Blog

Australian Coastal Society

Bruce Thom Blog – Speaking Truth to Power

Bruce Thom Blog - Speaking Truth to Power In the summer edition of The Monthly, in an article on the former President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Professor Gillian Triggs, the comment was made on how little the work she had devoted most of her life to...

National Surfing Reserves

National Surfing Reserves

National Surfing Reserves On 2 December, 2017, there was a dedication ceremony to constitute Bondi as a National Surfing Reserve (NSR). As the headline in the Wentworth Courier stated: “It’s official: Bondi is iconic”. The article went on to say the ceremony will...

Beachrock

Beachrock

Beachrock Way back in 1962, I collected a sample of calcareous sandstone on the beachface at Fisherman’s Beach, Collaroy. At this time I was heading to Louisiana to study at the Coastal Studies Institute. R.J.Russell was the Director and had an international project...

Higher Tides

Higher Tides

Higher Tides Recently the NSW media was, well, awash with news articles on the high tides being experienced along the NSW coast. What caused the higher tides and  how do they compare with historic tide levels? A couple of news articles from 6 December 2017 in...

Keeping the Murray Mouth open

Keeping the Murray Mouth open The Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists has just released a report on the first 5 years of implementation of the MDBP. This plan involved considerable and often contentious consultation. An aim was to recover 3200GL of water for the...

Victorian Coastal Management in 2017

Victorian Coastal Management in 2017 I travelled to St Kilda last Wednesday evening and enjoyed the delights of The Esplanade. I can see why it attracts so many on a warm spring evening with temperatures in the low 30s, the water was a fair bit cooler. Cars descended...

26th NSW Coastal Conference at Port Stephens

26th NSW Coastal Conference at Port Stephens After many years of trying, we were able to convince Port Stephens Council to host a NSW Coastal Conference. Councillor John Nell paved the way for the conference this year held at Shoal Bay on the shores of Port Stephens....

Ancestral rivers and terraces

Ancestral rivers and terraces Ancient and modern meanders on the Goulburn River, Murray Darling River Basin, Australia (Image: Google Earth) Another week on the road and more fluvial geomorphology! Irene and I attended a delightful UNE function last week giving us the...

Murray Valley: a recent visit

Murray Valley: a recent visit Last week I was invited to participate in a panel discussion at a meeting of the Murray Basin Association (MBA) in Renmark. The topic was the future of the barrages on Lake Alexandrina near the mouth of the Murray River. For some time I...