Harsh winter weather has exposed almost 100 preserved trees from an ancient wetland on an Esperance beach, but there are fears over protecting the site on a popular four-wheel drive stretch.
Ferocious winter weather has exposed tree stumps and peat from an ancient intertidal wetland on a popular Esperance beach. The stumps offer an exciting opportunity for researchers, but are also preventing four-wheel drive access on the beach.
The Esperance Tjaltjraak Native Title Aboriginal Corporation says it is working closely with the shire to determine how to protect the site.Mitch Bassett has been going to his favourite spot at Wharton Beach, an hour's drive east of Esperance, since he was a child. " extremely popular, it's our favourite beach and I suspect that a lot of tourists are cottoning on to its beauty," he said.Where there was once white sand, almost 100 gnarled tree stumps have seemingly erupted from a dense layer of peaty mud. "The large swell has washed away most of the sand and exposed apparently some very old tree stumps," he said.Esperance local Mitch Bassett says he has never seen anything like the stumps at Wharton beach.The collection of twisting stumps are remnants of an intertidal wetland which researchers have dated to be at least 7,000 years old.Ingrid Ward is a geo-archaeologist who has been researching the site since 2021,The newly exposed stumps are the remnants of an ancient freshwater wetland.She said the exposure of the stumps, and peat which holds them, was a 'very exciting' opportunity for research. "It's a genuine, real, tangible vestige of a vast wetland which probably existed between the mainland and the outer islands," she said. "It's giving us a hint of when the sea level first reached this coastline when it was rising from a sea level low of 120 metres below .Until now, the stumps have been largely hidden by layers of sand and peat, which also worked to preserve them.While the find is exciting, it is on a popular four-wheel drive accessible beach. Dr Ward said the risk of degradation has increased due to its exposure and there is evidence of people driving through the peat."We can't replace it, and I don't think that's fair."Wudjari Nyungar Mirning Ngadju elder Ronald "Doc" Reynolds is the senior cultural adviser for ETNTAC and said the site was of "great importance", both culturally and environmentally."During analysis, we did see evidence of cultural material embedded into the area. "It's pretty well preserved, and it's highlighting evidence of Aboriginal occupation, way back in those days."(Dr Reynolds said the erosion of the dunes behind the exposed peat bog could reveal further archaeological and cultural material and ETNTAC rangers had been doing patrols along the eroded coastline to check. "We know that the dunal systems in history have been seen as burial sites for our people and hopefully human remains of our ancestors that have been buried there over millennia," he said.Dr Reynolds said the south coast had moved into Kambarang, one of the six Nyungar seasons, and he hoped the changed conditions would help protect the area. "We're currently into that season now ... where the wind starts to move from the west and it's moving around to the east," he said.Should that fail, Dr Reynolds said ETNTAC was working with the shire to consider solutions to put a temporary cover over the stumps."We can't hold nature, but we can try and minimise the effects and also protect what's already there,"" people to still come and enjoy our beautiful coastline, but respect the environment, and the cultural values embedded in that."
Peat Erinance Tjaltjraak Native Title Aboriginal Corpo Dr Ingrid Ward Dr Ronald Reynolds Peat Bog Ancient Forest Sea Level Change Environmental Research Wharton Beach
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