A group of Year 10 Geography students from Presbyterian Ladies' College (PLC) in Melbourne, Victoria, attended the Monash University School of Geography and Environmental Science in 2008 to undertake GIS and GPS extension studies. Their project was to utilise GIS and GPS to show how the Port Phillip Bay shoreline at the Victorian coastal township of Rye has evolved between 1966 and 2008. During their analysis, the students considered both natural coastal processes and human influences (for example, coastal engineering structures and foreshore developments) upon time-series shoreline change. Results show that whilst 'hard' engineering strategies (e.g. rock groyne building) have been successful in terms stabilisation of the shoreline at Rye, shoreline erosion still occurs down-drift of engineering structures. Student reccommendations are that shoreline erosion in this sector should be monitored in the future by the
responsible authority using a GIS-based approach, and possible remedial action taken where necessary (e.g. beach re-nourishment with coarse, relatively erosion resistant sands).