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Helictite, (2018) 44: 1-30 Karst Studies in Australia 1916 J. V. Daneš Translated by John Pickett [email protected] Presented on 28 January 1916 and originally published in: Karststudien in Australian 1916 Sitzungsberichte der königlichen böhmischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Klasse, Jahrgang 1916, VI, 1-75 [Meeting reports of the Royal Bohemian Society of Sciences, Mathematical-Scientific Class Volume 1916, Part 6, Pages 1-75] Translated by John Pickett © 2017 John Pickett Translator’s Notes In translating “Karststudien in Australien” I have retained the sentences constructed by Daneš him- self, although these are long and frequently complex by modern standards. In other words, my sentences include the sense of all clauses and phrases used by Daneš, and the content bounded by full stops remains the same. Nonetheless, I have endeavoured to include the meaning of each phrase within his sentence, though my final ordering of individual phrases favours ease of reading rather than direct translation. To provide accentuation German uses spaced (“gesperrt”) characters, a convention unfamiliar to English readers. I have used italics to render this feature. Footnotes: Because of the differences in pagination between the original and the translation, footnotes have been relocated and their numbering has been adjusted to suit the new layout. I am grateful to colleagues Armstrong Osborne (Sydney) for assistance in ensuring precise terminol- ogy for karst features, and to Prof. Stephan Kempe (Darmstadt) for a read-through of the translation. © John Pickett, 2017 Journal compilation © Australian Speleological Federation Inc., 2018 Helictite, 44, 2018 1 Karst Studies in Australia Caves), in New South Wales the caves at Jeno- VI. lan, Yarrangobilly, Wombeyan Creek and the Wellington Caves. Karst Studies in Australia For my journey to Australia the study of karst By J. V. Daneš was more of a secondary matter, since my first th interest was the present position and the devel- Presented on 28 January 1916 opment of the continental divide, as well as Introduction other problems concerning hydrographic relationships in Australia, nonetheless I still had the As in all other continents, limestone is a very opportunity of visiting three of the cave areas widespread rock type and in numerous smaller in the fold mountains mentioned above: those or larger areas and in varying degrees of devel- at Chillagoe (beginning of February 1910), opment, shows those characteristic features Olsen’s Caves (in April 1910) and the Jenolan which are termed karst phenomena. Caves (in August 1910). Unfortunately, the geographical and geological I originally intended to use the latter part of my exploration of the Australian continent has so stay in Australia for the study of the karst of far not advanced far enough to be able to be the great Tertiary karst area, which is spread informed of all significant limestone areas and over the north of the Great Australian Bight all their surface expressions, but it is already in the broad surroundings of Eucla (so-called possible to separate them into three fundamen- Nullabor Plain), but I then found, with better tally different major groups, according to their knowledge of transport possibilities in Austra- nature, age and extent. lia, a longer excursion in the eastern margin The first group is comprised of those spatially of the great limestone plateau of tropical inner insignificant but very numerous limestone areas Australia, to the so-called Barkly Tableland in the old folded mountains of Australia, which in north Queensland, to be more profitable. I have undergone generally strong tectonic distur- am convinced, that here, within the short time bance and often also significant metamorphism. of 14 days, achieved more generally interest- These, because they are small and not hydro- ing observations, than I could have managed in graphically independent, offer little unusual for the Eucla area at greater expense of time and the study of karstic phenomena. In the second money. It was a long and fairly monotonous group belong the great limestone plateaux of trip from the terminus of the Great Northern Mesozoic or Tertiary age, which make up most Railway of Queensland in Cloncurry through singular karst regions which are little disturbed the dry and wild montane country of the north- tectonically and are of great extent, whose ern “Australian anticordillera” to the tableland study, however, is difficult because of their at Camooweal, from there, after several excur- remoteness from habitation and their desert sions to the local cave and doline groups, north character. The third group includes several cave to the Gregory River and then through the areas of restricted area, which were developed Carpentaria lowlands via Burketown and Nor- in Tertiary lime-sand dunes, and apparently are manton, and through the broad southern part of restricted to the coastal areas of south-western Cape