One Mile's New Surf Life Saving Facility Officially Open

BY JESSICA ROUSE

The brand new One Mile Beach Lifeguard facility has opened in Port Stephens today.

The $840,000 dollar building is a massive improvement on the last facility and now features new storage for surf life-saving equipment, a first aid room and an elevated shark observation tower.

Community and Recreation Coordinator Brock Lamont says the council has worked with the local surf lifeguards to ensure the building meets their needs.

The new facility at One Mile Beach. Image supplied.

"It's a massive upgrade from the previous building that our lifeguards were operating from. There was a small facility there that was quite dated - it was a timber structure that had been there for quite some time so the guys were very happy to see the back of that building."

The shark observation tower is a particularly good part of the upgrade giving lifeguards better oversight of the beach and they'll be able to respond faster to shark sightings.

"One Mile is one of our more popular beaches and with the caravan park nearby we get quite a lot of people just dropping in to use the beach there so in terms of giving them a better facility to make sure that everyone is using the beaches is far safer," said Brock Lamont.

The facility will be open every day and operate between 9am and 5pm and 9am to 6pm during school holidays.

Port Stephens Lifeguard Supervisor Phil Rock really only has one message to beachgoers.

"As always, we're keeping the message simple - always swim at a patrolled location, always stay between the red and yellow flags, and never swim alone."

Koala hospital for One Mile Beach

BY ARIANA GATTI and JESSICA ROUSE

Port Stephens Council has backed a plan to build a Koala hospital and tourism facility at Treescape Holiday Park at One Mile Beach.

The hospital is set to cost about $3 million, and will treat sick and injured koalas from the local area in a bid to protect the dwindling population.

The long-term sustainability of the koala population is key and Secretary for Port Stephens Koalas Ron Land believes the hospital could be the answer they've been looking for.

"It'll give us a chance to conduct emergency treatment and also long term care. The facilities that we currently operate are all home based and whilst they're very high quality we just can't sustain that model. We have to centralise our facilities and our long term benefits for our carers and our koala population."

One Mile Beach is the ideal place for the hospital, with 2.5 acres of natural bushland where there's already a colony of koalas.

The tourism aspect of the hospital is very important in bringing in revenue to keep the hospital sustainable for years to come.

"Port Stephens council has done a magnificent job in developing the business model and really without them, this project wouldn't have seen daylight," said Ron Land.