Showing posts with label Wooli. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wooli. Show all posts

Thursday 25 August 2022

A lesson in what not to do in Clarence Coast waters


Wooli Bar, Clarence Coast, Northern NSW
IMAGE: svbrahminy 2016


Coastal bars are shallow, shifting sandbanks at the entrance to rivers and coastal estuaries. There are at least nine coastal bars from Wooli to the NSW-Qld border.

Appearances are often deceptive when looking at a bar from the shoreline. Crossing bars can be a dangerous business that will in the blink of an eye turn a planned day's fishing into planning for a funeral.




This story fortunately had a happy ending..... 


Clarence Valley Independent, 24 August 2022:


Two fishermen, a father and his teenage son, are lucky to be alive after their five-metre runabout overturned on the Wooli River bar on the weekend.


Two runabouts were observed by Marine Rescue Wooli Radio Watch Officer Jackie Taffs attempting to cross the Wooli River bar at around 6:20 on Saturday morning.


The first runabout had to contend with five sets of breaking waves of up to 2.5 metres, becoming near vertical on a few occasions, before making it to deeper water. The second vessel was not so fortunate, overturning and spilling its two crew members into the sea just past the breakwater.


The team at Marine Rescue Wooli instantly swung into action, with Deputy Unit Commander Richard Taffs who was also on duty, running down to the nearby bar with a handheld radio to keep a close watch on the position of the two fishermen so as to guide rescuers, while a rescue crew was quickly assembled for rescue vessel Wooli 30.


Fortunately, the crew of the overturned vessel were wearing lifejackets, and were soon swept into the surf zone and onto the nearby Wooli Beach, where members of Marine Rescue Wooli collected them, returning them to the base for a first aid assessment, dry clothes and a hot drink ahead of the arrival of an ambulance and a more thorough medical examination before they were interviewed by NSW Police.....


The dos and don't of crossing coastal bars in New South Wales can be found at:

https://www.nsw.gov.au/driving-boating-and-transport/using-waterways/waterways-and-designated-areas/navigating-coastal-bars/crossing-coastal-bars


Tuesday 25 August 2020

A reminder that past mistakes make the Far North Coast even more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change


It is easy to forget that long before modern urban population pressure and seachange retirees, the coastal fringe of the Northern Rivers region was being shaped by mining which irreversibly weakened shorelines now experiencing increasingly erosive wave patterns due to climate change.

This past degradation of coastal sand dunes and barrier beaches leaves many communities vulnerable.

Echo NetDaily, 12 December 2013:

Mining, not waves, destroyed Belongil

Oh, spare me. The Belongil? Again? Could The Echo run that article from a few years back that detailed (with photos) the deep sandmining that destroyed the ancient solid dune base right across Byron Bay and Tallows and more?

Is there anyone left alive who knows there’s a place called The Sand Hills Estate in Byron Bay, and why? As a reminder, it’s where the YAC is, and there were huge sand hills there, which were mined out. Does anyone recall there was a freshwater lake there, just like the ones on Fraser Island that had to be protected from sandmining in the 70s? Byron’s lake was not protected, and it was destroyed by sandmining.

Are there still residents who recall the mining industry and politicians saying the mining was ever so important, for the space program no less, and that the beaches would be fine? Because a magic plant named bitou bush would hold the soft sand together after the ancient black sand was removed?

But it turned out the black sand was used for cheap insulation on power lines, the bitou bush became an ecological nightmare, and the soft sand washed away in the first big storm. Does anyone remember any of this? Or that we even used to have black sand? And that was when the mining industry/political fixers came up with: it’s a natural process and we need a planned retreat? Any of this sound familiar? Does anyone know what the black sand was, how it got there, and how long it takes to accumulate?

And the current cliff edge at Belongil? Anyone actually bother to look at a survey map? Because that edge just happens to be where the mining stopped, at boundaries of private land. Notice that otherwise the whole thing would have been mined, washed away, and the sea would likely be across Ewingsdale Road?

