” of bluebottles on beaches. Media reports from Sydney to the south warned swimmers of these stingers. They were prolific on Wollongong beaches and around Jervis Bay discouraging us on one occasion from going for a dip.
This trip enabled me to look at rocky sections of the coast. A group of us are currently turning our minds to the evolution of our rocky shores and continental shelf away from our long-standing passion for beaches, dunes and other sediment deposits. Along with Andy Short, Peter Cowell, John Hudson and Mike Kinsela, new questions have emerged arising from inspection of marine LiDAR images. One problem is under what conditions platforms and cliffs formed in what are now sheltered vegetated locations. Such features can be found around the shores of Jervis Bay, St Georges Basin and Batemans Bay.
I first conducted field work in the Jervis Bay-St Georges Basin area in the early 1970s armed with a drill rig to explore the stratigraphy of sand deposits. This took priority over any study of relic cliffs and platforms. On this trip we looked at them along the north side of the Basin at Sanctuary Point. Access proved easy courtesy of an excellent walkway built by Shoalhaven City Council. A heavy tree cover of spotted gums and Casuarinas disguises their presence. However, their morphology closely resembles those around the shores of Batemans Bay although here they are cut into Permian sedimentary rocks. Today wave action barely laps the edges of the platforms so different energy conditions must have prevailed when they were formed. I will comment further on this at a later date. I am reminded of a useful dated sediment history for the basin was published by Craig Sloss, Colin Murray-Wallace and Brian Jones in Journal of Coastal Research (2006, v 22, 113-136), based in part on honours thesis research by Barry Bradshaw (Sydney University 1987) who used data from one of my drill holes.
Boderee National Park on the southern side of Jervis Bay contains within it the site of a nuclear power station. I always reflect on this late 1960s endeavour when visiting the park driving along the sealed road that now benefits boat users accessing the Bay next to Murrays Beach. The pit dug for the station is now overgrown with trees. I had difficulty finding the section cut into the Pleistocene sandrock near the boat ramp described in the Guidebook we wrote for the 1986 International Sedimentology Conference. That guidebook also discusses our observations and dating of Holocene dunes that are found within the Boderee Botanic Gardens. Two lakes, Mackenzie and Windermere, were formed within these dunes. Today only Lake Mackenzie is accessible within these beautiful gardens, the only Aboriginal-owned botanic gardens in Australia. It was such a pleasure wandering its trails.
Our final stop before reaching Batemans Bay was at South Durras. This is where you can get a good look at the lower units of Permian sedimentary rocks of the Sydney Basin. These conglomeritic sandstones are laden with rocks of varying lithology perhaps derived from a nearby glacial source. The effect on the microtopography of the rock platform is mesmerizing. Coming here at low tide enabled us to scramble amongst the crevices and well-formed potholes on surfaces that were dissected by vertical joints.
The return trip was more social and cultural although it did involve a stop at the surf club at Mollymook to give a talk at the annual Environment and Planning Lawyers Association (EPLA) conference and attend their dinner at nearby Cuppitt’s Estate. We enjoyed the delights of cafes and gift shops at historic Milton before moving onto Bundanon. This remarkable gift to the nation by the artist Arthur Boyd is set within the incised Shoalhaven River and comes in two separate parts. One is the museum which at this time had an extraordinary exhibition of indigenous art. But it was at the homestead and studio some kilometres upriver where we really got to learn more of Boyd’s incredible legacy.
Back to the coastal conference. Each year the local committee supported by East Coast Conferences embraces a theme; this year it was “Dynamic Coasts: Embracing the past, innovating for the future”. We always enjoy the networking of participants interested in coastal management, science and policy including the commitment of consultants to share their experiences. Jodi Edwards (University of Wollongong) set the scene with an inspiring keynote full of indigenous understanding of connectedness of country and the need to find ways to “reconnect”. Several papers were presented from a First Nation peoples perspective.
Climate change issues were canvassed in various talks. It was good to see how both technical and policy issues are becoming more refined as awareness of impacts grows and the need to adapt in planning and management. There are many contradictions in this space that get the attention of participants including how state and local governments plan for future change. One such issue is the need for consistent mapping of Coastal Vulnerability Areas. Another issue is how to improve hazard planning linking flood risk with coastal hazards. Compound hazards is clearly going to be a factor of life along coastal NSW in the future.
Looking forward to the 31st conference in Ballina in 2025.
Words by Prof Bruce Thom. Please respect the author’s thoughts and reference appropriately: (c) ACS, 2024. For correspondence about this blog post please email admin@australiancoastalsociety.org.au
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