The Bugle 17 February 2018
A fortnightly celebration of people and places on the Upper South Coast of NSW
Serving the communities of Kiama, Gerringong, Jamberoo, Kiama Downs, Minnamurra and Gerroa and now at www.thebugleonline.com
Inside this issue
Tragedy averted at South Bombo Three visitors from Sydney owe their lives to these local teenage surfers, Ronin Murray and Callum Cunningham, who rescued them from a rip at South Bombo. Once they heard the family on the beach calling for help and saw the three adult siblings were in trouble, they calmly implemented the skills and knowledge gained at a three day surf survival course they did at their school, Kiama High. “As part of the theory and practical sessions, we were taught to back off a bit and calm them down, as the panicking can make it worse,” says Ronin. “I got her on my board and took her further out so she could calm down more, then brought her back through the waves. She was really struggling when I got to her.” In the meantime, Callum went to the aid of the other sister, and finding she could swim took her safely to a bank before rescuing their brother. “They obviously have no idea how a beach works,” he says. “They said they were used to pools.” The stretch of beach is signposted as not being suitable for swimming, but the message isn’t getting through, much to the frustration of Andy Mole, Kiama Council’s Head Lifeguard. “The sign clearly outlines the dangers and that there has been a death there, but we’ll be looking at whether further signage is needed at the end of the path to the beach,” he says. “It is incidents like this that show why people really need to swim between the flags. “The emergency radio we had at South Bombo over the summer holidays was used on several occasions to summon lifeguards from the other end of the beach.”
Pledges sought to start local bank p3 Kiama’s turns it on for the Queen’s Baton p 3
Moves to stop vandalism at Jones Beach p 5
Kiama Power joins the AFL Womens Comp p 9 Ronin Murray and Callum Cunningham saved three lives
Preparing for Spring Creek sell-off Work has begun to prepare for the long anticipated sell-off of Council land at Spring Creek. The new residential estate will also cover land owned by Boral and Sydney Trains, and could see around 100 new home sites brought to the market. The onsite investigations have included survey work, traffic investigations, geological testing,
ecological studies, heritage assessment and engineering assessments. The investigations will be fed into concept plans for a draft DCP which will provide further detail on Council’s requirements for future development of the land. The draft DCP will consider opportunities for, and constraints of, the site and linkages and relationships with surrounding hous-
ing, roads, creek, open space and other nearby features. An independent property and infrastructure consultancy is carrying out the investigations and preparing the draft DCP. An information session on the draft DCP is likely to occur in the middle of the year, prior to its submission to Council and subsequent exhibition.
Morgans Kiama Sevens attracts Rugby’s best p 12
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