For goodness sake, anyone remember the radioactive tailings dumped as landfill around town, that was all supposed to be fine? Until some smart bloke wandered about with a Geiger counter and a few people woke up. Is that sand-processing plant still rusting on the beach at Kingscliff? You know, the one with the big signs that say ‘WARNING: RADIOACTIVE’?

For pity’s sake, what on Earth lets people make statements without any reference to the geological, industrial, or political history of the landscape, and line up as the poster boys for mining industry arse-covering, and yet claim to give a damn about the world?

Listen, John Vaughan may annoy people, he may be obstreperous and confrontational in manner, but he’s actually, in this case, right. Do. Your. Homework. Or. Don’t. Put. Your. Hand. Up.

Matt Hartley, Byron Bay

BACKGROUND


The birth of sand mining in Australia took place in Ballina, NSW, in 1870, when John Sinclair discovered gold in the black sand on Shaw’s beach. That discovery sparked a gold rush that lasted for nearly 30 years. At its peak there were about 300 people digging for gold on the beaches around Ballina (Morley, 1981).

It is, however, unlikely that the beaches were in pristine shape before the gold rush started. Cement production didn’t begin in Australia until about the same time as the beginning of gold mining on the beaches (NSW Heritage Office, 2003), so beach sand wouldn’t have been mined for construction work prior to that time. But cedar getters began working in the forests in the 1840s and they hauled logs to the beaches and out to schooners moored offshore (NPWS, 2007). This undoubtedly caused some significant damage to parts of the dune systems.

The beach gold miners depended on south-easterly gales to expose the black sand and bring the heavier, gold-containing particles to the beach surface (Morley, 1981) and mining was done entirely by hand (Nott, 1957 cited in Borland, 1999).

Within twenty years, most of the beach gold deposits were exhausted and the attention of the miners turned inland. By the end of the century, gold had been discovered on beaches from Bermagui, NSW to Fraser Island, Qld, but its peak had passed (Morley, 1981).

For the next couple of decades, mining for gold, platinum, and tin continued on the beaches around Byron Bay. But around 1920 there began to be an interest in other minerals that were found in the beach sands – rutile, zircon, and ilmenite, the “heavy minerals”.

The first large scale mining of heavy mineral sands was carried out in 1935 when Zircon-Rutile Ltd began production of zircon and rutile at Byron Bay. They only processed the ore, and engaged contractors to do the mining – which was done on the beach by hand, using shovels (Morley, 1981).

When mineral sand deposits were discovered in the back dunes and heathland country behind the beaches, mining techniques changed. Ponds were dug and small floating dredges were used to extract the minerals (Nott, 1957 cited in Borland, 1999).

In the 1950s, as a result of criticism of the environmental damage being done by sand mining, the NSW Mines department began to work towards improving the rehabilitation of mine sites. But it wasn’t until the late 1960s that any serious effort was put into this process (Unwin & Cook, 1986 cited in Burdett, 1994).

Around that time, reprofiling of sand dunes was improved by the introduction of a stacker boom to rebuild the dunes with the tailings sand returned from the separation plant (Burdett, 1994).

In the 1960s mining began in the aeolian high dunes of southern Queensland (Morley, 1981).

In the late 1960s, mining companies began to employ qualified rehabilitation workers for the first time. (Unwin & Cook, 1986 cited in Burdett, 1994)….. 

Aunty Linda Vidler (2004), an Arakwal elder from the Byron Bay area, recalled 30 foot high sand dunes at Tallow Beach before sand mining took place. There were also dune swales and permanent lakes (Vidler 2003, cited in NPWS, 2007). Today the dune system there is more uniform, flat and simplified (NPWS, 2007). 

It is likely that while sand mining continued, it caused increased erosion of the shoreline of Australian beaches, as seems to have been the case with sand mining in California (Thornton et. al., 2006). Landward displacement of frontal dunes has occurred (Dallas & Tuck, 2008). Lack of vegetation and dune instability in old, unrehabilitated mine sites continues to contribute to erosion of the dune systems. 

Sand mining has destroyed archeological and heritage sites, such as Aboriginal camp sites, middens and possibly burial sites (Dallas & Tuck, 2008). Many sites of European and Aboriginal value were lost to sand mining around the Ballina area (Dept. of Land and Water Conservation, 2003)..... 

