South Australian jetties are falling into a state of disrepair, with cash-strapped country councils struggling to fund upgrades
South Australian jetties are deteriorating at a rate too rapid for cash-strapped coastal country councils to repair and maintain, leading to an escalated may-day call for urgent state government assistance.
SA News
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South Australian jetties are deteriorating at a rate too rapid for cash-strapped coastal country councils to repair and maintain, leading to an escalated may-day call for urgent state government assistance.
Anglers and regional leaders have warned some jetties will need to be closed or demolished without a significant injection of funds and an over-arching statewide plan.
The Local Governmment Association executive will next month consider a push from Tumby Bay District Council which urges it to take up the matter with the state government.
“If appropriate funding and lease agreements are not put in place, there is a risk that the jetties across the state will be rationalised, shortened or dismantled,” LGA president and Tumby Bay mayor Sam Telfer said.
“This is not an acceptable outcome for facilities which are well utilised by locals and visitors alike,” he said.
There are about 36 jetties and wharves across the state – mostly in the country – that although owned by the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure are maintained and repaired by councils under varying lease terms and conditions negotiated about 20 years ago.
The leases start expiring in 2024 and municipal leaders want to know the government’s plan of attack for when they expire.
In the past two months, Port Augusta’s East Side T Jetty was demolished and West Side Jetty was closed for safety reasons.
The regional centre’s heritage-listed Wharf has also been partially closed following initial divers’ reports identifying several piles “severely compromised with major section loss due to rot, splitting and marine boar attack”
“While the situation in Port Augusta has reached a particularly critical point, there are a number of councils across the state facing similar issues,” said Port Augusta CEO John Banks.
“A thorough and constructive resolution is required.”
A growing list of jetties and wharves requiring urgent repair are beginning to rack up a repair bill in excess of $16 million, way outside the budget scope of many of the state’s coastal councils.
A recent audit of several Yorke Peninsula jetties found there is an “urgent need” for 337 piles to be replaced or repaired to keep them “structurally sound and safe”.
“The state government needs to take a seat at the table with local government to fully explore all the options to safeguard the future of recreational jetties for everyone,” said Yorke Peninsula Council CEO Andrew Cameron.
Port Pirie Mayor Leon Stephens said councils had no way of recouping back repair and maintenance costs of jetties. “I don’t think the jetties and wharves should be under council care and control.”
Kingston District Council says 37 per cent of its total annual expenditure over the last two years has been spent on marine infrastructure.
“It’s going to be terribly difficult for councils to maintain these structures …(and) it’s going to be a major issue … as time continues to go by,” said Kingston District Council Mayor Kay Rasheed.
The renewed push for action has the backing of the state’s peak recreational fishing body.
“Jetties are essential infrastructure for recreational fishing in this state and without jetties, many of the towns which attract tourists will suffer because recreational fishing is the lifeblood for these towns,” Rec Fish SA executive director Danny Simpson says.
“Councils understand the importance of jetties and they make some great contributions to maintaining them but we really believe that the state government should be getting involved in the upgrade of them and keeping them in good and safe conditions.”
“The state of disrepair of many jetties is extremely concerning and we really think this should be a priority for the government before it is too late.”
Upgrades needed
■ Ardrossan jetty needs 110 piles replaced at an estimated cost of $667,200. Fifty per cent of the 142-year-old jetty’s remaining piles need upgrading.
■ Jetties at Stansbury and Point Julia also need significant upgrade.
■ The boat ramp walkway at Cape Jervis was closed late last year and needs replacement.
■ The Great Western Bridge, the Western jetty and the wharf in Port Augusta share a preliminary estimated repair bill of $9.5 million.
■ Fisherman’s jetty in Port Pirie has estimated cost of repair $2.8 million. Beach jetty also needs significant repair and the town’s Yacht Club jetty was demolished several years ago.
■ The Kingston (SE) jetty had a couple of landings closed following storm damage over the past two years. Repair cost for landings and cross bracing estimated at $560,000.
■ The Tumby Bay jetty, built in 1908, needs piles and decking replaced at an estimated cost of $2.5 million.
