Sandringham Foreshore Association Newsletter Summer 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 Website www.sandyforeshore.net.au From the president of SFA Dr Vicki Karalis

Welcome to our Summer edition of the SFA newsletter - the first issue for 2014. I hope you are all enjoying these wonderful hot days on the beach! Please lock in March 23rd Sunday from 11am - 12.30pm at the Sandringham Lifesaving club for another Beach Walk and Talk, this time on the Sandringham beaches. Last year's event at Half Moon Bay Lifesaving club attracted a strong crowd of over 200 people. This year we are holding the event with the Sandringham Lifesaving club. I will be speaking on the history of the

http://www.sandyforeshore.net.au/

Sandringham beaches, how the cliffs & beaches were formed, rock geology, coastal processes & demonstrate 5 million year old fossils found in the rocks. Margaret Kent President of the Lifesaving Club will speak on water safety, water surveillance, EPA warnings and tides. We ask for a donation of $10 per family - all proceeds will go directly to the Sandringham Lifesaving club. We are proud that Buxton's real estate donated $1000 upfront to the Club as part of this fundraiser! We are grateful to Mark Earle and Buxton's who have helped us in previous times. They have been great supporters of our local community and continue to support our voluntary work when we need help! (See their advertisement below.) Please bring your parents, children or grandchildren to the Sandringham Lifesaving club for another Beach Walk and Talk. The more the merrier! Also in this issue, SFA are proud to profile Shirley Joy a long term local resident. She is particularly active in helping to raise awareness of the history of Sandringham and its coastline. You would have noticed she provided us essential historical photos of our beaches. These have been particularly helpful in understanding the changes to our coastline over many years. For our newsletter, Shirley provides us another photo for our collection. It appears the Red Bluff has not changed much over time. BRASCA is a local not-for-profit group that regularly meet on a twice-monthly basis (usually a Tuesday) for maintaining the local coastline flora including weed-control and planting. They are inviting local residents to join their Tuesday morning Working Bees and morning tea in Beach Park. It is a great way to be in touch with our local environment and learn about our local vegetation. Please see their ad below. The work they do is highly appreciated by the community. Ray Lewis has written a beautiful book titled 'Zen and the Art of Beachwalking'. He takes us on a journey along our local Bayside coastline through his eyes and shares his knowledge of our marine life and coastline - Ray describes to us the finer environmental hot spots as if he is walking along side of us and teaches us about the history, habitat, marine life and creatures in a fun and simple way. The book is easy to read. It is also beautifully illustrated. Ray is so knowledgeable; I have learnt so much about our local environment and marine life through Ray. Snorkelling with Ray at the marine sanctuary at Ricketts point is a brilliant experience (if you get the chance) as he is always willing to share his knowledge. Ray was recently acknowledged with an Environmental Award

at the Australia Day presentations in Black Rock. Congratulations Ray! For anyone wanting to purchase a copy of Ray's book, see details below. I highly recommend it as a great read! Strong south-westerly winds have now kicked in again with summer, and we are witnessing loss of sand at the southern beaches, especially north of both rock groynes. We expect beach erosion will recur in about 4 weeks time, and will progress especially in March-April resulting in problems of cliff erosion as we have witnessed in previous years at both Royal Ave and Southey St beaches. See photo below. You would recall in response to this problem the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, the Hon Ryan Smith appointed a community expert coastal reference group hosted by the Department of Environment and Planning Industry (DEPI) and Bayside City Council (BCC) last year to help address local coastal Bayside issues. A workshop was held in October 2013 focusing on several issues including the Sandringham coastal processes. Since then we met again with the appointed coastal engineer, and walked with him along our beach with the aim of exploring long term environmentally sensitive and sustainable solutions and management options - for restoring the Sandringham beaches and preventing further erosion. We are confident of achieving some real outcomes to help address the ongoing coastal erosion problems that occur every year, especially in spring, late summer and early autumn. We are meeting again with the coastal engineer soon at Bayside City Council. We are particularly grateful to Minister Ryan Smith, Travis Dowling, Mayor Laurie Evans, Deputy Mayor Heather Stewart, Councillor Felicity Frederico, Simon Finlay and Amy Hough of Bayside City Council, Sally Patterson of DEPI and Murray Thompson our local MP for their ongoing interest and support in SFAs efforts to help protect our foreshore in Sandringham. SFA recently received repeated complaints about inappropriate Jet ski usage on our foreshore. We wrote to Parks Victoria and Transport Safety Victoria in relation to a recent complaint. We have included the letter of response from the Manager of Ports Programs, Jo Richard, below for your interest. There appears to be some positive changes to regulations now happening. Have you experienced any problems with jet skis? Do you have any other concerns or noted any problems along our beaches or coastline? We would value your thoughts, concerns and feedback.

Yours with kindness, Vicki Karalis

JET SKIs ARE BACK ON OUR BEACHES! Response to SFA on 28th January 2014. "Dear Dr Karalis Thank you for your email concerning the behaviour of jet skis in the Sandringham area and I also note your previous concerns regarding this issue. Parks Victoria is currently installing revised boating and swimming zones in Port Phillip Bay including in the Sandringham and Hampton areas. This has been an ongoing project across Western Port and Port Phillip. The aim of the revised zones are to Create a safer local port environment by improved separation of

boating and swimming activities in high density bathing areas. Create boating zones that are easy to understand allowing the boating

and other bay users to become more self-compliant. The revised zones in the Sandringham area should be installed by mid Feb, although the water based work is very weather dependent. The revised zones will be clearly marked with yellow timber piles in the water and corresponding land based signs. In the area you have concerns the revised zones will see a revision of no boating zones at the Sandringham and Hampton Life Saving Clubs and the 5 knot zone extended to 200m from shore in areas where vessels are permitted. For more detailed maps please refer to the Parks Victoria Web page link attached http://parkweb.vic.gov.au/park-management/bay-and-waterways-management/boating-zones Revised zones along with increased education in other parts of the bay particularly where Jet Skis have been a concern before have seen improved compliance by vessel owners as the new zones are better marked. Jo Richards Manager Ports Programs"

http://parkweb.vic.gov.au/park-management/bay-and-waterways-management/boating-zoneshttp://parkweb.vic.gov.au/park-management/bay-and-waterways-management/boating-zones

BLACK ROCK & SANDRINGHAM CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION ( BRASCA Inc.)

