SFA Newsletter Spring 2020

Email: sandyforeshore@optusnet.com.au
Website: http://sandringhamforeshore.tumblr.com/

SFA is free to join. Donations are appreciated to help support research of

Bayside Fossils.
Payments can be made directly to Museums Victoria
The Lost World of Bayside Fossils
using this link:
Museums Victoria Bayside Fossil Fundraiser
(Donations are 100% tax deductible).

"We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the waters and lands on which we live
and work, and pay our respects to the Elders past, present and emerging”
 Dr Vicki Karalis AM
President, Sandringham Foreshore Association

Dear Friends and Members of the SFA,

We hope you are coping with the further extension of the lockdown time to limit
the spread of COVID-19 transmission. Take this time as an opportunity to look
after your health, develop a healthy lifestyle with regular exercise especially in
open green spaces, more family contact time, eat well and develop a regular
sleep pattern. The beaches and parks are a great way to spend our time for
relaxation and exercise. We also acknowledge the difficulties small businesses
and families are going through, and hope these issues will be resolved by
authorities. Free counseling is available through Beyond Blue if you or your
family are encountering any mental health issues.

SFA Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on 29th August 2020

SFA are pleased we had a good turnout for the AGM. The meeting was Chaired
by SFA committee member, Helen Gibson. We were honored and delighted to
have a range of special guests and speakers including Dr Erich Fitzgerald of
Museums Victoria who updated us on the Bayside fossil sites and why we need
to continue supporting their activities. Please email
sandyforeshore@optusnet.com.au if you would like to read the full set of minutes.

Edward Street beach sand renourishment - great news!

SFA value our relationship with the Department of Environment Land Water and
Planning (DELWP). We were honoured that Sam Monkiewicz, Program Officer
(Coastal Projects), Land & Built Environment, Port Phillip of DELWP was able
to attend the SFA AGM and provide us a powerpoint presentation on the
proposed renourishment works on the Sandringham beach. $8 million dollars
has been allocated over four years across Port Phillip Bay. Here is a summary
of the Edward St beach project:

 The renourishment is planned for the beach between the Royal Ave
groyne and Red Bluff.
 Approximately 20,250m3 of sand will be deposited onto the beach, with a
higher proportion placed at the southern (as longshore drift is primarily to
the north).
 Sand will be sourced and dredged from approximately 1km offshore,
from an area with a surplus of sand and similar grain size to that
onshore.
 Construction is planned for late 2020 pending further COVID-19
restrictions, with signage to be placed at the site in the next few weeks
once DELWP have more specific details. The project is expected to take
about 6 weeks.
 DELWP are also considering further renourishment at Half Moon Bay
while they have the dredge mobilised.

SFA are grateful to Sam Monkiewicz and DELWP, as regular sand

renourishment is an important method of protecting the Sandringham beaches,
dunes, cliffs and coastline from erosion.

Council consultation to extend smoking ban beyond Bayside beaches and

include the cliffs and foreshore reserves
-Have Your Say consultation ends 18th September 2020

Please urgently register your support for the smoking ban using this link or in
section below: https://yoursay.bayside.vic.gov.au/locallaw
SFA have registered our concerns with Council to ban all smoking not only
along all Bayside beaches, but also the Bayside cliffs to help reduce the risk of
bush fires and exposure of smoke to young children especially in the
playground areas situated at the top of the cliffs. There are many strategies to
help mitigate smoking on cliff tops by providing ashtrays at car parking areas
and good educational signage. We may not be able to stop all smokers, but it
could help reduce the number of cigarette butts we find on our beaches and
walking tracks along the cliffs on a daily basis. Many of our members spend
considerable amounts of time picking rubbish and cigarette butts on the
beaches and in the foreshore cliffs. Smoking is also a fire risk and a serious
health hazard - not only for the smoker but also through passive smoking,
particularly children who are at risk of poor lung function and asthma.

Welcome new SFA committee members

SFA welcome and provide special thanks to Artemis Siourthas for managing the
SFA website and Cassandra Karalis for managing the Facebook page and
website.

New Facebook page

Thanks to Cassandra, SFA now have a Facebook page! Connect with us and
provide us a "Like":
https://www.facebook.com//sandyforeshoreassociation

SFA new logo -see below.

