Stairway to fishing heaven on the Eyre Peninsula

For many years, keen anglers had to negotiate a dangerous cliff to access one of the best Australian Salmon fishing spots in the state.

They were not only putting their lives at risk, but inadvertently damaging the area's fragile coastline.

Locks Well Beach, near Elliston, is located at the base of an unbroken 60 metre cliff.

"People would have to scramble down the cliff to get to the beach, with only galvanised pipes and a chain to steady themselves," Murray Greenaway from the Elliston Coastal Management Group said.

"This was dangerous, and was causing bad erosion on the cliff face. And, because of the difficulty of the climb, people often left their rubbish on the beach to be washed out to sea."

Funding

To help protect this sensitive ecosystem, the Australian Government provided funding to the Elliston Coastal Management Group.

Activities

With further assistance from Coastcare and the District Council of Elliston, community volunteers then rolled up their sleeves and got to work on building a staircase from the cliff top to the beach.

"Some of the funding was used to purchase materials and we were able employ a builder to supervise the volunteer workers," Murray said.

But despite a huge amount of enthusiasm and goodwill, building a 120-metre staircase along a cliff face is no mean feat.

"It was a difficult site to build on, because there is no access to carry large, heavy loads, so much of the material was dumped over the cliff for the volunteers to retrieve," Murray said.

"The technology never got more advanced than a wheelbarrow, but we got there all the same."

Achievements

With the impressive staircase completed in 1998 and the access road upgraded, the trip to Lock Wells Beach is now a much more pleasant experience for visitors, and a much safer place for sensitive coastal vegetation.

"The staircase has provided safe access to a beautiful area popular not just with anglers, but with surfers and sightseers," Murray said.

"And it has dramatically reduced the big erosion problems on the fragile cliff and dunes, with coastal vegetation now growing unimpacted by humans."

But the trip up 280 steps with a heavy load of salmon can still prove a challenge for some. It's made some anglers reassess just how much salmon they really need to take home.

More information

• Jeanie Quilliam, Eyre Peninsula Regional Natural Resources Management Liaison Officer: (08) 8688 3413 or quilliam.jeanie@saugov.sa.gov.au

Australian Government NRM Team
GPO Box 787
Canberra ACT 2601 Australia
1800 552 008 (toll-free)

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Caring for our Country is an Australian Government initiative jointly administered by the Australian Government departments of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts