Holloways Beach erosion: Cairns Council to deliver tonnes of sand

Tonnes of sand will be trucked into a Cairns beach this week after erosion from high winds and tides toppled trees and left the shore unrecognisable.

TONNES of sand will be trucked into Holloways Beach this week after erosion from high winds and tides toppled trees and left the shore unrecognisable.

Division 8 Councillor Rhonda Coghlan said this would mean more than 5000 cubic metres of sand had been trucked onto Holloways Beach in the past eight weeks.

“Erosion remains a concern at Holloways Beach and it is hoped the adoption of the latest strategy, which included the installation of two 30m groynes, will provide the necessary protection to the foreshore,” Cr Coghlan said.

“The council adopted an erosion management strategy last September to undertake minor sand nourishment, install two rock groynes and finally undertake large scale sand nourishment works.

Holloways Beach is suffering from severe erosion since Cairns Regional Council installed rock wall groynes near the swimming area. PICTURE: BRENDAN RADKE

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“Combating erosion along a beach foreshore is challenging; a few years back council spent over $600,000 on sand nourishment at Holloways Beach, only to have this sand washed away in weeks. That is why the building and installation of the groynes prior to any major sand nourishment was an imperative.”

In 2019 the federal government announced funding to restore the beach after an extreme monsoon trough.

Former Mulgrave councillor Brian Down said after a 1996 report, the then shire council chose a sand replenishment program which cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“We did not opt for groynes because we knew that we would lose the northern part of the beach and the report showed that,” he said.

Holloways Beach is suffering from severe erosion since Cairns Regional Council installed rock wall groynes near the swimming area. Holloways Beach resident Gary Handler looks at mature trees that have fallen down on the foreshore with former councillor Brian Down. PICTURE: BRENDAN RADKE

The report determined that a combination of groyne and replenishment was preferable to groynes on their own.

Mr Down said the beach north of the groyne used to be the scene of cricket matches: “It used to be grassed, we’d have big barbecues and cricket tournaments on the beach.”

Now it has been carved back, with trees toppling into the surf.

“You used to see fish jumping out the water and dolphins swim past twice a day,” Gary Handler, a Holloways Beach resident of 20 years, said.

He said replenishment efforts had been ineffective. “They dump in river sand which is like pebbles and washes away,” he said.

Originally published as Holloways Beach erosion: Cairns Council to deliver tonnes of sand