STORMIES

Brighton Jetty – situated some 15 kays southwest of Adelaide – was first built in 1886 in a T-shape. Storms over the years, however, threatened its alphabetical stability. Sporadic batterings gradually fashioned it into an “L” until May 1994, when the Gulf St Vincent was throttled by what Bodhi would’ve described as the 50-year storm.

I still remember Mum driving my sisters and me home from school that afternoon (I was seven and three-quarters) and her telling us how it had been obliterated. She drove slowly along the esplanade and, for the first time, I saw waves not only smashing into the jetty but completely washing over the top of it. Decaying timber splayed out at right angles. Supporting beams stood with nothing atop them, confused about what to do next. I