In quest of Nargun and Nyols: a history of indigenous tourism at the Buchan Caves Reserve Associate Professor Ian D. Clark School of Business, University of Ballarat, PO Box 663, Ballarat Vic 3353 Abstract caverns at Buchan was mentioned in Stuart Ryrie’s 1840 report (Ryrie 1840). The first This paper is concerned to document tourism mention in tourism literature of tourism at the and indigenous heritage values associated with caves dates from Bailliere’s Victorian Gazetteer the Buchan Caves Reserve in Gippsland, and Road Guide of 1879 where mention is made Victoria, Australia. It shows that indigenous of caves near the Buchan township (Aitken values have not been at the forefront of the 1994). Similar brief references to the ‘famous development of the tourism product at the Buchan caves’ appeared in Broome (1882, Buchan Reserve. The inattention to Aboriginal 1884) and Pickersgill (1885). However, the values within the development of tourism may earliest known reference to tourist use of the best be understood as a structural matter, a caves is believed to be RS Browne’s (1886) Our view from a window which has been carefully Guide to the Gippsland Lake. placed to exclude a whole quadrant of the landscape. Indigenous values of places were In 1889 the first geological surveying rarely discussed because they were not in the commenced. James Stirling, Assistant eye of the vision, ‘out of sight’ and ‘out of Government Geologist with the Mines mind’. Indigenous tourism at Buchan does not Department, published in 1889 a description challenge this understanding. of Duke, O’Rourke, and Dickson (Dixon) caves, and the Spring Creek, Wilson Creek, and Introduction Murrindal caves. He recommended that the This paper is concerned to document tourism Buchan Caves be developed as a tourist and indigenous heritage values associated with attraction, along the lines of the Jenolan Caves the Buchan Caves Reserve in Gippsland, in New South Wales. Stirling made ground Victoria, Australia. The cultural milieu of the plans of the Buchan and neighbouring caves 1840s Europe had seen a shift in the values of and heliotype plates from the expedition romanticism, in which emphasis was placed on photographs by J.H. Harvey, illustrating views feeling emotional about the natural world and in Wilson and Dickson caves. The status of ‘scenery was something one could gaze at with these photographs (and others by Harvey not delight’. Added to this re-valuing was the published in the report) has long been seen as effect of the rise of natural history and the being the first – but a much earlier photograph studies in geology that were emphasising the has now come to light and its provenance is great age of the world. Urry (1997: 20) currently being sought for confirmation (E. explains that ‘Individual pleasures were to be Hamilton-Smith pers. comm. 17/5/2007). derived from an appreciation of impressive AE Kitson, a geologist with the Mines physical sites’. He considers that romanticism Department, in 1900 reported on the caves led to the development of ‘scenic tourism’. An along Spring Creek. He recommended that essential interest in this new sensibility was cave reservations be set apart along Spring and caves and other geological curiosities. Caves Cave (now Fairy) creeks, at Dickson, were fine examples of ‘nature’s handiwork’, Slocombe, and Wilson caves, in the vicinity of and the perception of caves partly as grottos The Pyramids and at the Camping Reserve was consistent with romanticism and attempts south of the Dickson Cave area. at domesticating the landscape (Davidson & Spearritt 2000: 8). By 1900 many of the more accessible portions of the caves had been damaged by vandalism, The Buchan Caves: a history but Kitson recommended that outstanding European settlement began in the Buchan features should be preserved and suggested district in 1837, and the presence of large new passages and chambers would likely be found along unexplored portions of the cave Cave and Karst Management in Australasia 17 Buchan, Victoria, 2007 25 complex. As a result of Kitson’s report 65 ha, Survey, 1975: 11). Thus, the entrances to the being the unsold portion of the Buchan three show caves are artificial. township, were set aside as a caves reserve by In July 1918, a committee of Management was the Department of Crown Lands and Survey constituted which continued until its (Government Gazette 19/7/1901; Swift 1951: reconstitution as an advisory committee in 3), and 48 ha adjoining this in the vicinity of 1946. the Spring Creek caves were also reserved (Government Gazette 29/1/1902). In 1926, the Swanston Motor Tourist Bureau was offering tours, inclusive of The ‘Fairy Cave’ was ‘discovered’ by Francis accommodation, to the Australian Alps, Mount (Frank) Herbert Arthur Moon, a local Buchan Buffalo, Omeo, Gippsland Lakes, and Buchan resident and prospector, on 16 