York to Cairns! The excellent coach con- Australia. nections, which even these far-flung regions of Queensland enjoy, made it possible, to cover It would lead too far, were I to mention here all this great stretch of semi-desert of varying kind, those limestone occurrences of the first group, within six weeks, including detours, and rela- which are mentioned more or less comprehen- tively comfortably and quickly. sively in the geological and touristic literature, it is enough to mention those in which at least Since my sojourn in Queensland lasted too the most popular form of karst, namely caves, long, I was obliged to abandon the original plan has been detected and at least partly examined. of visiting the Eucla area, and could no longer Most of the Silurian and Devonian limestones visit even the smallest of the great limestone of the eastern montane belt of Australia, of the plateaux, the so-called Mosquito Plains, which eastern cordillera, are known for their caves; are spread over much more closely settled areas in eastern Queensland there are two generally on the boundary of South Australia and Victo- known and often described cave areas; one by ria. Of the caves of the third group, I only vis- Chillagoe far in the northeast and in the vicin- ited those in the neighbourhood of Yallingup, ity of Rockhampton (Olsen’s and Johannsen’s south of Cape Naturaliste, at the beginning of September. 2 Helictite, 44, 2018 Daneš (trans. Pickett) Karst in the surroundings of Chillagoe.1 climate. From the basal part of the York Peninsula in In the area to the west of Almaden (intersec- north-eastern Australia north of 17° 30’ S to the tion of the Mareeba – Chillagoe and Etheridge west of the continental divide there extends an railway lines) toward Muldiva the first of the ancient range in a SE – NW direction, which limestone hills begin to appear, and continue is made up of strongly folded, sometime meta- towards the NW as far as the neighbourhood of morphosed Palaeozoic strata, intruded by the Walsh River NW of Mungana and Redcap. mighty stocks of granitic rock. Now the range The most distant appear to be those of the is deeply eroded, and only the resistant rock immediate surroundings of Chillagoe; this little types form the short ridges and hills that are town is attached to the smelters, in which the seldom higher than 100 m above the level of manifold ores of the area are processed. The the surrounding broad valleys, and collectively absolute height of this region lies between 400 can probably be considered as the remains of – 600 m. an ancient peneplain, only recently affected by a renewed, though quite shallow erosion cycle. The hard, crystalline to marble-like lime- The valley shapes suggest a very advanced, stones are interbedded with quartzites, hard almost mature stage of the new cycle, although sandstones, soft and quartz-rich shales, which I am of the opinion that the broad valley forms have been metamorphosed to mica-schist and develop more rapidly in an arid climate, with gneiss towards the granite area. After a rela- stronger mechanical weathering and greater tively superficial topographic study, the relative effect of periodic floods, than in a normal humid age relationships of the individual rock types remain uncertain, because of their strong meta- ------------------------------------ morphism and complicated tectonics, the age 1 R.L. JACK & R. ETHERIDGE, The geology and palae- ontology of Queensland and New Guinea, pp 119 of the limestones however, on the basis of the – 121, 609 – 610, 737. fossils found there, seems to have been fairly R.L. JACK, The Chillagoe and Koorboora Mining Dis- certainly determined as Late Silurian by Ether- tricts. Queensland Geological Survey Report no. idge and Dunstan; originally R.L. Jack had 69, Brisbane, 1891. assigned them to the Gympie Division of the D.S. Thistlethwaite, The Chillagoe Caves. Proc. R. Geogr. Soc. Australasia. Queensland Branch, vol. Permo-Carboniferous system, and S. Skertchly IX, 1894. considered them Devonian. According to Jack, SYDNEY R.J. SKETCHLEY, Tin Mines of Watsonville, and it is possible that this chain of limestone contin- various tin, silver, copper and gold mines at Her- ues further to the north and is connected to the berton, Montalbion, Irvinebank, Muldiva, Calcifer, thick limestone complex that was discovered Chillagoe, California Creek, The Tate River etc. Queensland Geological Survey Report. Brisbane, by that author in the headwaters of the Mitchell 1897. and Palmer Rivers further to the north. B. DUNSTAN, Some Chillagoe geological notes. Annual Report of the Secretary of Mines for the year 1910. I could only spend a short time with my friend Queensland. Brisbane. 1901. Pp. 196–199. Dr K. Domin in the area around Chillagoe. R. ETHERIDGE, Junr. On the occurrence of the genus Through the gracious co-operation of Mr Mac- Halysites in the Palaeozoic rocks of Queensland Dermott, the commercial director of the Chilla- etc.

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