General News
31 March, 2026
Save our eroding sands
A PETITION has been launched at Holloways Beach, calling for Cairns Regional Council to begin urgent action to reduce coastal erosion and storm surge damage.
The petition, with at least 100 signatures, was circulated a month ago, well before last week’s major impacts after Cyclone Narelle, which took out the lifesaver hut, stinger net and sections of the cycleway along the beach front, numerous trees and vegetation.
Thirty-year resident Ardyn Masterman said she created the petition to urge council to communicate more with residents and re-think some of the mitigation actions it had implemented over the past few years.
She said council had clear instruction under its Reef Guardian Action Plan, its Cairns Coast Strategic Adaption Scheme and under the Queensland Coastal Plan to address sea-level rise and erosion.
The petition requested council take “urgent, sustainable action to address the severe, accelerating erosion which has intensified dramatically in recent months”.
“With each 3m tide, significant sections of foreshore are being lost. Many coastal trees, including coconuts, are collapsing into the sea. At the southern end near Barr Creek, a former freshwater billabong and paperbark wetland once home to frogs, is being damaged by saltwater incursion.
“Trees are showing clear signs of die back and an important habitat is being lost.
“Current rock wall and sand replacement appear to be short-term measures and are not preventing continued erosion.”
Ms Masterman believes some of the mitigation efforts have made things worse.
“I feel like they’ve exacerbated it,” she said. “Because behind the short walls that are at right angles to the beach, they are creating these whirlpools that digs out the sand.”
She said the correspondence also called for the council to conduct “urgent, transparent, coastal assessment, investigate sustainable, long-term coastal protection options, consider the feasibility of an artificial reef parallel to the shoreline and engage directly with the Holloways Beach community”.
“Because, at the moment, we feel we aren’t being heard. There’s minimal representation at the next level,” she said.
Ms Masterman said she had investigated Tetrapod false reefs in Japan.
Concrete pillars, shaped at the bottom with an X, slot together to form pods which allow substrate and current to flow and through but “not the slam of the waves”. The pods encourage the growth of mangroves, which benefit coastal stability.
Another possibility are intertidal oyster reefs, which support the growth of important fish species, provide a natural buffer and also help to improve ecosystems and water quality.
A council statement said priorities were to clean paths and roads and continue to assess damage across affected areas.
“Beach impacts include damaging coastal erosion and sand and debris on foreshore paths, roads and carparks.
“Palm Cove has erosion exposing services to the jetty, Trinity Beach has damage to the seawall and road at the northern end and Holloways Beach has lost its lifesaver hut and stinger net.”
Council said public access was restricted where machinery was operating, with some areas at Clifton and Holloways to remain fenced off while hazards remain.
“Eligible damage to essential infrastructure is expected to be covered under State and Federal Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA) and, at this stage, no funding has been confirmed for community or environmental assets. The full cost is still being assessed.”
