NARACOORTE CAVES NATIONAL PARK: VISITOR FACILITY UPGRADES Deborah Carden
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Journal of the Australasian Cave and Karst Management Association No. 105 December 2016 Australia Post- Print Post Approved: PP381624/02050. ISSN 1835-5374 Published Quarterly The ACKMA Journal ACKMA Inc. OFFICE BEARERS 2016-17 Official Publication of the Australasian Cave and President Karst Management Association Incorporated Dale Calnin Email: [email protected] Published quarterly in March, June, September and New Zealand Vice President December Neil Collinson Email: [email protected] The opinions expressed in the ACKMA Journal are those of the individual authors and not necessarily Australian Vice President those of ACKMA Inc. or its officers. John Brush Email: [email protected] EDITOR: Steve Bourne Executive Officer SUB EDITORS: Tony Culberg, Andy Spate Dan Cove Email: [email protected] Photos taken by the authors or editor unless Treasurer and Membership Officer otherwise acknowledged. Deborah Carden Email: [email protected] PRINTER: Hansen Print, Smith Street, Naracoorte, South Australia 5271. Ph: (08) Publications Officer and ASF Liaison Officer 87623699 Steve Bourne Email: [email protected] ACKMA Inc. is cross affiliated or otherwise Committee member associated with: Scott Melton Email: [email protected] Australian Speleological Federation, New Zealand Speleological Society, Australasian Bat Society, Committee Member The WCPA Working Group on Cave and Karst Tim Moulds Email: [email protected] Protection, Guiding Organisations Australia, Bat Conservation International, American Cave Committee Member Conservation Association, International Show Ann Augusteyn Email: [email protected] Caves Association, Cave Diving Association of Australia, The Malaysian Karst Society, The Webmaster Jenolan Caves Historical & Preservation Society Rauleigh Webb Email: [email protected] and the USA National Speleological Society Cave Conservation and Management Section Public Officer LIFE MEMBERS of ACKMA Inc. Cath Loder Email: [email protected] Steve Bourne*, Michael Chalker*, Peter Chandler*, Brian Clark*, Alan Costigan, Grant Gartrell*, Kent Henderson*, Elery Hamilton- Smith*, Ernst Holland*, Greg Martin*, Chester Shaw*, Andy Spate*, Clyde Stiff, Dianne Vavryn*, Rauleigh Webb*, Kevan Wilde*, David Williams*. IN THIS ISSUE (*previously elected as Fellows) Editorial - Steve Bourne Page 3 FELLOWS of ACKMA Inc. President’s Message - Dale Calnin Page 5 John Ash, Anne Augusteyn, Peter Bell, Steve Bourne, Dale Calnin, Deborah Carden, Arthur Capricorn Caves - Ann Augusteyn Page 6 Clarke, Grant Gartrell, Ken Grimes, Ian Houshold, Julia James, Neil Kell, Kevin Keirnan, Lana Little, Vale Kenneth Grimes - Greg Middleton Robyn McBeath, Cathie Plowman, Dennis Rebbechi, Barry Richard, Dave Smith, John and Andy Spate Page 7 Watson, Nicholas White, Anne Wood, Phil Wood. Show Caves of Hawaii - John Brush Page 10 ACKMA PRESIDENTS ACKMA AGM Te Anau - Neil Collinson Page 17 Ernst Holland 1987-91, Andy Spate 1991-95, Michael Chalker 1995-97, Greg Martin 1997-99, The Effect of a rainfall event on Mole Creek caves Brian Clark1999-2001, Peter Dimond 2001-02, Peter Chandler 2002-03, Robyn McBeath 2003-05, - Rolan Eberhard Page 23 Steve Bourne 2005-11, Peter Chandler 2011-13, Dan Cove 2013-16 Dale Calnin 2016- Naracoorte Caves upgrades - Deborah Carden Page 28 Back to Jenolan - Kent Henderson Page 32 FRONT COVER: Lava straw, Kazumura Cave, A visit to the Cradle of Humankind - Steve Bourne Page 34 Hawaii Photo: John Brush Andysez- Andy Spate Page 38 Indonesia, South Korea, Sarawak - Andy Spate page 39 Page 2 ACKMA Journal No. 105 December 2016 EDITORIAL Steve Bourne Somehow another journal has managed to materialise! Thank you to the contributors who have taken the time to add their work to the ever growing volume of knowledge recorded by ACKMA members. I think we sometimes underestimate the value of what we do, and this was obvious when I visited Indonesia in September with Andy Spate to participate in a cave and karst management workshop. The Indonesian Speleological Society is new, energetic and seeking to establish guidelines to improve the management of caves and karst throughout Indonesia, no small task when you consider the Indonesian Archipelago is made up of around 18,000 islands! This journal includes an obituary, recognising the contribution of Ken Grimes to cave and karst management and research. Deborah Carden’s report on developments at Naracoorte Caves is dedicated to Ken, as he provided his wisdom to this project. Liz Reed being photographed by Australian Geographic photographer Bill Bachman in Blanche Cave, Naracoorte. Rolan Eberhard provides a report on the June floods in Tasmania. I have just returned from Tasmania and Marakoopa Cave is still closed as a result of this freak rain event. John Brush provides a report on the Vulcanospeleology Conference in Hawaii, complemented as always with excellent images. Kent Henderson’s