Concerns about disappearing beaches in South Australia’s south-east

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Rising sea levels and bigger storms are speeding up coastal erosion in South Australia’s south-east. There are questions about what should be protected at all costs, and what can be left at the mercy of the pounding southern ocean.

Transcript

00:00Waves have constantly pounded this bit of land that the Robe Obelisk sits on since it

00:07was built almost 170 years ago.

00:10Coastal erosion expert Professor Patrick Hesp says climate change is making the southern

00:14ocean rougher.

00:16There are worries the obelisk could soon topple into the sea.

00:19On the southern side, it's only a couple of metres away from the cliff edge.

00:23And so at that erosion rate, and there are quite significant cracks in the limestone

00:28there, so it could fail as soon as five, seven years.

00:34According to a report compiled for the local councils, the whole peninsula could disappear

00:39by 2050.

00:40So the local council has formed a committee to decide how to keep Robe's icon alive.

00:45It's found protecting the cape or moving the obelisk would be too expensive.

00:49We've decided to recommend to council that we build a replica.

00:53The form of that is unknown at this stage.

00:56We've yet to make those decisions, but that's what we're going to recommend.

01:00If money can be found for a replica, there would be two obelisks just 400 metres apart

01:06until the original beacon ultimately sinks into the sea.

01:09Certainly no intention that Robe's ratepayers foot the bill, and of course once we have

01:14a known concept, we'll be able to also seek ground funding, which will be very helpful

01:19as well.

01:20It's an idea supported by locals, with the obelisk and its colours featuring all over

01:24businesses and sporting clubs in Robe.

01:27It's the football colours, it's the obelisk that's iconic.

01:31Robe is red and white, yeah.

01:33Government funding so far has focused on protecting houses and businesses like these at Kingston

01:38South East.

01:39Councils have had to pay for sand dredging and protecting assets like this caravan park

01:44at South End, where operators Claire and Jack Hubbard have had to give up some of their

01:48land to the sea because of erosion.

01:50Ms Hubbard would like the state or federal government to step in to help in the battle

01:54against Mother Nature.

01:55I think it's really at the deadline now where something has to be done to lock it in so

02:00that we don't not only lose the park, we're going to lose the bridge, we're going to lose

02:04the whole growing area where we're actually cut off from the rest of the town, so that

02:09just cannot keep happening.

02:12Down the road at Beachport, locals want natural assets protected too, like the Pool of Salome

02:17that could become part of the ocean within 20 years.

02:20If life does change, things evolve, and maybe that's what will happen, but it would be very

02:26sad for the town.

02:27Local Mark Wheel would like a seawall installed along the bay known as the Salmon Hole to

02:31stop the dunes eroding.

02:33If we want to save dollars, we need to do something, and something is better than nothing.

02:40But Professor Hesp says more research is needed to fully understand the effect climate change

02:45is having on erosion.

02:46Just chucking in a seawall isn't necessarily going to solve the problem, particularly when

02:50you don't have good background data of how does the system work.

02:54Decisions would need to be made soon on what to protect and what to give up to the ocean.

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