Port Of Yamba Historical Society Museum, 30 July 2018: 

Yamba’s Pippi Beach is a big open beach ideal for long walks, surfing and fishing. At low tide the odd Pippi shellfish can be seen, but not as many as there were before sand mining and overharvesting in the mid 1900s. 

In almost every decade of the twentieth century sand mining has occurred along the north coast of NSW. The sand, rich in zircon, rutile, ilmenite and monazite was considered valuable for steel alloys, enamels, glazes and glass. 

The Depression delayed early attempts but in 1934/5 leases at Iluka, Yamba and Back Beach, Angourie were exploited. The Yamba lease consisted of a 40 metre wide strip of beach above low water mark and from a point on Pippi Beach opposite the present Ngaru Village and including most of Barri Beach (locally known as Mines or Dump Beach). The sand was loaded by hand into a horse-drawn dray, which took the mineral to the treatment plant, about 1.2 km south of Barri Point (Flat Rock). Later a tramline was erected on the beach, and hopper trucks, still loaded by hand, took the sand to the treatment plant pulled by a small diesel locomotive. 

The Yamba lease was worked out by 1937 and production shifted to Angourie. Another tramway was built from the treatment plant to Back Beach, Angourie but little evidence remains of this tramway today. 

In 1942/3 four new leases covered Turners, Yamba and Convent Beaches in Yamba and Green Point, Spookies and Back Beaches at Angourie. A small amount of mineral sand was taken from Main Beach, Yamba in 1943 before an appeal by a delegation from the surf club to the Minister for Mines had the mining stopped. A further lease was obtained in 1943 covering Barri Beach and Pippi Beach up to Lovers Point. On seeing the notices of the proposed mining activity, William Ager appealed for Council to resist the lease applications, feeling that the mining would undermine his conservation work. Despite the lease being granted, however, no mining took place in favour of richer mineral deposits further north in the Cudgen area. 

 Another period of mining occurred from 1968-1970, when sand dunes behind the beaches from Brooms Head to Yamba and Iluka were mined then rebuilt using front-end loaders. 

The Bitou bush planted by the mining company to rehabilitate the dunes has since become a noxious weed. They did however discover the Yamba Cemetery, located towards the south end of Pippi Beach, covered in 20 feet of sand. 

The declaration of Yuraygir National Park in 1980 and the importance of our beaches for tourism have largely ended any prospect of further mining. The North Coast Environmental Council and Maclean Shire Council blocked an attempt in 1995, especially after exploratory work caused severe dune damage. 

Clarence Valley Council, Coastal Hazard Study for Pippi Beach, Yamba, 23 March 2016: 

Pippi Beach and its adjoining headland to the north at Yamba Point are of high aesthetic and environmental value. 

The beach is generally backed by dunes located within Crown Reserve. These dunes were mined for heavy minerals in the 1970s and later revegetated. Poorly managed stormwater discharges into the dunes at the northern end of the beach led to erosion of the dune face and formation of localised blow outs. 

Coastal hazard investigations by Manly Hydraulics Laboratory in 2002 found that Pippi Beach was only mildly affected by coastal hazard. However, storms in recent years have lowered the beach profile and impacted on beach amenity. 

Also a public footpath has been proposed joining Yamba Point with beaches to the south and a concern has been expressed for the stability of elevated bluff areas to be traversed by this path..... 

The Daily Examiner, 2 March 2018: 

Wooli Beach, Brooms Head, Woody Head and Yamba beaches are all being impacted by coastal erosion. The Daily Examiner has been following the erosion since the high tides and big swells were forced upon the Clarence in late December 2017, January and February this year.

Map of historical coastal mineral sand mining
from Yamba in the north to Wooli in the southern section of the Clarence Coast
IMAGE: "There were always people here: a history of Yuraygir National Park", p.55

NOTE:


While minerals sands mining results in short-term alteration of ecosystems, there is a particular concern that thorium, the principal radioactive component of monazite, may over time leach from tailings dumps into local water supply systems. Also, as elevated radiation levels are likely to occur at areas of spillage adjacent to monazite loading and storage facilities on former mining sites, it may be necessary to have a system of controls to restrict the public and nearby landowners from having contact with some parts of former mine sites [Greg Swensen, Mineral sands mining in Western Australia, p.2]. 

