Wrapped Coast

Little Bay, property of Prince Henry Hospital, is located 14.5 kilometres southeast of the centre of Sydney. The cliff-lined shore area that was wrapped is approximately 2.4 kilometres long, 46 to 244 metres wide, 26 metres high at the northern cliffs, and is at sea level at the southern sandy beach. 90 000 square metres of erosion-control fabric (a synthetic, woven fibre usually manufactured for agricultural purposes) was used for the wrapping, along with 56.3 kilometres of polypropylene rope, 3.8 centimetres in diameter. Ramset guns fired 25 000 charges of fasteners, threaded studs and clips to secure the rope to the rocks. Ninian Melville, a retired major in the Army Corps of Engineers, was in charge of the workers at the site. Over four weeks, it took more than 100 workers (including 15 professional mountain climbers) and 11 volunteers (architecture and art students from the University of Sydney and East Sydney Technical College) in excess of 17 000 hours to complete the work. Opened on 28 October 1969, many thousands of visitors travelled to the coastline to see the project during the weeks the coast was wrapped.