The basic textbooks and reference sources in speleology (Kunsky, 1954; Trombe, 1952 and Warwick, 1962) describe the process of solution of carbonate rocks in terms of the system CaCO3 - H20 - CO2, making little or no reference to the role of MgCO3 in the solution process. The widespread occurrence of dolomitic rocks amongst the older sedimentary formations of Australia, e.g., at Buchan, Victoria, and Camooweal, Queensland, makes some knowledge of the complexity of solution processes in rocks containing dolomite highly desirable for the understanding of the development of caves in this continent. This paper is intended to review the scattered literature on this topic and to describe what is known of the behaviour of the system CaO - Mg0 - CO2 - H20.

Eight breeding Caves of Miniopterus schreibersi (Kuhl) are described from South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Southern Queensland, in terms of their structure, the location of nursery areas at which juveniles are deposited after birth, and their physical environments. Maternity colonies are found at these caves through spring, summer and early autumn. Established colonies range from about 15,000 to 200,000 bats at peak size. These individuals are predominantly adult females and their young. Adult males are conspicuous only at the single South Australian breeding cave. Births occur from approximately the beginning of December to mid-January at all colonies except that in South Australia, where a birth period is evident between mid-October to late-November. Artificial warming, as a consequence of bat activity, appears to be characteristic of these Miniopterus schreibersi breeding caves. It is suggested that this may have functional significance in facilitating adequate development of juveniles, and that the habit could be a reflection of the tropical ancestry of this species.

The caves of the Chillagoe District are well-known by repute, but have not been described in speleological literature to date. The author visited the area in April, 1964, in company with Mr. D. Fitzsimon, of Mareeba. This paper summarises the observations made on that occasion. Chillagoe is an almost deserted town, once the centre of an extensive mining industry, and is situated about 120 miles west of Cairns, North Queensland. Access may be gained either by road or rail from Cairns. It can be seen from Table 1 that the climate is monsoonal, with comparatively heavy summer rains, but with dry weather throughout the remainder of the year. The Silurian Limestone in which the caves occur forms a belt some 40 miles long by four miles wide, extending from Almaden in the south-east to the Walsh River in the north-west. Caves probably occur throughout much of this belt, but known caves are concentrated in the Chillagoe and Mungana areas. Mungana lies approximately ten miles north-west of Chillagoe.

Four new distribution records of the false vampire bat in Queensland are recorded, and notes on the Mt. Etna population are given.

In a previous paper (1968a) we described caves of Kiriwina, the largest of the Trobriand Islands, a group of coral islands situated 100 miles off the north-east coast of Papua. This paper records caves of Vakuta, a smaller island south of Kiriwina. Vakuta is shaped like a boomerang (Figure 1) and is separated from the southern tip of Kiriwina by Kasilamaka Passage, about half a mile wide. The area of Vakuta Island is approximately 11 square miles. The island contains three villages, the most important being Vakuta Village which has a Methodist (now United Church) Mission. A track links Vakuta Village to Kasilamaka Passage which can be crossed by native canoe; the track continues on Kiriwina to Losuia, 40 miles north. Vakuta Island has a population of about 500. The Vakutans are of the same mixed Melanesian-Polynesian stock as the people of Kiriwina. Woodcarving is not practised to the same extent as in Kiriwina and the quality is generally low. However, some canoes have particularly well decorated prows. The influence of the Mission is very evident in the dress of the Vakutans and in the village, old cast-off clothing, often quite dirty, is the rule. In the fields the women wear grass and fibre skirts though the men were not seen to wear a pubic leaf as usual in Kiriwina, but shorts. Papuan Airlines operate a weekly flight between Port Moresby and Losuia, the Administration Centre, using Skyvan aircraft. Weekend tourist charter flights in DC-3 aircraft arrive frequently, but irregularly, from Port Moresby and occasionally from Lae and Rabual. The authors visited Vakuta Island in December, 1968. Guides were recruited locally and we were fortunate to be assisted by Mr. Gilbert Heers, the only European resident of the island, who speaks fluent Kiriwini which made communication with our guides relatively easy. With his help, we were able to obtain accounts of the legends and traditions associated with the caves on the island. We have also had valuable discussions about Vakuta and the customs and legends of the Trobriand Islands with Mr. Lepani Watson, M.H.A., who was born on Vakuta, and Mr. John Kasaipwalova, a Trobriand Islander now studying at the University of Queensland. We are most grateful for the assistance of these people. Although the most accurate map of the Trobriands is an Admiralty chart, the authors used an old U.S. Army map which was based on a pre-war Government survey. The caves were roughly surveyed using 100 ft tape, prismatic compass and abney level. The village rest-house became the social centre of the village during our stay. We had no difficulty in finding food. A surprising variety of foods such as yams, sweet potato, eggs, pineapples, soursop, tomatoes and fresh coconut appeared and payment was accepted eagerly in stick tobacco and newspaper. Payment in cash was rarely appreciated, though it will become more useful now that a trade store has been established by the Village Co-operative. To avoid repetitive explanations of features in the accounts of individual caves, various general topics will be discussed first.

The existence of a small cave in Tertiary basalt in the Bunya Mountains, Queensland, has been known for some time, but has only recently come to the attention of speleologists. The origin of the cave is uncertain, although multi-process formation or modification of an original lava tube is suggested. The cave contains a small colony of Miniopterus schreibersii.

