It has stood the test of time – and tides – but the heritage-listed sea wall at Wollongong’s Flagstaff Hill just couldn’t withstand the wrath of the weekend’s wild seas.
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A section of the sandstone wall on the northern side of the headland, built in the 1880s, was smashed to pieces during Sunday night’s king tide.
Rocks of various shapes and sizes now litter the ground nearby and a temporary fence has been erected for safety reasons.
The extent of repairs required is unclear at this stage, a spokesman for the Department of Primary Industries (Lands) said.
Ironically, work to restore the ailing wall had been planned for the near future.
“Planning and preparation of design documentation had commenced to restore this seawall over the coming two years but had not commenced,” the spokesman said.
Repairs to another section of sea wall – between Pulpit Rock and the cliff face at the eastern base of Flagstaff Hill – were carried out last year.
The completed work included removal and replacement of failed cement capping, along with loose stones and crusts from the wall – extending the life of the existing sandstone rather than replacing it.
Those repairs were the first on Wollongong Harbour’s sea walls since a $400,000 project to fix the retaining wall at its southern edge was completed in 2013.
Meanwhile, other parts of the harbour weren’t spared the fury of Mother Nature at the weekend – a massive concrete block that forms part of the breakwall was toppled by the ferocious waves and a section of fencing ripped from the ground.
