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.
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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.