Storm surges on September 4 pound the Inverloch coast. The South Gippsland Conservation Society is pushing for urgent dune reconstruction to prevent further damage.
By Philip Heath
THE South Gippsland Conservation Society believes the draft Resilience Plan of the Victorian Government’s Cape to Cape Resilience Project provides a comprehensive framework for staged coastal adaptation for the next 50 and more years, taking into account anticipated climate change impacts.
Adaptation pathways for each section of the coastline between Cape Paterson and Cape Liptrap, including Anderson Inlet, are set out, with identified actions linked to anticipated increases in sea level and other triggers.
THE South Gippsland Conservation Society believes the draft Resilience Plan of the Victorian Government’s Cape to Cape Resilience Project provides a comprehensive framework for staged coastal adaptation for the next 50 and more years, taking into account anticipated climate change impacts.
Adaptation pathways for each section of the coastline between Cape Paterson and Cape Liptrap, including Anderson Inlet, are set out, with identified actions linked to anticipated increases in sea level and other triggers.
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The draft plan seeks to maintain natural coastal processes by adopting a nature-based approach to maintenance of the coastline through dune renourishment and reconstruction, combined with increasing the resilience of the coastal reserve through revegetation and, if and when required (possibly around 2070), by creating an additional buffer through managed retreat at at-risk locations.
Our hope is that major dune reconstruction, combined with a concerted program of dune management and revegetation, will increase the resilience of the coastal reserve sufficiently to avoid, or at least further delay, the need for the managed retreat element of the Plan. SGCS concurs with the conclusion of the coastal processes assessment undertaken by Water Technology that the complex dynamics of the Inverloch coastline, and interactions with Anderson Inlet, means that engineering options such as groynes and seawalls have the potential for serious negative consequences – an extended rock wall would result in lowering of sand levels and eventual loss of the Surf Beach, while a series of groynes would disturb natural coastal processes and result in a significant change to the character of the Surf Beach. These conclusions are also based on the extensive research that SGCS has undertaken over the past five years, as documented at Inverloch Coastal Resilience, and our close engagement with the C2CRP process since its inception in 2020. Notwithstanding the above, SGCS considers that the final Resilience Plan should place greater weight on the significant coastline recession that has already occurred at Inverloch Surf Beach over the past 12 years and clearly acknowledge that urgent action to protect the remaining vegetated dunes is the Plan’s No.1 priority. |
'We are ready'
The storms and ensuing erosion at Inverloch on Monday September 4 have quite naturally triggered reactions within our community. Before the waves had stopped crashing, community solutions were flying. People want it fixed and fixed now. Our job is to help our community understand what is going on. Sea/land interactions are complex. Storm surge and the power of storm waves are hard for any of us to understand. Fortunately, we are prepared, because we have done the work. In 2019 the South Gippsland Conservation Society invested $90,000 to commission studies documenting the processes leading to the increased surf beach erosion. This preparatory work is nested in the draft plan of the Cape-to-Cape Resilience Plan. Six weeks after the release of the draft plan we get the first storm to illustrate the urgency. A few members have worked for a decade on this, and it would be nice to show them some respect. At the very least read the Cape-to-Cape Resilience Plan. All the elements are in place. Already there is $3.3 million to start works. Another $5-6 million is needed. Now is the time for us to unite and press for the money to implement the plan. - Ed Thexton, SGCS president |
Between 2012 and 2021, 50-70 metres of dunes were swept away, with over 8ha of vegetation lost (equivalent to 4.5 x MCGs). This represents around 50% of what existed in 2012. This rate of coastline recession has been assessed as the most rapid change recorded along the Victorian coastline in European historical times (Rosengren, 2019).
While there was a slow-down during 2022/23 (but no marked dune recovery), coastline recession re-commenced in mid-2024, culminating with the August/September storm surges. These storms have resulted in lowering of the beach by up to 1.8m and further dune recession of up to 14m. Specific effects have included undercutting of the sand bag wall at the Surf Club, cutting off of beach access tracks and the dramatic uncovering of the Amazon.
While there was a slow-down during 2022/23 (but no marked dune recovery), coastline recession re-commenced in mid-2024, culminating with the August/September storm surges. These storms have resulted in lowering of the beach by up to 1.8m and further dune recession of up to 14m. Specific effects have included undercutting of the sand bag wall at the Surf Club, cutting off of beach access tracks and the dramatic uncovering of the Amazon.
A new dune breakthrough to Wreck Creek, east of the Cape Paterson Road rock wall, has resulted in the foredunes being swept away and further vegetation loss, increasing the vulnerability of the adjacent Surf Parade housing.
Preliminary estimates are that around 40,000 cubic metres of sand has been swept away from the one kilometre section of the Surf Beach between the Surf Club and the Ozone Street access track, highlighting just how significant the sand renourishment action needs to be to withstand similar future storm events.
SGCS therefore considers that the draft plan should be modified to identify major dune reconstruction over the full length of Inverloch Surf Beach as a number one priority for urgent implementation. This is in contrast to the draft plan which seems to propose medium-scale sand renourishment over the next 5-10 years, and through to 2040, at which time large-scale dune reconstruction is foreshadowed.
The final plan needs to identify additional Victorian Government funding to supplement the existing $3.3 million Federal Government grant, sufficient to enable the large-scale dune reconstruction to occur as soon as feasible in 2025.
SGCS stands ready to support the C2CRP team and RASP members in the revegetation work that would follow the dune reconstruction.
Philip Heath is a member of SGCS’s Inverloch Coastal Resilience Plan team. The draft Resilience Plan of the Victorian Government’s Cape to Cape Resilience Project (C2CRP) is on public exhibition on the Engage Victoria website until September 22.
Preliminary estimates are that around 40,000 cubic metres of sand has been swept away from the one kilometre section of the Surf Beach between the Surf Club and the Ozone Street access track, highlighting just how significant the sand renourishment action needs to be to withstand similar future storm events.
SGCS therefore considers that the draft plan should be modified to identify major dune reconstruction over the full length of Inverloch Surf Beach as a number one priority for urgent implementation. This is in contrast to the draft plan which seems to propose medium-scale sand renourishment over the next 5-10 years, and through to 2040, at which time large-scale dune reconstruction is foreshadowed.
The final plan needs to identify additional Victorian Government funding to supplement the existing $3.3 million Federal Government grant, sufficient to enable the large-scale dune reconstruction to occur as soon as feasible in 2025.
SGCS stands ready to support the C2CRP team and RASP members in the revegetation work that would follow the dune reconstruction.
Philip Heath is a member of SGCS’s Inverloch Coastal Resilience Plan team. The draft Resilience Plan of the Victorian Government’s Cape to Cape Resilience Project (C2CRP) is on public exhibition on the Engage Victoria website until September 22.