report on a trip to Jenolan raises concerns about infrastructure that is not surviving in the cave environment, a real concern, and something that I observed in King Solomons Cave in Tasmania. Their lights are reacting and appear to be deteriorating rather quickly. I hope the funds can be found by cave managers to address issues such as these. I have had a busy few months in caving; Nullarbor, Tasmania Liz Reed and I were contacted by a local resident who had and Indonesia. The Indonesian Speleological Society (ISS) held found a “cave”. Her boys had dug a hole under the calcrete a cave and karst management workshop and invited ACKMA to surface and continued digging. At last check, it is still growing attend. Andy Spate and I attended as invited keynote speakers. and providing hours of entertainment and exercise excavating sediment from it. Corrections Journal 104 contained an excellent paper by Garry K. Smith on calthemites. Unfortunately it contains 2 errors in equations where subscripts were missed meaning the equations don't anatomically balance. Equations 1 and 2 on page 18 should read CaO(s) + H2O(l) ↔ Ca(OH)2(aq) ↔ Ca2+(aq) + 2OH− (aq) [1] Any carbon dioxide (CO2) trapped in the mix reacts with the Ca(OH)2 to precipitate CaCO3 within the concrete structure [Equation 2]. Ca(OH)2(aq) + CO2 (g) ↔ CaCO3(s) + H2O(l) [2] On page 19, fourth line from the bottom on the left column, should read CO2, not CO2. Apologies to Garry for these errors. 17th International Congress of Speleology Registration is now open Early-bird registration rates open until 31 January 2017 The congress will be a once in a lifetime event for Australian and New Zealand cavers as this event is unlikely to be held in the Australasian region again in our lifetimes. The congress will provide tremendous opportunities for local cavers to meet with international cavers, hear their presentations and make invaluable connections for visiting caves in other countries. With less than five months until early-bird registration closes, it’s time to talk to your speleological colleagues about the many benefits of attending the 17th ICS. Full details at www.speleo2017.com Page 3 ACKMA Journal No. 105 December 2016 The workshop was held in Bandung, about 180km from energetic and interested group on cave interpretation. Jakarta, but due to the incredibly heavy traffic, over 4 hours Indonesia has relatively few show caves and is keen to develop driving time. The workshop location was the university campus more, but is very conscious of doing this correctly. Their of tourism business management. All students work uniforms proposed guide training and accreditation program is excellent and are the most polite people you would ever want to meet. and exceeds what we have in the cave industry in Australia. Sherly was assigned to look after me ensuring I had drinks, Accredited guide programs were discussed at the Rockhampton food and any other needs catered for. AGM in May. Some Queensland guides are part of the The workshop commenced with formal introductions, then the Savannah Guides program, and Jenolan Caves (and maybe singing of the national anthem. It was Friday, so the workshop others?) has delivered certificate courses in the past, but we program had a couple of hours break for prayers, and don't have a national program as Indonesia is seeking to commenced in earnest after lunch. During the lunch break, establish. Andy gave a presentation on Australian caves, a whirl wind One presentation was from the Pacitan province, which tour of the Australian cave scene. This was very useful as it set includes the show cave Goa Gong. The lighting is not to our the scene for our later talks. tastes, being lit with a multitude of colours. it is a major visitor Andy was the first speaker on the topic of show cave attraction though, with numbers increasing from 148,000 in management - good and bad. I followed with an example of a 2013 to 247,000 in 2015, and 221,000 for the first 7 months of cave redevelopment, a project in Victoria Fossil Cave from a few 2016. as you would imagine, this accelerated rate in visitor years ago, which was presented to ACKMA in 2009 in Western numbers is placing huge pressure on the infrastructure and Australia. We were followed by some local speakers, who challenging for cave managers. It was a pity is was a little too presented in Indonesian. This made it very challenging for the far from our location to visit as I think it would be quite an eye mono linguistic Australians! opener in more ways than one. The following day Andy and I worked with two different groups; I had the honour of meeting Prof Robbie Ko and conversing Andy on show cave management and I worked with a very with him for quite some time. Prof Ko was a friend of Elery Hamilton-Smith. He gave me a copy of a bound collection of his papers and its easy to see why he and Elery were such good friends. Like Elery, his interests and expertise are wide ranging and his writings reflect this.