‘Council hasn’t done anything proactive’: Residents call on council to act on Blackmans Bay blowhole

A FISHING adventure more than 20 years ago almost turned into a day of disaster for young Blackmans Bay boy Rhys Duggan.

Rhys Duggan, 33, of New Town, who fell down the blowhole cliff at Blackmans Bay when he was 11. Picture: SAM ROSEWARNE

A FISHING adventure more than 20 years ago almost turned into a day of disaster for young Blackmans Bay boy Rhys Duggan.

Mr Duggan, now 33, was 11 years old when he and a few mates climbed over the small fence at Blackmans Bay blowhole in 1996 to find a better spot to cast their lines.

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As he was scurrying along the cliffs, he slipped and fell about 5m onto a ledge halfway down, fracturing his pelvis and spraining his wrists.

“It could have been a lot worse. If I’d fallen right to the bottom, I might have been dead, who knows,” Mr Duggan told the Mercury. “At the time we didn’t think anything of it, it looked safe enough.

Blackmans Bay long-time resident John Bombadieri next to the fence at the cliffs in Blackmans Bay. Picture: SAM ROSEWARNE

“We’d seen others do it, we thought we could do it, we’re 11, you know, invincible.”

He spent the next two months on crutches and has ongoing problems with back stiffness and crush fractures of his vertebrae which doctors believed were caused by the impact of the fall.

He said he was surprised there were not more incidents at the cliffs and is now urging council to “do something” to prevent further accidents occurring there.

“There have been deaths there. There would likely be more if nothing else is done about it in the future,” Mr Duggan said.

“As far as I’m aware nothing has been changed, maybe some signage, but to my knowledge council hasn’t done anything proactive about the situation.”

Kingborough Council mayor Steve Wass. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

After his fall, 11-year-old Mr Duggan, nursing a broken pelvis, even had to scale back up the cliff face and over the fence to safety.

A Blackmans Bay local of more than 30 years said it could be “eerie” walking and running along the cliffs near the blowhole.

John Bombardieri, who lives about 300m from the blowhole and walks past it once a week, said authorities needed to do “whatever it takes” to make it safer.

“This is too easy for people to go over and have a look,” he said. “Something needs to be done.”

He said a taller fence, higher than a person and perhaps with an inward pointing peak, would make it harder and more awkward for people to climb to access the dangerous cliffs.