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Naracoorte Caves National Park: Ron investigates the relics of the fossil cave on the Limestone Coast in the South East region of South Australia

Deep in the bowels of the Paleontology Department at Flinders University, PHD student Amy Macken sifts through a box of bones with mentor Rod Wells. Here, the questions never stop as Amy tries to make sense of bone fragments found in Blanche Cave at Naracoorte on the Limestone Coast.

Soon the "show and tell" session turns to Rod's collection of old black and white photos from a now world-famous caving expedition with colleague and friend Dr Grant Gartrell. The photos taken in Victoria Cave record the first images of one of the great fossil finds in history. From the momentous discovery, paleontologists could flesh out the story of Australia's mega fauna.

Rod Wells, Flinders University: "We worked out there had to be 3,000 tonnes of bone sediment. So goodness knows how many hundreds and thousands of animals were in there and how many were going to be these extinct marsupials. This was the beginnings of the research at Naracoorte Caves."

Visit the Wonambi Fossil Centre at the Naracoorte Caves complex today and you'll understand the importance of that find back in October 1969. It ultimately lead to the construction of an interpretive centre in which the diprotodon, a giant wombat like creature holds sway, along with thylacoleo, a tree climbing beast with teeth and jaws used to rip its prey to pieces. These giant creatures, some up two tonnes in weight, roamed Australia during the Pleistocene era which extends back two million years. Recently Ranger Deborah Carden took me into Victoria Cave with Amy and fellow student Michael Curry to see the site first discovered by their mentor Rod Wells all those years ago.

I know from experience - it takes a 'mind over matter approach' to overcome the claustrophobia inherent in caving like this. Naracoorte offers you the chance to test your mettle in confined spaces as part of its Adventure Caving experience. It will give you some idea of what Rod Well and Grant Gartrell were up against when they stumbled across this underground necropolis four decades ago.

Today this famous site has been made visitor friendly with railings and walkways and skeletal models and bone fragments that will keep all the family enthralled. We're allowed to go further than most to watch Amy and Michael at work in their brush with the past.

Michael Curry, Flinders University: "Down at the bottom of the pit we're looking at about 500,000 years ago and as we move up to the top - the top layer's been dated to about 2 and 13,000 years."

But to truly understand the breathtaking nature of this find you need to talk to the man who was a part of it. Back in October 1969 his colleague Grant Gartrell felt a breeze down here a sure sign that another cavity existed beyond.

Ron Well, Flinders University: "I swept the acetylene lamp around and there were all these funny saw toothed patterns that looked like bits of cave decoration that had fallen from the ceiling. I then realized that I was actually looking at the tooth rows of skulls. It's a paleontologist's dream to find a site as rich as that. We now know that the deposits of the caves at Naracoorte extend back an almost continuous record for 500,000 years. That was before even Homo sapiens were around let alone before humans entered Australia."

The discovery would ultimately lead to World Heritage Listing for a place which was already a local tourist attraction but would become a focus of international attention in the years ahead. There are many ways to experience the magic of the Naracoorte Caves but Victoria Cave and its famous fossil site take you back to where it all began. The Caves are open daily. If you have any further questions please email info@postcards-sa.com.au

Naracoorte Caves National Park
Off Riddoch Highway
Naracoorte
Open Daily

Published 22nd August 2010