PEOPLE POWER WON THE DAY THEN AND CAN DO NOW. C'MON MOSMAN!!

Edwards Beach, Balmoral  was retained, 
thanks to People Power and Mosman Council 
which listened to, and was able to act upon local issues. 

Help to keep Mosman independent by attending the Mosman Community Meeting  - 

Monday 8 February, 6 pm at the the Mosman's Returned Service Club

FYI -'People Power' - 
Extract from 'THROUGH THE HEADS   to  Balmoral, Sydney'  

Shark Barriers at Balmoral -     One of the rejected  ideas was a 'Blackpool- style pier’ extending from the Island towards Wy-ar-gine, parallel with Edwards Beach. At the end of the pier there was to be a four towered edifice which would have dwarfed the future Bathers Pavilion and from there to the Wy-ar-gine rocks, a shark barrier was to be built.’ 

Fear of sharks  - shark barriers 

   From the cliff tops, silhouettes of Blue Pointers and Bronze Whalers were sometimes seen cruising over the white sandy bottom of the fish channel between Wy-ar-gine Point and the Spit.  

The danger was well known as Watkin Tench in 1788 wrote, “Sharks of an enormous size are found here.”  and “One of these was caught by the people on board the Sirius, which measured at the shoulders six feet and one of d a half in circumference…”


Various solutions had been suggested, one of which included ‘a Blackpool- style pier’  - see above which was rejected.  Another of Council’s initiatives was to erect a shark proof barrier along the full length of Edwards Beach.  This was to be made of turpentine piles and battens and would be revenue producing by  fencing in the beach and charging admission  for swimmers wishing to avail themselves to six acres of shark-free water.
The outcry from residents was deafening.  

“Hands off the Beach! Hands off the Beach!” was a public rallying cry in 1930, adopted by those who were opposed to Council’s initiative re their response to the problem of shark attacks.  A Beaches Defence Committee was formed against the turnstile component of the barrier plan and at an overflowing Town Hall meeting in 1930; the protest was led by Julian Howard Ashton, a son of Julian Rossi Ashton.  “We are not hostile to the Council.  We are opposed to any scheme which will fence off the beach against the public.”



In 1935 the Council accepted a tender for the steel net enclosure to be suspended between the Island and a tripod opposite the northern end of the Pavilion.   There were no shark attacks in Mosman waters during the next four decades probably because of the meshing program inside and outside the Heads and the proliferation of powered water craft.      Summarised from Mosman  - A History   Gavin Souter