The safety of visitors is the highest priority for the Department. We are working towards remediating Bonnie Vale and reopening the campground.
We need to address three key priorities before reopening the campground:
- appropriate actions to remediate areas affected by asbestos
- consideration of environmental issues including the recent coastal erosion
- protection of Aboriginal cultural heritage and potential archaeological materials.
Pedestrian access from Bundeena to Maianbar, across Cabbage Tree Basin, remains open. Bonnie Vale day picnic area and other facilities remain open.
We will continue to provide updates about this project on this webpage.
Thank you for your understanding and continued support of NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) as we work to reopen the Bonnie Vale campground. This project is part of the Improving Access to National Parks program.
Managing old asbestos at Bonnie Vale
We are working with relevant authorities, including the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) and NSW Health on this issue. Specialist contractors have been engaged to monitor and assist in the management of asbestos-containing material as fragments emerge from the soil across the site.
We are developing plans to remediate the campground area with ongoing monitoring and inspections as part of this process.
Upcoming works at Bonnie Vale
Coastal protection works
Bonnie Vale is highly vulnerable to coastal erosion and inundation. Severe weather events earlier in 2020 lead to the creek from Cabbage Tree Basin breaking through the north-western shoreline of the campground. Severe scouring has since occurred and works to protect and stabilise the north-western section of the campground and the western portion of the day use area will be undertaken.
Temporary coastal protection works are being undertaken to address the urgent need to protect active foreshore erosion. Rock-bags were installed along the north-western shore-line of the campground in January 2021 and the existing sand-bag wall will be extended further along the western end of the day use area (near the campground entrance) during February and March 2021. We are also investigating engineering options for more permanent protection of the shoreline.
The track between Maianbar and Bonnie Vale through the campground is open to pedestrians. We ask that visitors stay on the track and avoid the work area as heavy machinery will be in use. See the NPWS Visitor page for current alerts.
Boat launching area
We have completed stabilisation of the boat launching area by installing a surface to the entrance area to protect the area from erosion.
A new gate at the entry of the boat launching area has also been installed. The installation of the gate provides a mechanism to manage access to the area should it be necessary for a range of short-term emergency operational reasons. There is no proposal for any changes to general boat access.
Aboriginal cultural heritage at Bonnie Vale
National Parks and Wildlife Service, in partnership with Extent Heritage, undertook a series of archaeological excavations in October 2020 to uncover insights about the Dharawal people, the traditional owners of the Bundeena area, who lived in and around Bonnie Vale for thousands of years.
You can learn more about this process and the importance of Aboriginal archaeology in the video below (courtesy of Extent Heritage).