Erosion threatens South Australia famous Robe obelisk

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Rising sea levels and bigger storms caused by climate change are speeding up coastal erosion in South Australia’s south-east. There are questions about what should be protected and what can be left to the Southern Ocean.

Transcript

00:00Waves have constantly pounded the spit 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

00:15ocean rougher.

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

00:20On the southern side, it's only a couple of metres away from the cliff edge.

00:24And so at that erosion rate, and there are quite significant cracks in the limestone

00:29there, 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.

00:41So 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 the council that we build a replica.

00:53The form of that is unknown at this stage, we've yet to make those decisions, but that's

00:59what 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

01:18as well.

01:19Local government funding so far has focused on protecting houses and businesses like these

01:24at Kingston South East.

01:25But locals want natural assets protected too, like the Pool of Salome at Beachport that

01:31could become part of the ocean within 20 years.

01:34Life does change, things evolve, and maybe that's what will happen, but it would be very

01:39sad for the town.

01:41Local Mark Wheel would like a seawall installed along the bay known as the Salmon Hole to

01:45stop the dunes eroding.

01:47If we want to save dollars, we need to do something, and something is better than nothing.

01:54But Professor Hesp says more research is needed to fully understand the effect climate change

01:58is having on erosion.

02:00Just chucking in a seawall isn't necessarily going to solve the problem, particularly when

02:04you don't have good background data of how does the system work.

02:09Decisions would need to be made soon on what to protect and what to give up to the ocean.

02:12Eugene Boisvert, ABC News.

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