ENVI RONMENTAL HI STORY OF ROWES BAY - Townsville State ...

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ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF ROWES BAYEnvironmental history of Rowes Bay1. IntroductionThis report describes the environmental history of the Rowes Bay foreshore and its hinterland. Thestudy area comprises the 2.3 km of shoreline from the Kissing Point headland, around inner RowesBay and north to the RSL Villas, and extends inland for 0.5 km. The original landscape of rockyheadland, mudflats and beach, backed by dunes, estuaries, mangrove swamps, stream channels andancient beach ridges has changed significantly in the 145 years since European settlement began.These changes have been caused by natural processes and human activities, and have resulted fromenvironmental changes both within and external to the Rowes Bay environment. This reportdocuments these changes, and shows how they have influenced the behaviour of the presentenvironment with particular reference to the persistent beach erosion that has been occurring for thelast ~45 years. This will provide an important context for planning the future environmentalmanagement of Rowes Bay.The report begins with a description of the landforms of the Rowes Bay - Pallarenda area, and anexamination of the environmental changes that have occurred in this embayment over the last 6000years. From this, a pattern of sand movement can be derived, which will enable a long-termsediment budget for the system to be established. This will provide an important initialapproximation of the rate of sand supply required to maintain a stable shoreline system. Thelandscape immediately prior to European settlement (1864) will then be described. This willprovide a benchmark from which to measure the scale of subsequent environmental changes.Natural and human-induced environmental changes will be summarised separately, with detailedinformation being presented in Appendix 1.2. Data SourcesThe primary source of environmental change information is from vertical aerial photographs thatare available from 1938, 1941, 1952, 1959, 1961, 1965, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1981,1985, 1991, and 1995. These have been obtained from AUSLIG, TCC, BPA, and Queensland StateGovernment as detailed in Appendix 3. Information from prior to 1938 is very sketchy, but has beencomplied from geological and topographic maps, hydrographic charts, historic maps andphotographs, meteorological records, and literature on the history of Townsville. These resourcesare listed below in Section 9.3. Landform History of Rowes Bay3.1 IntroductionThe Rowes Bay study area forms the southern part of a 7 km long embayment between the KissingPoint headland and Many Peaks Range, and over the last 6000 years a suite of coastal landforms hasaccumulated here. The long-term history of these landforms provides an important context forunderstanding the recent environmental history of Rowes Bay.3.2 Landforms of the Rowes Bay - Pallarenda EmbaymentThe natural landforms of the area have been mapped and described by various authors (Hopley andMurtha, 1975; Trezise et al, 1986 & 1989; Trezise and Stephenson, 1990), and these are shown inFigure 1. The main landforms present are sand ridges and intervening swales that occur in beltextending up to 2.75 km inland from the present shoreline. Other landforms include the modernshoreline features of intertidal mudflats, beach, dunes, sand spits and estuarine areas at the mouthsof streams, while further inland are supra-tidal mudflats, mangrove and freshwater swamps, andstream courses. At the foot of Castle Hill and Many Peaks Range are small alluvial fans. Most of1
Environmental history of Rowes BayFigure 1 Landforms of the Rowes Bay areathese landforms remain today as much of the area is within the Town Common Environmental Park.However, construction of the airport runways has removed ~75 ha of beach ridges and swales,while the Rowes Bay Golf Course and suburban development at Pallarenda, Rowes Bay andBelgian Gardens, has partly modified some of the landforms.3.2.1 Sand Ridges and SwalesThe sand ridges consist of low sand accumulations up to 300 m wide, rising 3.5 – 6 m above meansea level (asl), and aligned parallel to the present shoreline. Between these are low-lying swales atabout 2 – 2.5 m asl. These depressions are usually composed of much finer mud sediments, and aretypically occupied by swamps and stream courses, or nearer the present shoreline, supra-tidal2
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