The Esperance community is desperate for beachgoers to heed safety warnings after ‘black rock’ drownings.

Greg Kleinig and his friends had finished at the local gun club and were driving to the beach to eat hamburgers.

It was the morning of October 14, 1973 – a day that would soon become folklore in the Western Australian community of Esperance, 700 kilometers south-east of Perth.

As they headed over the hill, away from the city, they saw a crowd gathered at picturesque West Beach.

Assuming a lucky angler had landed a big fish, they continued on for lunch.

But on the way home, the crowd was even bigger, so they decided to see what the fuss was about.

“I could see it was a man hanging from a small piece of rock sticking out of the water,” Mr. Kleinig says now.

“The conditions were horrendous that day … and he was just beaten.”

The man had spent about 20 hours in the relentless sea, sliding off the rocks the previous evening.

As the minutes ticked by, something inside the teenage Mr. Kleinig “snapped.”

“I told my two friends, ‘I’m going in to get him,'” he said.

But the young man was a competent spear fisherman and usually confident in the water.

“I was comfortable until I actually got into the ocean,” Mr. Kleinig said.

“It was ferocious.”

Slippery Rocks “Like Ice”

Since 2019, seven lives have been lost in cliff drownings along the Esperance coast.

According to Surf Life Saving Western Australia, three of the deaths involved fishermen, while four people were walking along the rocks when they either slipped or were swept out to sea by rogue waves.

Esperance Coastal Safety president Chris Brien grew up always hearing the same warning: Don’t go black.

“There’s a black fringing around the bottom of the rocks where the water is washing up,” he said.

“This is actually a mushroom that grows on rocks and when it’s dry it’s quite sticky.

Most of the drownings involved tourists.

After three tragedies in 2020, the group has stepped up its media strategy and messaging around not only slippery black rocks, but also beach walking, fishing and offshore boating.

Although they are optimistic about their progress, they are not satisfied.

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As the summer tourist season approaches, Esperance community leaders are desperate for visitors heed their warnings.

“Drownings are seasonal,” Mr Brien said.

“It depends on the season, the wind, the swell and the conditions of the day.”

Inspect the conditions

Esperance has a lifeguard club which relies on volunteers to patrol Twilight Beach on Sundays and bank holidays during the summer.

Mr Brien said that while an expanded surf lifesaver presence would improve safety, it was impossible to patrol all local beaches.

“To provide a service other than Twilight (Beach), that’s a pretty big ask,” he said.

“We just don’t have the staff to do that.”

According to the latest National Drowning Report, there were 19 cliff-related drownings in Australia in 2023/24.

Almost 60% of the tragedies involved people being swept off cliffs, while none of the victims were wearing life jackets.

While life jackets are not mandatory for rock fishermen in Western Australia, Esperance is among the communities where they can be borrowed free of charge from various local businesses.

Mr Brien said it would be “pretty impossible to police” the mandatory wearing of lifejackets, but he had seen positive uptake in the loan service.

As someone who has responded to many coastal emergencies, he implored all beachgoers – locals and tourists alike – to familiarize themselves with the conditions.

“If you don’t think those conditions suit the abilities of the people on the beach you’re with, then move to another beach,” he said.

A cautionary tale

Mr. Kleinig saved the young man’s life that October morning more than five decades ago.

He pulled the local Miles Cattle out of the sea and pictures of the exhausted ones were splashed in the Esperance Express newspaper a few days later.

“It’s definitely made me more careful and made me very aware of people dying on our coast,” he said.

These days Mr. Kleinig, a father of five, runs a busy takeaway where an enlarged photograph from the rescue stands as a reminder of the region’s treacherous coastline.

Mr Cattle had a career in business before his death in Thailand in 2012.

Mr. Kleinig had a message for anyone thinking of walking along the cliffs.

“You have to wear a life jacket, even if you’re just going for a walk,” he said.

“Having a proper life jacket will at least keep you afloat.

“There have been cases in Esperance … where bodies are never recovered.

“It’s hard on the community and unbearably hard on parents and loved ones.”