Brasca is currently planting indigenous species along the local

foreshore. At other times of the year we will be:

Weeding Watering Collecting seeds Working Bee times are:

Every 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month - 10am to 11.30am Morning tea - 11.30am to 12.30pm

WELCOME

You are most welcome to join us or come for a try out. Simply phone

Bob Whiteway 9502 0060 or Pat Salkin 9598 3146

Clean Up Australia Day Meeting Point: The Rotunda (foreshore) Corner Beach Road and Melrose Street Sandringham Date: March 2nd 2014 Start time: 10:30 AM End time: 12:00 AM This year Murray Thompson MP has arranged for a bagpiper and trumpet player to entertain the volunteers - we hope you can join us!

Profile of SHIRLEY JOY -Sandringham resident

SHIRLEY JOY. SANDRINGHAM, VICTORIA. January, 2014. I have been a resident of Sandringham for over thirty years, but I am still regarded by some as a newcomer, as many of the elderly residents of the area were born here, and have no desire to leave. Soon after taking up residence here, members of our family became involved in the conservation movement, and have spent countless hours working in the cliff-top region of Sandringham, planting out home-grown young native plants and removing exotic varieties which inhibit the growth of the native species. For several years our family and friends ran the Friends of Abbott Street conservation group, working on the beachfront from the Rotunda area, at the west end of Melrose Street, Sandringham, through to Jetty Road and adjoining Picnic Point. One of my lifelong interests has been history. After taking up residence in Sandringham I commenced research into the history of the early Parish of Moorabbin, the boundaries of which are South Road, Warrigal Road and the coastline of Port Phillip Bay.

An initial project was the investigation into one of the first cemeteries in the district the Wesleyan Beaumaris Cemetery on Balcombe Road, where my great, great, grandmother lies buried under the houses. She was buried there in 1863. Another fascinating area of research is the study of education systems in Sandringham and Black Rock in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Many educational centres were private schools that catered for kindergarten and primary school children. Over the Christmas period, 2013, I have validated the location of two more early schools, the Wallace Private School, the site of which, in 2014, is known as Pocis Restaurant, 417 Hampton Street, Hampton, and Castleton College, which was located at No. 9 Arkaringa Crescent, Black Rock. My interest in local history has, naturally, brought me into contact with the historical societies located along the east coast of Port Phillip Bay. I am a member of the Sandringham and District Historical Society, the Brighton Historical Society and the Mordialloc and District Historical Society. To those who are interested in aboriginal history, the history of the Port Phillip District and the settlement of Melbourne and its environs, I can recommend membership of a historical society as an informative and enjoyable activity.

SFA are grateful to Shirley for providing us historical photos of our local beaches. Here are a couple of extra ones to add to our collection. Many have been published in previous newsletters.

Red Bluff, Sandringham

Zen and the Art of Beachwalking is a very recently published book by local environmentalist, Raymond Lewis OAM. This A5 sized publication is cram full of beachside facts and includes some 300 excellent images! Added to this, a heavy dose of philosophy pervades the pages, and each chapter opens with an appropriate and usually Zen-like quote. It's content has Port Phillip Bay-wide applicability, but it concentrates on what may be experienced during a walk along the foreshore for the few kilometres

between the Red Bluff at Half Moon Bay, and Table Rock at the southern end of Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary. It is currently stocked by the Beaumaris Book Shop at 24, South Concourse, Beaumaris, and was published locally. General enquiries can also be directed to ray@lewisfamily.com.au

mailto:ray@lewisfamily.com.au

Where: Sandringham Lifesaving Club When: Sunday March 23rd Time: 11am-12.30pm Cost: $10 donation* per family (grandparents, parents & children welcome) *All contributions will be donated to the Sandringham Lifesaving club.

RSVP sandyforeshore@optusnet.com.au Lifesaving club membership enquiries membership.slsc@live.com.au

proudly sponsored by:

Proudly sponsored by

Dr Vicki Karalis President SFA will speak on the history of the Sandringham beaches, how the cliffs & beaches were formed, rock geology, coastal processes & demonstrate 5 million year old fossils found in the rocks. Margaret Kent President SLSC will speak on tides, water safety, surveillance & EPA monitoring

Sandringham beach 2nd February 2014: Kung fu training at Abbot St beach:

Note the sand moving north due to prevailing southerly winds at Tennyson St beach, typical of summer. The erosion is expected to recur at Royal Ave and Tennyson beaches in about 4 weeks time pending on winds.

Removal of rock groynes restored Seaford Beach We thought you might find this story interesting how Seaford Beach was restored by removing the rock groynes... http://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/letters/why-the-groynes-were-not-rebuilt-on-saeford-beach-1-5832523

We hope you have enjoyed reading the Summer edition of the SFA 2014 newsletter.

Yours with kindness, Dr Vicki Karalis, SFA President Assistant editors, SFA Newsletter: Helen Gibson & Cristian Silver 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

http://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/letters/why-the-groynes-were-not-rebuilt-on-saeford-beach-1-5832523http://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/letters/why-the-groynes-were-not-rebuilt-on-saeford-beach-1-5832523