Sandringham Foreshore Association Newsletter July 2014

SANDRINGHAM FORESHORE ASSOCIATION (SFA)

Founded January 2007
ABN 42947116512
A CHARITABLE NOT FOR PROFIT VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATION
SFA
PO Box 52
Sandringham 3191
E-mail: sandyforeshore@optusnet.com.au

From the president of SFA, Dr Vicki Karalis

Welcome to the Winter edition of the SFA newsletter!

It was a big storm we experienced last month on June 24th 2014. Storms are a
recurring event and our foreshore has experienced many over 1000's of years.
We can learn a lot from storms, including the recent one. During the storm, I
managed to go down to the beach and take photos during and after the storm.
Unfortunately in the midst of the storm my iphone battery failed after great
efforts to climb the cliffs and while trying to take some action shots! It was a
funny situation to be in, but what could I do!? Nevertheless I managed to take
a few good shots during the storm and on the following day to demonstrate
the detrimental impact it had on our beaches. See photos below.
It appears the wider beaches with vast volumes of sand and solid dunes coped
best with the wave action. You can see from the first photo below that the
northern part of Sandringham beach (adjacent to Picnic Point) coped very well
in the midst of the storm.
It is for this reason we are continually working with Council and DEPI to create
a long term coastal management plan to keep our beaches well nourished, and
thus wide and sandy. This aim will help protect our precious cliffs, as the sandy
beaches are the buffers.
SFA also strongly support the need to revegetate our cliffs where required.
Good cover of vegetation along with healthy root systems help hold the soil,
and reduce erosion. Please see below an article by Professor Jim Peterson of
Monash University written for SFA before he passed away. He was a great
supporter of SFA over several years and we truly valued his support.
The latest issue we are now dealing with is the protection of the Beaumaris
Fossil Heritage site. SFA are opposed to any proposals to expand the Beaumaris
Motor Yacht squadron. There are many fossils embedded in the rocks along
our coastline from Brighton to Beaumaris that are over 4 and even up to 12
million years old, particularly in Beaumaris at the Fossil site. We met with DEPI,
stakeholders and experts to express our concerns with the expansion of the
Beaumaris Motor Yacht squadron which unfortunately should never have been
built on this site in the past! We will keep you up to date with the outcome of
this meeting. Next SFA newsletter we will have a greater coverage on fossils
found in the Bayside area.

We invite you to contribute to our newsletter on this, and any other issues
which concern you. Please write to us.

Interesting web links about the Beaumaris Fossil site:

1. Australian Government, Dept of the Environment

http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/ahdb/search.pl?mode=place_detail;place_id=18053
2. Beaumaris Cliffs 2 (Yacht Squadron) - Fossil Site
http://www.nre.vic.gov.au/dpi/vro/portregn.nsf/pages/port_lf_sig_sites_beaumaris2
3. When the fossil of a Pelagornis bone was found at Beaumaris Bay Fossil Site, it was established for
the first time that the Pelagornis, a gigantic seabird flew over Australia 65 million years ago:

http://scienceillustrated.com.au/blog/science/news/gigantic-seabirds-once-glided-over-the-
australian-coast/

http://blog.everythingdinosaur.co.uk/blog/_archives/2012/06/27/giant-toothed-birds-once-soared-
over-australia.html
Pictorial Report on Sandringham Beaches faring the late June storm
Northern aspect of Sandringham beach near Picnic Point taken during storm on June 24th
2014. Note wide sandy beach & dunes protected the base of the cliffs from storm damage.

Note waves crashing onto the base of the Tennyson Street cliffs during the storm. There
was very little sand present on this part of the beach prior to the storm to protect the cliffs.
 Sandringham, Tennyson St beach before the storm April 24th 2014

Tennyson St beach after the storm (taken June 25th); note further erosion of base of cliffs -
just over 3 metres loss of cliffs, plus loss of vegetation and saltbushes.
 Cliff erosion at Tennyson Street beach post storm.

Tennyson St beach cliff erosion; note the appearance of the old beach house stumps that
were wedged in the base of the cliff and exposed by the storm. From this photo-evidence
we can establish that over 3 metres of cliff erosion occurred during this single storm-event.
Photo below of Royal Ave beach Sandringham taken on April 24th 2014, before the storms

This photo below was taken of Royal Ave beach after the storm. Note further cliff erosion
and return of the sand to the area.
Royal Ave beach during the storm; despite recent sand renourishment completed in 2009,
the southern aspect of the cliffs was not protected from wave action during the storm.

