Blog
Election 2025: What Can The Australian Government Do For Coastal Management?
Election 2025: What Can The Australian Government Do For Coastal Management? There is always a temptation to dream after an election that a “new” government may take a closer look at what it can do in addressing the plethora of issues facing management of the...
2025 Coastal Storm Season: Waiting For The “Big One”?
2025 Coastal Storm Season: Waiting For The "Big One"? Ever since we started measuring beach profiles at Bengello Beach, Moruya, in the 1970s, Roger McLean and I have contemplated the recurrence of the 74-78 erosion phase. In the 50 plus years of record this phase...
Coastal Wetlands: A Legal Perspective
Coastal Wetlands: A Legal Perspective What comes to mind when one encounters areas of salt marsh or mangrove? For much of Australian settlement history they were seen as dump lands, habitats for mosquitoes, smelly and muddy or “crap” places; yet they had some value....
Downsizing of NOAA: Consequences For The Planet
Downsizing of NOAA: Consequences For The Planet News out of the US on the firing of public servants by the Trump administration has consequences world-wide. Downsizing of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will potentially impact many nations...
Contamination Status of Sydney Harbour: Contributions by Gavin Birch
Contamination Status of Sydney Harbour: Contributions by Gavin Birch Many great harbours of the world have experienced decades of influx of pollutants from a range of sources. Considerable efforts have been undertaken by public authorities to “cleanup” legacies of...
A Dip Into The Past: Coogee 1959
A Dip Into The Past: Coogee 1959 Each January for the past 10 years or so, Sydney’s Randwick Council invites me to conduct a community excursion along the coast around Coogee. This is a two hour walk from the beach along the cliffs to the south towards Lurline Bay. I...
Orrin Pilkey: Celebrity Coastal Geologist
Orrin Pilkey: Celebrity Coastal Geologist On 18th December, the Sydney Morning Herald posted a lengthy obituary from the New York Times on the death of Orrin Pilkey aged 90. It was somewhat of a surprise to see this in the SMH. But it was an excellent reminder of the...
EPA and Estuaries
EPA and Estuaries Some of us were not too surprised when the Prime Minister pulled the plug on the passage of legislation to establish an environmental protection agency (EPA). Along with colleagues from the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists (WG) and other...
Banksmeadow Revetment – Recollections of a young coastal engineer
Banksmeadow Revetment – Recollections of a young coastal engineer by Angus Gordon OAM In this special article of the Australian Coastal Society, esteemed coastal engineering Angus Gordon reflects on the challenging construction of the Banksmeadow Revetment, a critical...
South Coast Journey: 31st NSW Coastal Conference
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...
Flood Insurance Inquiry: lessons for the coast?
Flood Insurance Inquiry: lessons for the coast? On 18th October, the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics released its report following an “Inquiry into Insurers’ Response to the 2022 Major Floods”. The Inquiry was chaired by Daniel Mulino MP. The...
Geodiversity Part 2: Kimberley Coast
Geodiversity Part 2: Kimberley Coast My blog on Australian coastal geodiversity prompted a reminder that I had not referenced the work of Victor Semeniuk and his colleague Margaret Brocx. Both Andy Short and Colin Woodroffe provided me with references that I should...