Many thanks to Imogen Redgrove a local Bayside graphic designer for creating
a new logo for SFA. We are thrilled as it looks very professional.
Social Gatherings and further community meetings
SFA hope to organise regular social gatherings/meetings in the near future after
the Victorian pandemic lockdown. We will keep you posted.

In the meantime be well and we hope you enjoy reading the SFA September
Newsletter

With kindness,

Vicki Karalis

Let us know what you think?

New SFA logo. We are thrilled as it looks very professional.
 Update from the Lost World of Bayside
Online Lecture: 11 am Sunday, 27th September 2020 (AEST)

Online Zoom Event

Online lectures with Museums Victoria palaeontologists Ben

Francischelli and James Rule

11am Sunday 27th September, 2020 (AEST)

Sit back in the comfort of your own home with palaeontologists Ben Francischelli &
James Rule and be amazed at the Lost World of Bayside’s fossil discoveries!

Ben is a vertebrate palaeontologist from Museums Victoria, who specializes in the

 extraction, conservation, and preparation of fossils. He is currently leading the
expeditionary fieldwork in Bayside (Melbourne), diving underwater to retrieve
incredible discoveries of 5-million-year-old fossils with a team of citizen scientists. In
his online lecture, Ben will be reviewing some of the latest finds from Bayside,
from the Demon Ducks of Doom, to the largest macro-predators that have ever
existed...

Seals are some of the poorest represented marine mammals in the fossil record,
especially in Australasia. James will walk through what we know about the seals from
Beaumaris, which represents the oldest evidence of seals in Australia. In his online
lecture, James will be outlining how new discoveries are changing what we
know about broader patterns in the evolution of seals.

For more information, follow the link below! This is a one-off event and there are
only 100 spots, so act quick! 5$ per booking, with all proceeds being donated to the
Lost World of Bayside project at Museums Victoria.

www.trybooking.com/BLJEF

Facebook Instagram
 Bayside Beach Patrol
- helping to keep our beaches clean

Hi to all Beach Patrol Members

Beach Patrol are sending a shout out to let you know that, while they are still not running any
official 3193 or 3191 Beach Patrols at the moment, they are still thinking of you all and hope you
are keeping well.

Update from Beach Patrol Australia

There are still no authorised official beach cleans.

The unfortunate spike in the spread of the virus means that we must observe now the stricter
new Covid rules re-introduced on Saturday 20 June, and good hygiene practices.
They will let us know as soon as they can about when we may start operating again as a big
friendly group.
The beaches still need cleaning, so it would be great if you could get together with a couple of
friends and do some of your own beach clean.

For the Ricketts Point group, you can still wear your 3193 Beach Patrol Tshirt!

And please remember to record your results on our free Beach Patrol Australia Litter Stopper
app.

Usually Beach Patrol Volunteers meet every month to pick up rubbish that either has been
washed in or dropped in the Marine Sanctuary.
BP 3191 and BP 3193 are local Bayside groups that regularly clean Melbourne's beaches. Visit
their website https://www.beachpatrol.com.au to find a group near you or if there isn't one why
not gather a group of friends or neighbours and form your own?
 BCC "HAVE YOUR SAY" - EXTENSION OF SMOKING BAN

Smoking Ban Extension

Bayside City Council is seeking your input on a range of local laws one of which is
considering extending the smoking ban to include the whole of the foreshore area,
including the car parks and cliff tops.

The Bayside community has driven the proposal to introduce a smoking ban on
Bayside's beaches. Extensive community consultation between December 2019 and
February 2020 confirmed that an overwhelming 91.5% of the 1,600 people surveyed
online and at local events support the ban.
From June, a smoking ban will apply to the sand areas of all Bayside beaches,
including Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary and surrounds, and the Brighton Dunes,
following the installation of no-smoking signs.

Once the ban is applied anyone smoking on a Bayside beach could face a $200
Infringement Notice penalty or a fine of up $1,000, if prosecuted in Court.

The smoking ban will improve public health and wellbeing, and help to reduce the
amount of cigarette butt litter which makes its way from Bayside’s beaches into Port
Phillip Bay, protecting our important marine environments.