When the leases expire
Ardrossan Jetty in Yorke Peninsula expires June 7, 2050
Arno Bay Jetty in Cleve expires May 9, 2026
Denial Bay Jetty in Ceduna expires June 4, 2026
Edithburgh Jetty in Yorke Peninsula expires June 7, 2050
Edithburgh Fishermen’s Jetty (Sultana Point) in Yorke Peninsula expires July 3, 2051
Elliston jetty in Elliston expires March 3, 2026
Emu Bay Jetty in Kangaroo Island expires June 15, 2026
Haslam Jetty in Streaky Bay expires August 12, 2025
Kingston Jetty in Kingston expires February 1, 2051
Louth Bay Jetty in Lower Eyre Peninsula expires February 21, 2025
Marion Bay Jetty in Yorke Peninsula expires June 7, 2050
Mount Dutton Bay Jetty in Lower Eyre Peninsula expires February 7, 2027
Murat Bay Jetty in Ceduna expires June 4, 2026
Normanville Jetty in Yankalilla expires May 15, 2051
North Shields Jetty in Lower Eyre Peninsula expires February 21, 2025
Point Turton Jetty in Yorke Peninsula expires December 7, 2048
Port Augusta West Jetty in Port Augusta expires June 9, 2099
Port Augusta East Mill Jetty (being demolished by Council) in Port Augusta expires June 9, 2099
Port Elliot Jetty in Alexandrina expires November 23, 2097
Port Germein Jetty in Mount Remarkable expires June 25, 2027
Port Hughes Jetty in Copper Coast expires June 30, 2099
Port Julia Jetty in Yorke Peninsula expires June 7, 2050
Port Le Hunte Jetty, Point Sinclair, in Outback Area Communities Development Trust expires July 24, 2100
Port Lincoln Jetty in Port Lincoln expires October 23, 2025
Port Neill Jetty in Tumby Bay expires June 27, 2025
Port Noarlunga Jetty in Onkaparinga expires January 7, 2027
Port Rickaby Jetty in Yorke Peninsula expires June 7, 2050
Port Victoria Jetty in Yorke Peninsula expires June 7, 2050
Port Vincent Fishermen’s Landing Jetty in Yorke Peninsula expires November 12, 2048
Robe Jetty in Robe expires July 19, 2050
Second Valley Jetty in Yankalilla expires May 15, 2051
Smoky Bay Jetty in Ceduna expires June 4, 2026
Stansbury Jetty in Yorke Peninsula expires June 7, 2050
Tumby Bay Jetty in Tumby Bay expires December 22, 2024
Wool Bay Jetty in Yorke Peninsula expires June 7, 2050
Crunch time for these historic structures across South Australia
They are the “lifeblood” of coastal towns, bringing in valuable tourism dollars, but more than that, jetties and wharves are an emotional connection to history, community identity and memories.
So when one is demolished, the community mourns the loss of a friend.
“Jetties are strongly connected to childhood memories … and they add to the historic character of the town, so when they are removed it makes people very frustrated and upset,” Port Augusta CEO John Banks said.
The Port Augusta Council last month demolished its Eastside Jetty, closed the Westside Jetty and partially shut down sections of the Wharf amid safety concerns.
Like many coastal councils with significantly ageing marine infrastructure, they do not have the millions of dollars required to repair them nor keep them maintained.
Without a statewide plan, demolitions and closures like these are likely to occur more often.
“Without the jetty we wouldn’t have a business, we wouldn’t have a town,” Port Victoria Foreshore Kiosk and Post Office owners Terry and Rosemary Bormann said.
The kiosk sits within 100m of the Port Victoria jetty, currently undergoing underwater engineering inspections.
The jetty, built in 1876, is a scuba diving mecca for the eight-shipwreck underwater trail nearby. It suffered extensive storm damage in 2016 and was closed for several months during its repair.
“It was devastating,” Mr Bormann said.
“We knew how important the jetty was, but it (the closure) really did show us that without the jetty, the town was dead.”
Yorke Peninsula Council CEO Andrew Cameron said that shops, hotels, motels, fishing charters, tourism operators and caravan parks in towns with jetties that were hit by 2016 storm damage were equally affected.
“Jetties are very important pieces of infrastructure in our communities that contribute greatly to both the social and economic wellbeing of the region,” he said.
“More than half of our visitors engage in recreational fishing activities when they visit and fishing is one of the key drivers for visitation to Yorke Peninsula.”
The council manages 12 recreational jetties (one third of the state’s divested jetties in regional SA) across Yorke Peninsula’s 485km of coastline. The region attracts 1.1 million visits a year, generating $211 million in tourism annually.
Alan and Lisa Griffiths, from Blakeview, have visited Yorke Peninsula’s coastal towns five times in the past year. The jetties are a major drawcards for the family of six.
“We come from Adelaide to visit because it’s good for the kids to go fishing and crabbing,” Mrs Griffiths said.
One of their favourites is Ardrossan Jetty, identified as “in the worst condition” of several jetties inspected in recent months.
The council’s application for a state government grant to cover the cost of repair has been rejected twice, and as recently as last month.
“For Ardrossan – our jetty is tourism,” Yorke Peninsula councillor Richard Carruthers says.
“If we lost the jetty, we would lose business and we just can’t have Ardrossan without a jetty – it’s so important to this community.”
Yorke Peninsula Mayor Darren Braund said the rate of deterioration of the jetties had been much faster than anticipated and could not be covered alone by the council’s $200,000 annual budget for jetty maintenance and repair.
The management and cost of jetty maintenance has been a contentious issue in South Australia for much more than a century.
In 1996, the state government allocated $12.8 million for the repair and upgrade of 36 recreational jetties to bring them to an acceptable standard as part of the transfer to councils for day-to-day management and maintenance.
The leases range from 25 to 99 years and have varying conditions creating a complex and inequitable system which has councils scratching their heads.
The Tumby Bay Council, which will be one of the first to see its jetty lease expire in 2024, said that in the past the state government had assisted with materials for required works but “this assistance seems to have dried up”.
The council last month recommended that the Local Government Association ordinary general meeting in April direct the LGA “to immediately begin negotiations with the current state government to draft a lease or other agreement with local government collectively to safeguard the future of jetties in South Australia”.
A report from the council also criticises the historical negotiation of the jetty leases.
“At the time these leases were entered into, the regional councils were picked off individually and therefore had little or no collective bargaining power and signed the leases under the threat of having jetties removed by the state.”
Councils across the state now say that the time has come for the state government to renegotiate new jetty lease arrangements.
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