Edward St beach Sandringham on the day of the storm June 24th

 Storm damage to fencing and the revetment wall on Edward Street beach, Sandringham
photo taken after the storm

Further images (2) of storm damage to fencing and the revetment wall on Edward St beach
Half Moon Bay post storm June 25th after the storm
Boat washed onto the shore at Red Bluff cliffs; photo taken after the storm
 Red Bluff cliffs new erosion post storm

Rubbish and debris washed ashore by storms at Half Moon Bay

Half Moon Bay pier washed ashore - note the rotted posts from the pier below.
Does anyone know when this pier was built?

The remains of the storm-damaged Half Moon Bay pier

 Below: Black Rock beach photo June 25th 2014, supplied by DEPI.
Note the damage to the revetment wall.

Beaumaris, Rickett's Point post storm. Photo supplied by Ray Lewis who says:

"very interesting....they show how extraordinarily effective some simple wire fencing and
plastic mesh can be in holding back sand for a sensitive area during heavy storms."
A word from Sean Kelly
- local resident and Cultural Heritage Officer
Even though they got a head start by several millions of years, plants and
humans have established a bond that is inseparable. From the Western
Desert nut that ‘told’ the Aboriginal man that ‘if you take me to the river,
and place me in the water, fish will be there waiting for you, dead but
st
certainly edible’, to the 1 century AD publication ‘Materia Medica’ by
Greek physician Dioscorides, which listed the medicinal qualities of over
500 plants and herbs, to the development of the ‘Doctrine of Signatures’
in the middle ages.

Although highly entertaining and in numerous cases applicable, in practice

was quite restrictive, it’s most notable proponent was Italian philosopher
Giambattista della Porta (1543-1615). This was a practice where a
particular plants physical characteristics and growth habit were
considered an indicator of the plants use or benefit, for example skullcap
was considered a cure for insomnia or plants with yellow flowers were
used to treat jaundice.

Beginning with the Indigenous peoples of all the continents of the globe, to the Ayurvedic traditions of India,
to the ancient gardens and texts of the Babylonians and Egyptians, from the Greeks and Romans, to the
backyard gardens of today, plants are part of us all.

This tradition continues today with another small undertaking along the Sandringham foreshore, where work
on re-establishing the rich diversity and natural beauty of the Indigenous ‘natural’ garden has begun. Along
with our friends from the Bayside Indigenous Nursery and Citywide Bushland Team, SFA and myself have
identified several locations along the foreshore reserve between Tennyson St and Edward St that will really
benefit from specific revegetation works that will focus on diversifying the already great array of Indigenous
trees, shrubs and herbs that flourish within the reserve. Over time, it is foreseen that with on-going weed
management, these ‘natural garden’ spaces will invite the many daily visitors to take five, to take a little
breather, a short detour off the main track, to enjoy the peace and tranquillity of an Indigenous garden space.

Indigenous planting along Sandringham cliffs; Andy a worker with City Wide and Sean Kelly:
 Sean and Andy inspecting a large midden at the Royal Ave beach disappearing with erosion
of cliffs from storm action

Restoration of dunes at Rickett's Point

On May 25th we gathered at Rickett's Point to help restore the dunes with revegetation.
This event was successfully organised by the Bayside Environment Friends Network with
Bayside City Council. Many volunteers turned up and helped. These plants will help stabilise
the sand and dunes to protect the beaches from wave action during storms.

Photo showing Pauline Reynolds and Rob Saunders revegetating dunes on May 25th 2014
Importance of revegetation to stabilise our cliffs:
Sandringham Foreshore cliff stability

By Associate Professor James A Peterson

Formerly of the School of Geography and Environmental Science, Monash University

Dr Peterson recently passed away after forty years of research and teaching with an emphasis
on thematic mapping and geomorphology. He prepared this article for the SFA before he
died.

