In 2016, Tom Oliver, Colin Woodroffe and I visited Jack at his home in Beecroft (Sydney) to present to him our just published paper in his honour in geographical research. We titled the paper “Formation of beach-ridge plains: an appreciation of the contribution by Jack L. Davies”. Read More

A paper has recently been published in Geophysical Research Letters on the use of beach morphostratigraphic records to decipher past extreme coast erosion. Read More

I recently had the privilege of attending the annual conference of the Environmental Defence Society (EDS) of New Zealand in Auckland (14-15 August 2019). This is the major conference in NZ on environmental policy and management. Each year there is a focus on a different theme. Read More

In July an important paper of international relevance was published in Frontiers and Marine Science titled “Collaborative science to enhance coastal resilience and adaptation”. The lead authors were C. Reid Nichols and Don Wright along with 11 others including Scott Bainbridge from AIMS in Townsville. Read More

Science can be incomprehensible to many, yet it requires others to help communicate and apply great works such as those of Albert Einstein. Climate change science is also quite complex and those in this field are facing similar difficulties to those who sought to explain relativity to the broader public. It is irresponsible of decision-makers to not trust the science and ignore its implications in today’s uncertain world. Read More

One of my prized possessions are books written by Douglas Wilson Johnson. Who is he? I regard him as one of the fathers of modern geomorphology, especially coastal geomorphology. Read More

Meanderings around the Australian coast excite one’s interests in so many weird and wonderful ways. Long ago I was fascinated by the writings of Reg Sprigg on the elevated palaeo-shorelines of South Australia. They stood in strong contrast to anything I had observed in NSW and southern Queensland. Read More

It is often said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. For me a trip to the beach is enhanced when I see cusps. These delightful, rhythmic features are often so captivating in their geometric Read More

I am not sure how many Australians appreciated promises made about coastal issues during the recent federal election. Perhaps very few. This despite the fact that so much of our national well-being and livelihoods are dependent on healthy coasts and waterways. Yet it is interesting to look at promises made by the two major parties and think about what our federal system has to offer over the next 3 years (and beyond!). Read More

It was a thrill last week to attend a meeting of four generations of folk interested in mangrove science. The gathering took place at University of Wollongong and involved my former PhD student, Professor Neil Saintilan, his former PhD student Kerrylee Rogers now Associate Professor, and her postgraduate students, Kirtie Lal and Kristian Kumbier. Colin Woodroffe was also present highlighting the breadth of interest and range of work undertaken over the past 50 plus years by this group in mangrove ecology and links to geomorphology. Read More