Underground wonders
News of the cave rescue attempts in Thailand prompts Alan Teh Leam Seng to find out more about underground cave systems
“D-DAY has arrived. Rescue operations imminent for the youth soccer team”. That was the news headlines that greeted me during my recent lunch at Australia’s Blue Mountains. The decision, hastened by dark monsoon rain clouds looming over Thailand’s mountainous north, was made as an international team of rescuers battled against time to save the 12 boys and their assistant coach trapped within the cavernous Tham Luang cave complex located deep in a forest park near the border with Myanmar.
(Note: All 13 have since been rescued by Thailand’s elite navy SEAL unit with the assistance of international experts.)
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
Coincidentally, my plan for that afternoon included a visit to the limestone caves located within the Jenolan Karst Conservation Reserve in New South Wales. Like many people around the world, the rescue attempt had piqued my curiosity and this timely visit gave me the golden opportunity to experience limestone caves on a personal level.
After all, it’s said that the Shan-Thai terrain, which forms large parts of Myanmar, Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra, was once attached to the Australian Gondwanaland during the Permian period, some 300 million years ago.
Taking this into consideration, the Jenolan caverns should give me a rough idea of what underground limestone chambers in Southeast Asia look like and also enable me to witness the natural wonders that may have attracted the boys there in the first place.
My approach along the long and winding road leading up to the Jenolan Caves is made more memorable when a pair of ground dwelling lyrebirds suddenly decide to dart in front of my moving vehicle.
Fortunately, the car was just about to negotiate a sharp bend and was going at a snail’s pace. The sight of these well-known but seldom seen Australian native birds is definitely a harbinger of good things to come!
Spurred on by the rare sighting, I excitedly sign up for the soon-to-commence Imperial Cave tour immediately upon my arrival. Our group, comprising several Japanese tourists as well as a handful of local visitors from nearby towns and cities, is fortunate to have the Jenolan Caves’ ex-manager as our guide. With years of experience under his belt, Grant Commins still makes his appearance felt in the duty roster on a voluntary basis.
“Try to stick together and don’t go wandering off on your own. If you see anything interesting, please ask before you touch. The limestone formations are very fragile and take hundreds of years just to extend a few centimetres in length,” advises Commins as he leads us towards the Imperial Cave entrance.
Along the way, Commins pauses by an almost vertical limestone wall and diverts our attention to a metal plaque several metres above his head.
He explains that the sign was put This sign was unveiled in 1929.
up on Feb 23, 1929 to acknowledge the contributions of pioneers who first introduced the hidden beauty of the caves to the world.
When asked about the first person who discovered the place, Commins acknowledges that there are no known contemporaneous accounts of the discovery by Europeans.
However, it’s generally accepted that in 1838, a pioneering landholder, James Whalan tracked an ex-convict and active local thief named McKeown, who’d stolen livestock, tools, clothing and a flour grinder, to his hideout in this area.
Whalan discovered the cave system during that pursuit and subsequently reported its existence to his brother Charles.
The duo then invested time and effort to explore the underground caverns before opening the place, then known as Fish River Caves, to tourism several years later.
The lack of conservation awareness at that time saw visitors damaging quite a number of fragile formations. Everything changed in 1872 when the collection of souvenirs and the writing of graffiti was completely banned within the Jenolan Caves area.
While going up a flight of steps cut into the rock face, Commins shares that the name Jenolan Caves was only adopted in 1884.
“Scholars believe that the name was derived from the aboriginal Tharawal word, Genowlan, which means ‘high place shaped like a foot’,” he says.
The indigenous people have, for thousands of years, carried their sick to bathe in the subterranean streams, which they believed to have curative powers, he adds.
About 15 minutes into the hour-long walkabout, we begin to realise why the Imperial Cave tour is said to be the easiest to traverse and suitable for people of all ages, including children.
As part of an ancient river passage which has been smoothened by eons of erosion, the path we follow is mostly level with very few short sets of stairs. It’s the kind of cave that’s ideal for less mobile or elderly visitors.
BEAUTY BEYOND WORDS
Venturing deeper, Commins begins working a panel of switches that eventually bring some light to life. We watch in awe as their soft beams make the hitherto hidden crystals on the roof, floor and walls sparkle
in a dazzling array of colours.