The stability of coastal cliffs at Sandringham

“Hard” cliffs and “soft” cliffs

The coastal cliffs at Sandringham and some adjacent coastal sectors of eastern Port Phillip
Bay are typical of those formed in soft sediments. When the area now known as Port Phillip
Bay was flooded by sea level rise provoked by the melting of the last great mid-latitude
northern hemisphere ice sheets (at their greatest extent about 20 000 years ago), the shoreline
we know today began to form. With the demise of those ice sheets, the sea level rise abated
and wave attack was concentrated at what is often referred to as post-glacial sea level. The
coastal landforms that evolved owe their morphology mainly to erosion by waves. Soils and
weathered rocks were soon washed away. Shoreline cliffs soon formed. Where the underlying
rock was hard, the cliffs were prominent and retreating, but only very slowly. However, along
some coastal sectors the retreat was comparatively rapid because the waves did not encounter
hard rock, but rather unconsolidated formations. Geologists have mapped them under a range
of formation names, for instance Red Bluff Sands, and Black Rock Sandstone. The manner
of cliff retreat for such cliffs requires special attention because wave attack is not the only
process involved.

On Page 156 of his book The Coast of Victoria: shaping the scenery (Melbourne
University Press 1993), Dr E C F Bird published a diagram (labelled Figure 101) to illustrate
one of the more insidious coastal erosion agents (Figure 1: below). Applied to the retreat of
cliffs formed by wave attack on soft (unconsolidated) rocks, he referred to it as “exudation”.
The evidence (slumps and slurries on the cliff face) is there to see until waves wash the
slumped material away. Slump by slump the cliff retreats, and little by little the wave-cut
shore platform widens. Eventually, the platform is covered by a veneer of sandy sediment
(the more rapidly, the sandier the cliff face) that forms a beach and the cliff becomes less
steep and retreats more slowly, perhaps slowly enough for the cliff-binding vegetation to take
hold.
 Figure 1

Stability of “soft cliffs”cliffs

In geotechnical terms, the slumping is due to cliff-face failure as a result of saturation by
groundwater. As the diagram shows, rainwater soaking into the suburbs atop the cliffs flows
easily through the unconsolidated sediments so as to emerge on the cliff face. If the through-
flow is voluminous enough, significant parts of the cliff face become so saturated that cliff-
face failure is inevitable. The process is insidious because the debris is soon washed away
and except for the biggest slumps, any displaced vegetation will recover. The biggest slumps
can be revegetated by horticultural means. Indeed, restoration of vegetation cover has been
one of the most successful “soft engineering” solutions to coastal degradation to be adopted
in Victoria. Without coastal engineering (hard or soft), the roads and car parks we know
today on this part of the Bayside would, by now, have eroded away. The now largely
artificially maintained coast now protects important infrastructure and amenity in its
immediate hinterland. From monitoring cliff stability, the relative significance of the two
main erosive processes can be deduced. Dr Bird’s students at the University of Melbourne
conducted such surveys, and, by using the survey data and other data, were able to assess
changes between the 1940s and the 1990s. This is recorded in Dr Bird’s book and in some of
his research papers (see reference list below).

Engineered coastline
In 1936, the state government received a report it had commissioned out of concern for the
effects of coastal erosion and the threat it posed to the coast-parallel road. Despite the fiscal
stress of those times it was clear that the eroding cliffs would have to be engineered if the
road, (and ultimately) the houses immediately inland were to be saved. There followed
application of coastal engineering methods, some of which were especially adapted to dealing
with the retreating and naked soft cliffs. The state of the cliffs in these terms can be seen
from appraisal of landscape paintings of the times. Sea walls were built in some places and
the groundwater was directed into better storm water pipe networks so that vegetation cover
could be established. For the most part this has been successful, but it is interesting to see that
at Little Beach (near Black Rock car park) there is no storm water outlet and the exudation
still prevails, on a cliff that has not been “piped/drained” and has not been able to hold a
vegetation cover.
Some interest attaches to the choice of “cliff-taming” plants. The early days of soft
engineering around Port Phillip Bay saw the establishment of a plant nursery so that the
propagules could be sources from the local gene pool. Beach lovers with an interest in history
could no doubt assemble a pictorial record of the gradual “taming” of the cliffs by application
of soft engineering approaches.

