Estuary Care Foundation founder Catherine McMahon’s vision for the banks of the Port River is one that pulls from the past to ensure a safer future for local residents.

By replacing man-made walls on the riverbanks with seagrasses and plants, adding environmentally-friendly seawalls restoring historic wetlands, the environmental group hopes to tick multiple boxes in one go.

It’s not just a beautification project for McMahon, who founded the ECF in 2016, but one that aims to protect residents from future flooding.

The vision – unveiled today on World Environment Day – also prioritises Indigenous heritage.

It’s a comprehensive plan that will require collaboration across all three levels of government, said McMahon,  a former public servant who has been involved in environmental protection organisations like the Port Adelaide Environment Forum in the past.

She established the ECF after learning about the idea of ‘living shorelines’ from environmental consultant Peri Coleman, who has been instrumental in crafting a similar vision for the St Kilda wetlands.

Speaking to InDaily, McMahon said the proposal was driven by recognition of how things once were at pre-colonial Port Adelaide.

“I have a great deal of admiration for what I see as a living system,” she said.

“The story that’s typically been told is the colonial story, with people mincing through the mud. Whereas, there was a prior story: the Kaurna people who lived there – particularly in the summer – describe the fish, all sorts of mammals and birds and eggs.

“I see the river as being heroic; it has provided all of that to the Kaurna community and then endured all of this abuse. Now it’s in a process of seeking to restore itself and in various ways we’re trying to help.”

Hart’s Mill sits alongside the Port River. Photo: David Simmons/InDaily.

That help is already underway, through trials of a living shoreline and the restoration of shellfish like native oysters which help filter the water and make the river their home.

The local council is already implementing some of the ECF’s ideas: a new Aboriginal cultural centre is being built in the inner harbour, called Yitpi Yartapuultiku.

The City of Port Adelaide and Enfield describes the project as a “new and exciting Aboriginal cultural destination”, and part of the centre’s development includes building a living shoreline on the riverbed just next to the Bower Road bridge, including mangroves and native plants.

As part of construction, dirt and sand has been removed to create the living shoreline.

The council said it would “re-naturalise the river edge and provide new vegetation, rock pools and habitat for birds and marine life”.

Yitpi Yartapuultiku under construction by builder SARAH. Photo: David Simmons/InDaily.

North of the building site on the other side of the river, an example of what a living shoreline might look like has already been built by the ECF.

Walking with InDaily along the riverside footpath, McMahon pointed out a concrete pole supporting the Hart Street bridge connecting Port Adelaide to Glanville.

The pole features a painted quote from local Indigenous elder Veronica Brodie, which neatly sums up what ECF is more or less trying to achieve:

“I want you to imagine your way back to the year 1840 on the Port Adelaide River. Just think what it would have looked like then. No buildings. Just the natural trees, the grasses, the reeds, the black swans on the river and the Kaurna camps that were there. The whole area was filled with the traditional wurlies, with Kaurna people moving up and down. It would have been a wonderful sight in those days to stand on the hill and see all the campfires lit up all the way to Outer Harbor.”

A Veronica Brodie quote painted on a pole holding up the Hart Street bridge. Photo: David Simmons/InDaily.

Heritage is just one element of the group’s vision. Along the river, buildings are at threat from rising sea levels and storm surges in the estuary, and Port Adelaide is prone to flooding.

ECF is calling on the state government and the council for finalised and updated sea-level rise projections for the river. Simultaneously, it hopes its living shoreline concept will be an eco-engineering solution to the issue.

Other protection ideas from the organisation include restoring fringe wetlands along the shoreline and redesigning infrastructure to increase pollution capture in stormwater systems.

Returning the riverbed to how it once was is a priority for ECF. Photo: AI-generated image via ECF.

The local council is preparing a Stormwater Management Plan for the Baker Inlet Central area as well as a Port River Stormwater Management Plan, but McMahon noted that the suburb was “one of the most vulnerable” along the river.

“My concern is that the State Government may tend to wait until people get flooded,” she said.

“We’ve gone for this period of time without anybody saying ‘We will implement a coordinated response to this’.

“We’ve got an area that’s at risk of a sea level rise, and there is the potential to try and fix that in a more environmentally friendly way. You can use things like the living shorelines, but if you can’t let’s at least make it more environmentally friendly.”

Pacific oysters call the Port River their home and filter the water. Photo: David Simmons/InDaily.

McMahon isn’t sure how much the entire project could cost, but hoped the state government would consider it before the 2026 state election, giving her more to time to “sell the idea”.

“It really needs some leadership from the state government to make this a priority and to engage across all levels of government to make it happen,” she said.

In response to questions from InDaily, Port Adelaide and Enfield Mayor Claire Boan said the council had “long advocated for Living Shorelines to be part of improving the ecology and climate resilience of the Port River and estuary system, first in a series of sea level rise investigations between 2005 and 2015 and in the AdaptWest regional climate change adaptation plan, approved in 2016”.

“The Estuary Care Foundation was established in 2016 in part in response to issues raised in the AdaptWest plan. The council has since provided funding to ECF to support some of its on-ground projects,” Boan said.

“The council acknowledges the important role that ECF has played in being a community voice for the river and its advocacy for living shorelines. The City of PAE has also continued to advocate for improved governance arrangements for the Port River and Barker Inlet systems for improved environmental, economic and social outcomes.

“Our ongoing and broader commitment to restoring the river’s ecological health and climate resilience has led to investing in the Living Shoreline at Yipti Yartapuultiku in Port Adelaide, which is currently under construction. We are removing the deteriorated river bank and creating a new living shoreline which will re-naturalise the river edge and provide new vegetation, rock pools and habitat for birds and marine life. This will be the first time in over a century that the rise and fall of the tide can be seen from this part of the Port River.”

Environment Minister and Deputy Premier Susan Close – also the state member for Port Adelaide – was asked by InDaily for comment about whether the state government would back the vision.

She said the state government, through Green Adelaide, was “working with the Estuary Care Foundation and Catherine McMahon on the revised vision for the area”.

“I have met with Catherine and do support the great work of the organisation in protecting and conserving a unique part of metropolitan Adelaide’s coastline,” Close said.

“Anything we can do to improve the mangroves and other parts of the estuarine environment will benefit us all in terms of improving amenity while helping to restore precious ecosystems.

“The State Government will continue to work with the Foundation to improve this truly unique part of my electorate.”

Such sweeping upgrades and changes to the estuary will be challenging, McMahon admits, which is why the establishment of a Commissioner for the river is part of the vision too.

ECF hopes any commissioner would be responsible for coordination with state and local governments. It would also lead the development of long-term plans for the river, advise governments about responses to climate risks, interface between industry and community bodies, and facilitate information sharing.

“We need to be doing what we can to support the health of the estuary and then we need our community to feel proud and connected to it as well,” McMahon said.