Safety review of Jump Rock in Manly after concerns barriers have made it more dangerous
It’s one of the most notoriously dangerous death defying stunts on the northern beaches - and it’s why people are calling for a safety review.
Manly
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A call has been made for a complete safety review of a notorious cliff jump spot on the northern beaches over fears fences installed to stop people jumping have actually made it more dangerous.
Cr Candy Bingham said thousands of kids go to Jump Rock, at Manly’s Collins Beach every summer and it had been named as one of the five best jumping spots in Australia.
But she said efforts by the previous Manly Council in 2007 to make the area safer may have actually made it worse.
Now she has put forward a motion calling for a safety review which will be discussed at a Northern Beaches Council meeting next week.
A report at the end of the motion said the cost of an external risk consultant to consider some options for jump rock would cost around $20,000.
In Cr Bingham’s motion she included a You Tube link to a video which kids standing on top of the fence meant to stop them and jumping from there. One boy suffers a cut to his foot after jumping.
“Jump Rock has always been a problem,” she said.
“It’s a dangerous place for people to jump from.
“But we are not going to stop people from there, but it’s down to council to make it safer.”
In her motion she said Manly Council tried to discourage jumpers by building a number of fences to block pedestrian access to the rock overhanging and a number of platforms.
“People still jump by climbing around the fence and jumping from the narrow ledge that provides no run-up,” she said.
“Even worse, they climb on the top of the fence – a slippery metal rail – that is used as a high-risk eight metre jumping tower by people who find the natural five metre drop too tame.
“A different set of problems applies to a lower three metre drop rock overhang, a few metres below and to the side of Jump Rock.
“This area is completely fenced off, meaning that people no longer have the option of a low jump.
“There are also reports of people being injured jumping from an alternative rock hanging about 25 metres closer to the beach, where they land in shallow water that the original jump rock site.”
She said in 2009 Manly Council considered demolishing the rock platform altogether but decided it was inappropriate.