Changing coasts and the citizen

From the historical records and published reports, it is clear that soft engineering solutions
are less spectacular, but nevertheless, successful and that exudation is an important cliff-de-
stabiliser. Accordingly, the effects of both wave attack and slumping must be documented so
that infrastructure (especially the coast road) and amenity (especially the beach) can be
maintained. The exudation can be controlled by capturing stormwater in a well-maintained
stormwater pipe network, and the cliff base can be protected by periodic beach nourishment
(sand slurrying from off shore). Cliff stability monitoring can be part of planning optimal
deployment of the resources needed for such works.
References
Bird E.C.F Cullen R. and Rosengren N.J. (1973) Conservation Problems at Black Rock Point Victorian
Naturalist 90: 240-247

Bird E.C.F and Rosengren N.J. (1986) Changes in cliff morphology at Black Rock Point 1973-1986 Victorian
Naturalist 103: 106-113

Bird.E.C.F and Rosengren N.J. (1987) Coastal Cliff Management: an example from Black Rock Point,
Melbourne, Australia J. Shoreline Management 339-51

Bird E C F (1993) The Coast of Victoria Melbourne University press, Melbourne

Other coastal news

National Tree Day - Site details for Sandringham

27 July 10-12 Community Planting on National Tree Day – Hampton foreshore

Planting Access from Jetty Road or car park B6 (by the footy oval)
National Tree Day, Sandringham - Sunday, 27 July 2014 10:00am to 12:00pm

Aims of the project: Bayside Council and Citywide Service Solutions are hosting a National
Tree Day activity on Sandringham foreshore. This site is being remediated after being
infested with weeds. We are aiming to increase biodiversity and provide habitat for the local
fauna. This is a chance to join your local environmental Friends group and learn about the
importance of our native flora and fauna.

Organisation: Citywide Service Solutions on behalf of Bayside City Council

Site Address: Beach Rd - Trey Bit Reserve
Sandringham Vic 3191

Nearest Cross Street: Jetty Rd

Site Reference: Mels Ref 76 F8

Directions: The site is at the bottom of the ramp, on the foreshore, leading down from
carpark B6 (best parking place) on Beach Rd Sandringham.

Suitable for Children: Yes

Accessible for disabled: No

Notes about the day for Volunteers:

If you have your own gloves and a trowel that would be a big help.

The following will be provided: Gloves, Tools and equipment for planting, Watering cans /
buckets, Refreshments, BBQ

Categories

 Coastal & beaches rehabilitation

Volunteer RSVP
RSVP to: Jo Hurse
Phone: 03 9283 2052
http://treeday.planetark.org/site/10003949

Coastcare Victoria Winter newsletter - links

http://us3.campaign-
archive2.com/?u=e8a7883bf6349901e44aeb7f2&id=9e7a245e55&e=dac4e74603

Bayside Council Sustainability E-newsletter- links

http://us2.campaign-
archive1.com/?u=6c81b3a6eaddd3a1089968a6d&id=a7bd93ec56&e=8551fdedfd
Jetty Rd Pedestrian improvements Bayside City Council- voting

Cast your vote:

http://www.bayside.vic.gov.au/caring_for_bayside/jetty_road_pedestrian_improvements.h
tm

The proposal is at:

http://www.bayside.vic.gov.au/documents/02_Jetty_Road_Consultation_Plan_2014-06-04.pdf

The background report from January is at:

http://www.bayside.vic.gov.au/documents/03_Jetty_Road_Report_2014-01-24.pdf

Rotary Club of Hampton - funding

The Rotary Club of Hampton invites local organisations to apply for funding of worthwhile
projects. Further grant details and the application form are available, from 09 July 2014
onwards, on the Club's website of www.hamptonrotary.org.au.

If you have any queries please direct them to Liz Ware- Email:
lware@hamptonrotary.org.au.

We hope you have enjoyed reading the Winter edition of the SFA newsletter.

Yours with kindness,

Dr Vicki Karalis, SFA President

SFA committee members:

Alison Horton, Vice-President
Adrienne Smith, Secretary
Craig Francis, Treasurer
Ike Solomon, Engineer
Helen Gibson, Geologist
Paul Hede, Architect
Laurie Evans, Architect and Mayor of Bayside City Council

Assistant editors: Helen Gibson & Cristian Silver