Format: Event

Linked To

Location

Photograph

Depicted in (17)

Vertical File

Related documents

Recollections

Add

no stories yet

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

You are free to reuse and adapt this work providing the work is not used in a commercial setting and you attribute Sutherland Shire Libraries as the copyright owner without indicating that the Library endorses you or the work. Any other usage must be negotiated by contacting the Library. Please use the following attribution statement: Courtesy of the Local Studies Collection, Sutherland Shire Libraries

Tools

Download Add to My Collection Contact us about this Citation for this item

1974 Storms

Main

Collection SummaryIn the winter of 1974 the Sutherland Shire experienced the worst storms in our history, resulting in extensive damage throughout the Shire, in particular on and around our beaches.DescriptionOn Saturday night, 25 May 1974, two intense low pressure systems combined to form a brutal storm that brought torrential rain, cyclonic strength winds and extremely large seas with high tides along the coast. The damage wreaked was unprecedented. Trees fell on power lines, roofs were ripped from houses and raging seas scoured the beaches of sand, revealing nothing but rocks below 20ft high cliffs. Cronulla beach was left with no sand; waves washed over the promenade and into the surf club. North Cronulla was devastated with a playground being washed into the sea. Wanda beach was scoured to the fence line, which was over 300 metres from the water line the previous summer. Further north, the waves tore into the dunes and threatened to break through to Woolooware Bay. In the normally calm waters of Port Hacking and Kurnell numerous jetties were damaged and boats were washed from their moorings and smashed onto rocks. Council's efforts to repair the beachfront by tipping sandstone boulders at the bottom of the Kingsway, along the Promenade at Cronulla, and below Prince Street were thwarted by further storms into June. While the Sutherland Shire has experienced some terrible storms, both before and after, the 1974 storm damage was possibly the worst we've ever seen.

Photograph

Bulldozers in Dunningham Park, waiting to assist with the storm damage at North Cronulla Beach, 1974

Storm damage at Cronulla Beach, 1974

Storm damage at North Cronulla Beach, 1974

North Cronulla Beach after damage, 27 May, 1974

The Esplanade, Cronulla, after damage, 27 May, 1974

Elouera Beach after damage, 27 May, 1974

North Cronulla Beach after damage, 27 May, 1974

Vertical File

[Booklet] Stabilisation of Sand Dunes at Cronulla

Details

LocationCronullaNorth Cronulla BeachDate27th May 1974

Connections

SubjectsCronulla (N.S.W.) -- History -- 1972-1975Beach erosion -- New South Wales -- Cronulla