A potted history

Sand loss and serious beach erosion at South Steyne has been a feature since Europeans first settled in Manly.

Photo courtesy of Northern Beaches Council Library Local Studies.

In 1882, with the ocean beach dune removed, the Manly Council asked the Minister for Works, John Lackey, for £2000 to build a sea wall at South Steyne that was to extend from the Steyne Hotel for 2000 feet towards Fairy Bower. To justify the expenditure Public Works was asked to consider if this wall would be an improvement to their beautiful beach, which in its present condition he thought was a great attraction to people who visited the place’. Over the ensuing years at many meetings, Manly Council finally received notice from the Public Works Department in 1889 that they would get a sum of £500 for the Manly seawall. The wall was soon under construction and later extended further along South Steyne towards Fairy Bower and then years later in the other direction to Queenscliff.

But disaster struck with big storms and in 1899 the Minister for Works Edward O’Sullivan visited Manly and promised to allocate a grant of £2000 for repair of the retaining wall, to improve the reserve and to prevent waves from threatening the roots of the trees where the sand had subsided on the oceanfront, the asphalted walk along the Steyne Reserve and the seawall were carried away. These were repaired with government funds. The work was regarded as urgent and, the Council argued, needed to be done before ‘any further encroachment by the water which already threatened the integrity of Steyne Reserve and the safety of the avenue of Norfolk Island pines’.

In 1907 Public Baths and Bathing were becoming an issue. Manly Council was being pressed to ‘make preparations’, with local businesses seeking Government support to build sunbathing and changing room structures at South Steyne. Which it finally did, building a ladies and men’s dressing shed at South Steyne, but not without problems. Unfortunately, it was brought under the notice of the council the fact that the men’s dressing-shed was open to the view of anyone passing up and down the steps at the Fairy Bower. Something should be done to remedy this evil. It was a source of constant trouble and should be seen to. The correspondence was referred to the Works Committee, which has the whole question of surfbathing in hand.

At the time efforts were made to persuade the Government to complete the whole length of the wall from the Corso to Pine Street, and put down asphalt walks similar to those on South Steyne.

By 1911, the sea wall was rapidly disappearing owing to the frequent sand drifts banking up against it. At places the wall was invisible, although when first put in position it stood several feet above the sand surface. The Council considered the advisability of repairing the wall and putting additional copings on the portion extending from the Corso to Fairy Bower. Then much of the seawall was destroyed by heavy seas in 1913. The asphalt paths were undermined and carried away in several places.

South Steyne sands of time

On Friday 16 May 1913 The newspapers reported

EXCITING INCIDENTS AT MANLY. ‘WRECKAGE ON THE BEACH.’

The newspaper reported in 1913 that the expenditure form the storm damage involved in erecting the new ladies’ dressing sheds at South Steyne has all gone for nought. The storm played havoc at the South Steyne end of the beach, and around at Fairy Bower and Shelly Beach. The retaining wall was badly buffeted and knocked about, while the refreshment rooms in the vicinity were extensively damaged through in rushes of water and sand drifts.

For close on a quarter of a mile along the main promenade on Manly Bench the sea had dashed under the wall with such violence during the storm that the great stretch of sand which had laid dormant for nearly 30 years was gutted out to a depth of over 10 foot. The water now, at high tide, reaches the wall right along the frontage,’ and pedestrians must risk a splashing if, they wish to stroll on the sands. The local council’s efforts recently to remove some of the sand from the beach were laughed at.

*The sea has accomplished In a few hours what it would have taken the council years to collect.

The council is in a quandary as to the future action to be taken in providing pressing accommodation for bathers. It is plainly manifest that whatever structure is erected it will have to be solidly built to resist such storms in future. In all probability new plans and specifications will be drawn up to meet the new proposals- for providing accommodation, to be subsidised and financed by the Government, in accordance with the report of the Surfbathing Commission. In order to have the accommodation ready, by next season, no delay will be occasioned in getting to work and having the buildings expedited.

By 1938 a sea wall had been constructed along the entire length of Manly Beach, South Steyne to Queenscliff. Since then this seawall has been modified, reinforced or repaired many times and through the years there are well documented storms stripping the sand from South Steyne.

In January 1950 a series on storms damaged the North Steyne sea wall and the South Steyne surf pavilion, with huge waves breaking over the retaining wall and dragging surfboards and other debris to sea.

The sand will return

The sand returned over time but a sequence of storms events between May and June 1974 including the renowned Sygna Storm of May 1974 occurred. Whilst this storm is infamous for the damage and eventual removal of the boardwalk at Manly Cove it damaged the ocean beach front as well, removing huge amounts of sand, striping the beach back to the sea wall exposing its footings.

Astonishingly, it took five and half years for the beach to recover to its previous condition after these events, but the recovery was hampered by more severe storms in 1976 and 1978, which interrupted the gradual build-up of beach sand. Manly Beach experienced significant erosion from storms in 1986, again the significant damage occurred on the beach front. This prompted the Manly Council to repair and install the wide access steps and place rocks that we now see exposed today.

In 2009 Spring tides and an easterly swell swept away thousands of tonnes of sand at the southern end of Manly Beach, exposing large rocks placed there the decade before in a controversial scheme to protect the sea wall from the forces of nature. Controversial because the rocks were considered too small and a danger to swimmers and surfers if they were swept into the surf zone and remained hidden from view but exposed in the near shore sand banks.

Again, in June 2016 a significant East Coast Low (ECL) storm, combined with a king tide, caused severe beach erosion at South Steyne as well as damaging Marine Parade, blowing up the stormwater pipes and the toilet block.

Now in 2025 we see Manly beach striped of sand and the rocks exposed. Northern Beaches Council has no plans to do any proactive beach nourishment as it is expected the sand will return as it has done previously. The sand is currently sitting in a big sandbank in the southern corner waiting for right conditions to push it back to the shore and up to the seawall. In the meantime, be safe on the beach and be careful of submerged rocks on the shoreline at high tide.