World-class tourist spot battered by unpredictable seas

They sell for upwards of $300,000 and attract hordes of tourists each week — but concerns are growing that Brighton’s famous bathing boxes are at risk of serious damage and even being washed away. Here’s why.

The bathing boxes at Brighton Beach have long been popular with tourists. Photo: Helen DZoel

Brighton’s famous Bathing Boxes are at risk of washing away due to dredging, erosion and increasingly rough seas, residents say.

Alison Joseph said waves were constantly battering and destroying the foundations of the much-loved tourist attractions at the southern end of the Dendy St Beach — the same site where bathing boxes washed away several decades ago.

Ms Joseph, who has lived in the area for decades, now fears even more will be lost at sea.

“Bayside Council would not listen to residents who said it was a bad idea (to build them there),” Ms Joseph said.

“They have been moving sand, supposedly to protect the middens, but I suspect it was more to try and protect the bathing boxes.

“If you had just paid $300,000-plus for one of these bathing boxes, I do not think you would be very happy.”

Leader has been told Bathing Box 89 — with the iconic koala mural — was in “dire straights” just a week after a buyer snapped it up in March for more than $335,000.

Bathing Box 89’s koala mural was recognised by the Bayside Council as the best exterior mural on the famous sandy strip.

It’s understood the new owner had to lay new foundation last week to fill a gap with the sand.

Friends of the Brighton Dunes convener Jenny Talbot said erosion had always been a problem but was worsening after the channel deepening of Port Phillip Bay.

“This is what greed does, and most methods actually make it worse and cause tremendous damage,” she said.

“People who buy into the boxes think they’re buying real estate but they’re buying into an eroding beach that cannot be relied upon.”

A bathing box owner, who did not want to be named, is actually selling off her asset and said she had never seen the box’s foundations so exposed.

“Climate change is just worsening everything and there are also things on the beach that have been exposed. The (seas) have eroded the sand, roots are exposed, there are two huge concrete slabs exposed,” she said.

“We have 10 years to do something about climate change, otherwise this planet is lost but people don’t care.

“It makes you despair.”

Brighton Bathing Box Association spokesman John Rundell said he had not heard about any damage being caused, but agreed some of the council-built boxes at the southern end were “at risk of erosion”.

The violent seas wash against Brighton’s bathing boxes.

The council is currently doing anti-erosion work at the site to harvest sand at the northern end and create a low sandbag wall to protect the coastal dunes behind the beach.

Bayside environment, recreation and infrastructure director Steven White said any damage to the boxes was “the owner’s responsibility” but confirmed recent high tides and storms had washed away sand that had been temporarily stored between bathing boxes.

Friends of the Brighton Dunes convener Jenny Talbot standing in front of a permeable fence she erected at Dendy St Beach three years ago. Picture: Penny Stephens

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The works have been criticised by Ms Joseph, Ms Talbot and the anonymous owner, who said she was concerned about the scale of the excavation.

“This is heritage landscape so I hope they have expert advice in what they’re doing so it’s protected,” she said.

“To think the sand was washed away frustrates me. Just think of the cost.”

University of Melbourne coastal geomorphologist Associate Professor David Kennedy said placing any structure such as sandbags on the beach would have an impact.

“Their design is to stop sand removal at that site, but the underlying reason for sand removal is still there — function of the wave environment — so sand will still move,” he said.