The mouth of Christies Creek was blocked with sand, forcing it to form rivulets along the beach instead of leading directly to sea. One rivulet was moving its way to the north, blocking a public accessway, eroding the front of the dune and threatening the paved walking track behind. In 2018, the creek mouth was mechanically reshaped to outlet water directly seaward. Sand was then taken from an area of accretion at the north end of the beach and placed on the eroded dune area, followed by sand drift fencing and revegetation. After initial attempts to prevent pedestrian access over the constructed dune resulted in informal accessways appearing nearby, more fencing was put in to formalise the accessway over the dune while protecting the areas either side. The creek mouth is now reopened every winter at a cost of around $1400 per year which has been effective at preventing further erosion of the dune. The project is being monitored as part of the digital terrain modelling that City of Onkaparinga undertakes along their entire 31km of coastline.

Beach renourishment

Method: Artificially nourished

Sand source: Same sediment compartment

Sand volume (m2): 8000

Sand placement: Dune area

Frequency of renourishment: Once

Date of first renourishment: 2018

Date of last renourishment: 2018

Dune replanting or construction

Method: Revegetation, Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation - method: Restrict pedestrian access

Sand fence material: Timber posts with wire mesh and shade cloth

Sand fence configuration: Straight, Alongshore, Multiple row

Sand fence porosity: Shade cloth

Sand fence height (m): 1m

Sand fence length (m): 100m