Some samples in an old ilmenite stockpile (since removed) at Jerusalem Creek in Bundjalung National Park held thorium and uranium that exceed public health exemption criteria. [NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, Bundjalung National Park Review of Environmental Factors: Proposed ilmenite stockpile removal and site rehabilitation, 2016]

Monday 13 July 2020

Fewer people using Clarence Coast beaches in the wake of bushfires and COVID-19 travel restrictions


Clarence Valley Independent, 10 July 2020:

Bushfires and the COVID-19 lockdown have caused a 33% decline in visitors using Clarence Valley beaches. 

This significant decrease is consistent with other areas of New South Wales and is a result of severe bushfires in the spring and summer months affecting both tourist and local attendance which was then followed by COVID-19 travel restrictions and limitations on public gatherings. General manager, Ashley Lindsay explained, 

“Australian Lifeguard Service figures show that during the 2019/20 season there was a total of 119,034 visitors to Clarence Valley beaches this was a decrease of 60,838 compared with the previous season.” .....

During this lifeguard season there have been 14 rescues and 8758 preventative actions which demonstrates the importance of the service,” he said. 

Patrolled beaches include Bluff Beach (Iluka), Turners Beach, Main Beach and Pippi Beach in Yamba, as well as beaches in Brooms Head, Minnie Water and Wooli. In addition, a drone service has continued at Yamba providing critical data for the Department of Primary Industries regarding marine activity and surf conditions.

However, up and down the coast while bathers may be fewer in number surfers are still enjoying the waves.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sadly, just before 2.30pm on Saturday 11 July 2020, a young surfer was repeatedly attacked by what was believed to be a large white pointer shark at Wilsons Headland, Wooli Beach. Although his friends and other surfers pulled him from the water, the local boy died on the beach.

Clarence Valley Council, 12 July 20202:

A Sad Loss for Our Community 

JOINT STATEMENT FROM CR JIM SIMMONS AND GENERAL MANAGER ASHLEY LINDSAY REGARDING THE TRAGIC DEATH OF MANI HART-DEVILLE 

We are shocked and deeply saddened to hear of the tragic death of this young man, Mani Hart-Deville. 

Minnie Water is a small close-knit village and the communities of Minnie Water and Wooli will be hurting. 

Those that came to Mani’s aid were local surfers who witnessed the attack and friends from the local community, with experienced lifesavers responding as well. We believe one was a life member of Yamba Surf Life Saving Club. 

Mani attended school at South Grafton High, so the impact of this tragic event will reach across the Clarence Valley. 

We will be doing all we can to support the community through the shock and grief. The beach was not patrolled at this time of year, but it and all beaches in the Clarence Valley Council area from Iluka to Wooli have been closed and attempts will be made, by the Surf Life Saving Service, to locate the shark over the coming days. 

On behalf of council we wish to express our deepest condolences to his family, friends and the community.

STATEMENT ENDS.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday 26 August 2011

Another local voice on the big stage

Wooli's Don Firth, who's a frequent contributor to the letters pages of The Daily Examiner and The Sydney Morning Herald, has been part of the ongoing shots at QANTAS in the Herald this week.
 

Qantas flying low

Michele Zehnder (Letters, August 21) is quite right: Qantas should lose the right to adorn the tails of its planes with that wonderful stylised kangaroo. It should, instead, be given to Ausflag, the group looking to secure support for a truly Australian flag, so it can produce a flag to match Canada's in the instantly recognisable stakes.
Don Firth Wooli

 SMH Letters, August 25, 2011

The flying prawn? It could take off

I really like Don Firth's suggestion (Letters, August 24) that the wonderful stylised kangaroo from Qantas be given to Ausflag. It could then be flown above all government buildings and internationally, and would represent all things good. For instance, the downsizing of the Australian international fleet and also the utilising of offshore resources to save shareholder investments, a clear representation of our broken economic motor that is creating holes in our national fuselage.
Michael Cronk Dubbo