Warning on dangers lurking in our river
PETER Sheridan has had a long involvement in Wellington’s Canoe Club and most weekends you’ll find the former club president paddling on the rivers around town.
Last week he found two steel fencing posts sticking out of the low water and said there are so many dangers when it comes to swimming in rivers, even people who are paddling on them constantly are always finding new traps for the unwary.
first reported the discovery last week and shared water safety tips from the Royal Life Saving Society. Mr Sheridan has stressed the need for river users to be on the lookout for snags and dangers such as the rusted star posts.
“We discovered it when the river was down and thought ‘that’s a problem’.
“With the pool being closed in Wellington (while it’s being rebuilt) there’s going to be more and more people – kids in particular – that just go down and dive in to the water without even sussing it out,” Mr Sheridan told
“We’re aware of these posts in the river and so we thought we’d better break them off, but it needs attention drawn to the fact that anything can be out there and just to race down and dive into the water is courting disaster really.
“There’s a death already associated with the water where we found these posts and kids, parents and grandparents have just got to be careful and make sure that their grandkids are aware of possible dangers,” he said.
Mr Sheridan believes the variable nature of Australia’s rivers are also a concern when it comes to safety. River heights and speeds fluctuate, not only after major rain events, but also when irrigation or environmental water is being released from Burrendong Dam which is just upstream of the town on the Macquarie River.
“People might think they’re in the middle of the river in deep water but the next thing you know you’re caught on a log that’s just under the surface – so you can never be careful enough,” Mr Sheridan said.
“Every week we paddle on the river here locally and, as you’re paddling along quietly, every now and again you get caught yourself. You’ll be stuck up a log and thinking, ‘God, I didn’t see that.’”