Currently Bayside’s existing smoking ban covers the beach sand areas only, plus
Ricketts Point and Brighton Dunes surrounds. Dropping a cigarette butt anywhere in
Bayside is already a littering offence. Council is seeking community views on making
smoking an offence within all foreshore reserve areas. This idea follows the 2019
smoking ban consultation, which originated from a petition, and Council's resolution on
28 April 2020.

To "Have Your Say" about this and other issues, please click on the link
below https://yoursay.bayside.vic.gov.au/locallaw/new-local-law-ideas

Marine Care Ricketts Point Speaker Evening's

Thursday 10 September & Thursday 24 September at 7.30pm

Marine Care Ricketts Point would like to present via the web based
meeting room Zoom.us, “two speaker evenings”. Firstly on Thursday
10 September MCRP presents Mark Rodrigue and later on Thursday
24 September we have been invited to join Bayside Community
Climate Action Group speaker evening featuring Jenny Warfe.
Speaker: Mark Rodrigue is the State-Wide Leader for Marine and
Coasts with Parks Victoria
Thursday September 10, 2020 19:30

Topic: Opportunities and Challenges for Port Phillip’s Marine Protected Areas – This
presentation will provide an pictorial overview of the key values, threats and
opportunities for Port Phillip Bay’s three Marine Sanctuaries and its Marine National
Park.

Biography: As state-wide leader for Parks Victoria marine program Mark works to
support regional staff, building relationships with community and other agencies in
caring for Victoria’s unique and diverse marine environments and protected areas
system. Mark has a background in marine education and engagement and is
passionate about the contribution of community groups who help protect Victoria’s
marine areas. He lives with his family at Barwon Heads where he is an active
volunteer and can often be found with his head underwater in the Barwon Bluff
Marine Sanctuary.
Our 2nd meeting is being held in conjunction with Bayside Community
Climate Action Group whose speaker evening features Jenny Warfe.
Thursday September 24th September 2020 7.30pm

Jenny will be speaking on changes in Port Phillip Bay and the risks of the proposed
floating Gas terminal in Westernport Bay. Jenny is a well-known environmentalist for
healthy marine environments and best known for her Blue Wedges Campaign to
protect Port Phillip Bay from dredging.

Biography: Jenny Warfe began her career as an audiologist with the Federal
government’s National Hearing program and later took on executive roles in planning
service delivery for children, rural remote and indigenous clients. Since 2000 Jenny
has concentrated on various environmental campaigns, especially state government
plans for port expansion and the impacts on Port Philip and Westernport Bays. Jenny
was a major opponent of the Bracks and Brumby Government during its Channel
Deepening project, including involvement in Supreme and Federal court cases
mounted against the project. In 2010, Jenny stood as an Independent senate
candidate on a ticket with Dr Joseph Toscano.

To join the Zoom Meeting click on the link below or copy and paste into your
web browser:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2150874996
 Committee members of SFA
Dr Vicki Karalis President; Medical practitioner, expert in environmental medicine
Alison Horton Vice President & Public officer/secretary; Perfusionist
Helen Gibson Committee member; Geologist and Renewable Energy advisor
Adrienne Smith Committee member; IT consultant
Ike Solomon Committee member; Corrosion engineer
Salva Crusca Committee member; Counsellor
Cassandra Karalis Committee member; Social Media Coordinator
Artemis Siourthas Committee member; Website Administrator

Free SFA Membership

The Sandringham Foreshore Association is a charitable not-for-profit association. Membership is free. Our
self-acclaimed role is to foster and promote good natural conservation principles to Bayside foreshore
management. Our current focus is to assist public education by aligning ourselves with scientific experts in
fields of conservation and natural environment, and to facilitate effective communication between
community – council and state governments – and established environmental science publications and
position statements.
The role of SFA is to care for and help protect our local beaches and cliffs, but also to educate, raise
awareness and preserve our local archaeological, geological, cultural, indigenous and heritage sites such
as the Beaumaris Bay fossil site.
If you are interested in joining our free membership, to receive notices and our Quarterly Newsletters –
Please respond via our website
http://sandringhamforeshore.tumblr.com/MembershipForm

Copyright: Sandringham Foreshore Association All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is: sandyforeshore@optusnet.com.au

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