Act and act now.
That was the message to the State Government from a packed community meeting at Stockton Surf Life Saving Club on Thursday night.
Decades of unsuccessful campaigning led to frustration as hundreds of residents crowded into the club, some forced to stand in a stairwell, while others waited outside looking over the severely eroded beach that remains closed.
The meeting heard the coastal town was suffering, but residents were standing together as a united force demanding change.
Fifth generation Stockton resident Lucas Gresham told the meeting he was "pissed off". Like nearly everyone else in Stockton his lifestyle is anchored to the beach.
"I have never seen this community more united," Mr Gresham said. "Make no mistake, this is a David and Goliath battle for us, we are a small community and we need to stay united."
Last week, a storm stripped the beach of more than 2.5 metres in sand height, decimating the coastline. Four thousand people live in Stockton and nearly every one of them has been affected by the loss.
Resident David Jenkins said he feared the "glory days" of the beachside suburb were over. He said the impacts reach from family to family, business to business, even to the little ones from the closed childcare centre that have been separated from their friends, impinging on every aspect of life.
"It's like we're all caught in a horrible nightmare and we just want it to go back to the way it was," Mr Jenkins said.
Surf club member Amanda Plumsted agreed. "What we want is simple," she said. "We want back what we had, it's a simple thing. But we need the State Government's help to solve this problem."
No one can say when the beach will re-open. City of Newcastle has warned residents to stay away from steep drops to the shoreline that remain unstable.
Newcastle MP Tim Crakanthorp, who was unable to attend the meeting because Parliament is sitting, said on Thursday that he had a productive meeting with Local Government Minister Shelley Hancock, who is responsible for coastal erosion.
"The minister indicated that, in consultation with NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, she will consider the NSW Opposition's call for a state recovery coordinator [to manage the erosion crisis]," he said
"She also informed me that the option of obtaining replenishment sand for Stockton beach from a commercial source is currently being considered. I raised the option of sourcing offshore sand and will continue to pursue this with the Deputy Premier as the minister responsible."
Several residents said they feared the government would try to truck sand into Stockton that could prove a nightmare as the peninsula has only one road in and out. The sheer volume of sand needed would mean thousands of truck movements.
Steps that are meant to lead to the beach from the Mitchell St rock wall now end mid air and are fenced off. The meeting heard that with no sand to cushion the blow, waves pound into the sea wall "shaking" and "shuddering" homes.
Built in 1989, the rock wall was never meant to be a permanent solution, but remains the only thing that stands between the ocean and a row of beachfront homes. Mr Gresham said the waves are so close that residents feel their homes increasingly moving as the sea pounds the wall at high tide.
City of Newcastle is planning stabilisation works at the north end of the wall to ensure against "future failure".
The crowd heard that sand nourishment was the only way forward to protect the beach and that rock walls were not the answer.
Surf club president Callan Nickerson said while every other club across NSW would start volunteer patrols this weekend, the flags would not go up at Stockton.
Surrounded by memorabilia representing 112 years of proud club tradition, he told the crowd that Stockton had to fight.
"We need sand on our beach, not more rocks," Mr Nickerson said.
"It's heartbreaking for me to see that this stupid erosion problem could bring our surf club to its knees.
"This Saturday we're supposed to be putting our flags up on the beach, like we have every other season, what we will have is an open day... but no flags will be going up."
Northside Boardriders' president Simon Jones, who has long been campaigning to save Stockton beach, called on the Berejiklian government to intervene. "What this is about is preserving something that should be taken for granted for future generations," he said.
RELATED READING:
- Shifting sands from offshore could save Stockton beach for as little as $5 million
- Our beach is broken and so are our hearts
- Watch the video: Relentless erosion closes Stockton beach
- Erosion wipes out Stockton's only childcare centre
- Community meeting told Stockton beach losing a metre a year
- Mission Australia's storm damaged Stockton early learning centre
- Childcare centre's future under cloud in erosion saga
- Childcare centre forced to close temporarily due to beach erosion threat
- Council back to drawing board over long-term solution for Stockton erosion
- Playground of Stockton's Mission Australia early learning centre set to be relocated as a result of erosion threat
- Fears childcare centre could crumble into the sea
- Stockton solution moves forward with meeting
- Garbage tip washing into the sea at Stockton
- State government handballs responsibility for Stockton beach
- 2017: Exposed mine shaft shows Stockton beach's erosion problem needs 'urgent' solution
- 2016: Newcastle lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes suggests 'underground breakwall'
- 2016: Worst erosion in memory leaves Stockton beach exposed to next storm
- 2014: Dangerous erosion on Stockton Beach
- 2013: Stockton beach erosion | photos, video
