LIMESTONE CAVES OF NSW

 9. KYBEAN  CAVES

8.   WILLI WILLI CAVES                                                             From "Helictite" magazine October 1965 Where is this place, you may well ask! Inland from the mid north coast - and not a place I have visited. Quotes are from the National Parks and Wildlife Plan of Management. " Willi Willi Caves Nature Reserve covers 8ha and is located on the Mid North Coast of NSW on the lower slope of a ridge in the upper Macleay River catchment, 35 km to the west of Kempsey. Willi Willi Caves Nature Reserve protects part of a limestone karst system. The Australian Speleological Federation (ASF 1985) lists some 37 entrances in the reserve with the Willi Willi Bat Cave being the main feature. This cave is basically one large chamber with a number of branching tunnels connected to it and is used as a maternity cave by the common bent-wing bat. " "  The entrance of this cave lies directly under the crest of a small fold about 10m across and the main chamber is

 7. CLIEFDEN CAVES WARM SPRING The Belubula River at the warm spring site After  the first crossing of the Blue Mountains in 1813, Surveyor George Evans was given the responsibility of exploring the country around the site of Bathurst.  The outcrop of Cliefden Caves Limestone at the junction of Limestone Creek and the Belubula River was discovered during the explorations of George Evans on 24 May 1815 (2 years after the crossing of the Blue Mountains). Limestone was an essential material then as now, being used to make quicklime (calcium oxide) by heating it strongly and then slaked lime (calcium hydroxide) by adding water. These were required for making mortar and c ement for building. In the early days shells were collected for burning around Sydney, but the supply was always inadequate. Evans' discovery showed that limestone could be found in the newly discovered country. See also my blog on the Limekilns area near Bathurst. Surveyor General John Oxley reported soon after "

  6. WELLINGTON CAVES While not the first limestone caves to be discovered in NSW, they were the first to become well known, largely because of the many fossils which were found in their muddy filling. The first reference to caves near Wellington that I have found is this painting by Augustus Earle, made in 1826 and labelled "Mosman's Cave". It definitely shows the entrance to today's "Cathedral Cave". In May 1830 George Rankin of Bathurst entered the cave. There is a fascinating report in the " Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser ", Tuesday May 22nd 1830. You can download yourself from Trove or perhaps read it here. Sorry about the font size! There is more to the newspaper report which you will need to locate yourself. More excavations for fossils were carried out through the 19th century and later. Fossils From the Caves           A few examples of the tens of thousands of fossils found in the caves. These are in no way related to the f

  ROSEBROOK CAVES                             The Rosebrook Caves have been formed in an extensive belt of limestone (the Bunyan Limestone) a few km north-west of Cooma in southern NSW. The caves described below are located in the northern part of the outcrop. Some of karst features in the limestone appear to be quite ancient. Fossils are relatively rare. The first mention of Rosebrook Caves that I have found was in the DailyTelegraph (Sydney) Tuesday 26th January 1892. " CAVES DISCOVERED NEAR COOMA , Monday.  Last week a few persons descended a hole on Rosebrook Station, six miles from Cooma, From Carne & Jones. The cave is under the M of "Woolumla" which has been known for years,in the hope of finding a cave. After descending about 60ft. they came to a chamber 30ft. high by 20ft. wide by 40ft. long. The cave was surrounded by splendid formations of stalagmites and stalactites, many of which were accidentally broken off. There is a considerable draught in the chamb