March 1907. (8 days, cost £12.10s), and to the Gippsland He saw a small hole or crevice in the side of a Lakes and the Buchan Caves (8 days, £9.10s) hill, and enlarged it with some gelignite, and (Wells 1986:258). descended fifty feet to what is now known as ‘Fairy Cave’ (Salierno 1987:55). Dr John Flynn, The caves area which was reserved in 1901 had a Presbyterian Home Missioner in Buchan long been used for camping and was subjected during 1905-6 (McPheat 1963), accompanied to a number of changes in reservation status Moon on many of his earlier cave excursions, and regulations. But a major change came in and then paid a brief visit to the newly August 1930 when Hugh Linaker was discovered Fairy Cave. His photographs were commissioned to landscape the reserve. Then influential in persuading the Victorian in December 1938, after extensive Government to open the caves for tourism. construction of new camping and recreational Paths were constructed through the cave and facilities the Buchan Caves National Park was wire netting installed to protect the officially opened. decorations. Fairy Cave was opened to the The caves were closed to the public for four public in December 1907. Initially, lighting years from February 1942 owing to the fact was provided by candles given to the visitors that every staff member enlisted for military and magnesium lamps used by the guides. service during the Second World War (Swift Electricity was connected in 1920 when a 1951: 7). generating plant was installed, and this was used until 1969 when State Electricity In 1946, an Advisory Committee, under the Commission power was connected. chairmanship of EJ Pemberton, was formed to Subsequently there has been much upgrading advise the Department of Crown Lands and of the Caves and associated infrastructure. Survey, on the development, maintenance and supervision of the caves. In 1951, the advisory The ‘Royal Cave’ was located in November committee comprised representatives from the 1910, by a party led by Frederick J Wilson, Departments of Lands and Survey; Public Caves Supervisor of the Buchan Reserve since Works; Victorian Railways, and a Lands 1907, and formerly the manager of the Jenolan Officer from Bairnsdale (Swift 1951: 6). Caves in New South Wales (Swift 1951: 6). The others were Frank Moon and Constable In 1991, a draft management plan for the karst Brown, a local policeman (Allen and cave resources in the Buchan and correspondence 28/5/1968 in File ‘Caves and Murrindal area was produced (Boadle 1991). Tourism’; Brown 1920). At Royal Cave, in In that plan, it was stated that the Buchan 1913, William H. Bonwick and William Foster, Caves Reserves consist of nine separate blocks, reserve employees, cut through a solid block of the largest being immediately west of the black marble, and used a large quantity of Township of Buchan, generally known as the explosives to get through 150 feet. The cave ‘Buchan Caves Reserve’. Archaeological values opened to the public in November 1913. were listed as one of the values of the area, defined as ‘Cloggs cave was occupied by ‘Federal Cave’ was discovered in March 1915 aboriginals approximately 18,000 years ago. by Wilson and Bonwick, and possibly Frank Such sites as this were highly significant Moon (Moon 1985). In 1917, a tunnel was cut (Boadle 1991: 6). Research at Cloggs Cave had from the northern end of the Federal Cave, revealed important palaeo-environmental and and in November of that year, the public was palaeo-climatic information, in addition to its able to enter the cave (Dept. Crown Lands and Cave and Karst Management in Australasia 17 Buchan, Victoria, 2007 26 heritage values (Boadle 1991: 12). Within the ethno-historical records and general Recommended actions listed in the draft literature on Buchan, several meanings and management plan, included that ‘The derivations are given for the name ‘Buchan’. aboriginal history of the region will be included GA Robinson, for example, spelt Buchan in interpretive activities (Boadle 1991: 29)’. several ways: Buckun (Jnl 3/6/1844); Buckin (Jnl 17/6/1844); Bucking (Jnl 21/6/1844); In 1994, Richard Aitken, prepared a Buckan (Jnl 4/7/1844); and Bucken (Jnl Classification Report for the National Trust of 5/7/1844). Australia (Victoria) of the Buchan Caves Reserve. Aitken considered the Buchan One view is that it is of Scottish, or pseudo- Reserve ranked second to the Jenolan Caves Scottish, origin (Howitt 1904: 80; Seddon Reserve in New South Wales, in terms of its 1994:63; Morgan 1997: 21). The BSC (1989: 8) contemporary popularity, impact on local and suggested that the many people of Scottish regional development, surviving attributes and origin who settled in the district were historical importance. The Buchan Reserve responsible for the current spelling ‘Buchan’, contains many fine examples of protective after the town in Scotland.