“Show us more,” begs a couple from Wollongong impatiently. Commins’ lips break into a wide grin as he waves us further inside and says: “You’ve not seen the best parts yet. These are just the introductory sections!”
With Commins in front, we follow the well-worn trail used by millions of tourists and thousands of explorers before us. The darkness ebbs each time Commins turns on the lights in our location and we start to see amazingly beautiful limestone formations.
Together with unusually patterned bands of gravity-defying helictites lining the walls, the pure white stalactites and stalagmites paint a vivid underground portrait in this cave system, which is said to be the world’s oldest at 340 million years.
Turning the clock all the way back to the time when the caves were formed, Commins weaves an interesting tale that involves millions of sea organisms settling on the ocean floor after they died.
Under intense pressure and temperature, these minute organisms were gradually compressed to form limestone rock. At that time, Jenolan was located in warm shallow seas, under conditions that are not dissimilar to those at the Great Barrier Reef today.
“Over millions of years, rain and river water gradually dissolved the limestone and this corrosive action led to the for- mation of caves. This action was further escalated by thermal water that seeped up from beneath the Earth’s surface and began carving up enormous underground caverns,” explains Commins as he points to a plethora of marine fossils embedded in the roof and nearby walls.
MORE UNIQUE FEATURES
Over the next several hundred metres, we spot see unique features with equally interesting names like The Sinkhole, Ridleys Shortcut, Lot’s Wife, the Alabaster Column and the dramatic Crystal Cities which look very much like the ramparts of an ancient fortress. These marvellous structures certainly lend weight to the Jenolan Caves’ reputation as Australia’s most well-known limestone cave system and longest continually operating tourist attraction.
On our way back, Commins makes a short detour and ushers us into a side chamber where the lower jaw of a Tasmanian Devil, which is thought to be long extinct on mainland Australia, and the bones of an ancient Wallaby are on display. We learn that these important fossils were discovered buried in this exact area when excavation works were conducted back in 1975.
Tasmanian Devils were once widespread on the Australian mainland, with a history dating back to the last Ice Age (the Pleistocene period). Scientists believe that climate change and the spread of human habitation contributed significantly to the disappearance of the mainland devils about 4,000 years ago.
HOTEL FOR THE RICH
Still hungry to expand my knowledge about this place, I head over to the nearby Caves House after the end of my tour. This rambling, four-storey complex located next to Carpark No. 2 was initially built in 1896 to serve as a wilderness retreat for the rich and famous.
Constructed at a cost of A£30,000 (RM89,715) and using the limestone quarried on site at Jenolan, this building had a dining room for 60 guests, a billiard room and accommodations which boasted the latest kitchen and bathroom innovations.
The imposing building seen today is the result of a series of additions made during the decade leading up to 1926. The successful retention of an air of old-world charm is among the many factors that supported the Caves House’s induction into the New South Wales State Heritage Register on June 25, 2004.
Gazing upon the Caves House from the side of the road, I find the building’s craggy facade, picturesque gables, knobbly tile roof and deep recessed openings with multi-paned windows transporting me back to a time when electricity was still a figment of imagination.
In those early years, it must have been very grand to see horse carriages grinding to a halt in front of the entrance while smartly dressed footmen hurriedly helped wealthy passengers to alight.
The composition of the guests changed dramatically and became more homogeneous when the Jenolan Caves became much more accessible after public motor transport was introduced in this part of New South Wales in the late 1930s.
Today, Caves House still operates as a hotel, complete with cafe, bar, function rooms and restaurant facilities. Curious day trippers often find themselves wandering through its large public rooms and have a memorable time admiring its well preserved Edwardian ambiance.
BIGGEST RACE
Just as I’m about to drive out of the carpark, a large sign indicating the entrance to the famous Six Foot Track suddenly catches my eye. The name jolts my memory instantaneously.
Stretching all the way from the Jenolan Caves to Katoomba, this 45-kilometre track is the setting of Australia’s biggest annual off-road foot race, The Six Foot Track Marathon. The race is the country’s fifth largest marathon and attracts more than 1,000 participants each year.
Based on what I’ve seen and done today, there’s little wonder why people are attracted to underground cave systems. Nevertheless, I’m also a firm believer that during such visits, we should always follow safety precautions provided by the authorities and heed seasonal danger warnings in order to avoid recurring mishaps.