The geomorphological characteristics of the Chillagoe karst belt are analysed in terms of an evolution controlled by seasonally arid climatic conditions and lithological variation in the metamorphosed host rock.

Holy Jump Lava Cave consists of portions of lava tubes in two superimposed flows. The upper tube probably connected with the downflow section of the lower tube via a lavafall. A small upflow part of the lower tube is also preserved, and shows the original wall and roof structures. Elsewhere the cave has suffered extensive breakdown, and only small sections of the original walls are still present. The cave has been further modified by secondary silica mineralisation, fine sediment deposition, and guano accumulation. The enclosing lava flows are early Miocene basalts of the Main Range Volcanics, making Holy Jump Lava Cave one of the oldest lava tube caves known.

Water samples taken from a spring and six locations on the stream fed by it were analysed in order to determine the factors responsible for the deposition of tufa along the channel. The spring water, whilst carrying a large quantity of dissolved carbonates, proved to be almost at equilibrium with calcite. The considerable amount of dissolved carbon dioxide necessary for such a load to be carried underwent rapid degassing after emergence of the water. In consequence, about one quarter of the initial load of dissolved carbonate was deposited in the first 430m of subaerial flow. This deposition did not however keep pace with the degassing of CO2, and calcite supersaturation increased progressively downstream.

Four caves and two underground streams in granite occur within the Girraween National Park. Only two of these sites have previously been reported. They mainly occur on the margins of major joints in the granite where streams descend into troughs along the joints. The caves are themselves formed in minor joints. In some cases streams have worked their way down from the surface along a joint but at three of the sites streams flow through horizontal joints in the granite which have not been opened from the surface. For these sites it is not clear how the initial passage was opened up underground. The two possible mechanisms suggested here are solution and joint opening following pressure release. The cave morphology clearly indicates that once the path flow is open, abrasion becomes the major process. Flowstone terraces, 'cave coral', and cemented gravels are found in the caves. The speleothems and the cement are amorphous silica (Opal A). Caves in granite may be more common than was previously thought.

Some characteristics of the Chillagoe Caves in North Queensland are briefly described and a short history is given of the types of survey and mapping work performed. "Perimeter Surveys" around the karst towers are important contributions to speleology in the area. The reasons for this are discussed, and some work done in 1983 using theodolite techniques is described. A worthwhile improvement in accuracy has been achieved. Some examples of recent maps are included.

In late July 1984 heavy rain at Buchan in East Gippsland produced widespread flooding and activated the dry valley network and vadose cave system on the Buchan limestones. The heavy rainfall was caused by the movement southwards along the New South Wales coast of a low pressure centre which originated in southeast Queensland. Intensity - frequency - duration analysis of the rainfall event indicates that while the 24 hour fall on the day the flooding occurred had a recurrence interval of only 1.75 years, the 96 hour and the 120 hour duration had recurrence intervals of 3.8 and 8.0 years respectively. The flood peak in the Buchan River had a recurrence interval of 4.3 years. These analyses indicate that the dry valleys and vadose cave systems are hydrologically active quite frequently under present climatic conditions. Water quality observations were made on surface streams and springs in the Buchan area during the flood and the results are compared with similar data collected under low flow conditions.

A spring which feeds Ryans and Stockyard Creeks west of Cillagoe, was examined in order to understand the circumstances producing extensive deposits of tufa in the stream channels. The spring water was found to be of considerable hardness (300 ppm total carbonates) and to emerge only very slightly supersaturated with respect to calcium carbonate, but undersaturated with respect to dolomite. Both saturation levels rose very rapidly during the first 150 m of subaerial flow, as did pH and water temperature. In contrast to the reported behaviour of other limestone springs, carbonate hardness at this site does not decrease monotonically downstream, but rather locally undergoes significant increases. In particular, magnesium hardness at 1 km downstream is more than 4 times its value at the spring. These phenomena are explained in terms of evaporative concentration of the dissolved carbonates and in terms of possible chemical changes associated with the mixture of waters having contrasting characteristics at channel and pool sites along the streams.

This treatise is a record of the dates and events, heavily condensed, of the history of Mount Etna since The Caves area was first settled. I hope to show that since the fight to save Mount Etna was first joined, seriously, in 1964 or there about, that the Central Queensland Company and the Queensland Government has had no intention to voluntarily release Mount Etna from limestone mining. Even in the event that conservationists took the Queensland Government to court, the Government had plans prepared to counter such. That was clearly shown when the government rescinded the Recreation Reserve, R444, on Mount Etna and refused to give a fiat to prosecute the Government. The next event, the passing of a law stating that any mining lease inadvertently granted illegally will now stand and be legal, was aimed at the mining lease granted illegally including Mount Etna. At this point in time there is very little that is being done to save Mount Etna. I hope that this paper will create new interest and revive the flagging "Fight to Save Mount Etna", with input from ASF member societies and individuals. If the treatise does not have the desired effect of renewing interest in the fight, and if the Central Queensland Cement Co. Pty. Ltd. Starts mining the main cavernous northern face of Mount Etna, the next ASF conference, or possibly the following, will have a "Letter of Requiem" read to them. If the Australian Public can save the "Gordon-below-Franklin" area and the "Lindeman Island National Park", surely something can be done for Mount Etna.