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The historical study of Australian caves and caving areas is fascinating although involving the expenditure of vast amounts of time. Australia's early days are unusually well-documented, but in the case of caves the early history is usually wrapped up in rumour, hearsay and clouded by lack of written record. Most research work means long hours poring over old newspaper files, mine reports, land department records and so on, little of which is catalogued. A small number of exploration journals and scientific studies have extensive material on special cave areas, and of these, the volume by Rev. Julian Edmund Woods, F.G.S., F.R.S.V., F.P.S., etc., and is one of the most interesting. This book gives the ideas and beliefs of 100 years ago concerning the origin, development and bone contents of caves and makes interesting reading in the light of more recent studies of cave origins. Wood's study "Geological Observations in South Australia : Principally in the District South-East of Adelaide" was published in 1862 by Longman, Green, Roberts and Green, London. In a preface dated November 15, 1861, Rev. Woods points out that the book was written while he was serving as a missionary in a 22,000 square mile district, and "without the benefit of reference, museum, library, or scientific men closer than England". Up to the time of writing, almost no scientific or geological work had been done in South Australia and much of the area was completely unexplored. The book, also, contained the first detailed description of caves in the south-east of the state. Father Woods writes about many different types of caves in South Australia, for instance, the "native wells" in the Mt. Gambier/Mt. Shanck area. These are caves, rounded like pipes, and generally leading to water level. Woods points out their likeness to artificial wells. He also writes of sea cliff caves, particularly in the Guichen Bay area, and blow holes caused by the action of the waves on the limestone cliffs. Woods discusses many other types of caves found further inland, particularly bone caves. Father Woods discusses cave origins under two sub-heads: 1. Trap rock caves generally resulting from violent igneous action, and 2. Limestone caves resulting from infiltration of some kind. He is mainly concerned with limestone caves which he sub-divides into (a) crevice caves - caves which have arisen from fissures in the rock and are therefore wedge-shaped crevices, widest at the opening, (b) sea-beach caves, caves which face the seashore and are merely holes that have been worn by the dashing of the sea on the face of the cliff, (c) egress caves, or passages to give egress to subterranean streams, (d) ingress caves, or passages caused by water flowing into the holes of rocks and disappearing underground. These caves would have entrance holes in the ground, opening very wide underneath, and having the appearance of water having entered from above, (e) finally a group of caves which he lists by use as "dens of animals".
Four new distribution records of the false vampire bat in Queensland are recorded, and notes on the Mt. Etna population are given.
The drought culminating in 1967-68 opened water-traps in Murray Cave, thus permitting the re-exploration and survey in January 1968, of a further 1,000 feet of the main passage. Previous explorations, of which oral tradition persisted, are known to have taken place in 1902-3 and some details of the early visitors are presented. The characteristics of the extension are predominantly shallow phreatic in nature and about half of it episodically functioning in this way at the present time; the water-traps along it are inverted siphons in the strict sense and located at the sharpest changes in cave direction. The exploration limit consists of a rockfall beneath a doline, which appears, therefore, to be at least in part a collapse doline. Beneath two other dolines the cave has no sign of collapse, though tall avens reach towards the surface; these dolines are due to surface solution only. The forward part of the cave is overlain by a short, steep dry valley; the relationship between the two remains problematic but there is good reason not to regard the dry valley as the determinant of the cave's location. The evidence is now stronger for an earlier hypothesis that the cave was formerly the outflow cave of nearby River Cave, a perennially active stream cave. It also seems likely that the episodic activity of Murray Cave is due to flood overflow from River Cave. The hydrological regime of the cave is compared with precipitation records of the nearby stations. The episodic flow through the cave does not require an abnormally wet winter; it can follow fairly quickly after complete emptying of the water-traps and approaches an annual event. Draining of the water-traps is a much less frequent event, but whether a series of low rainfall years is necessary, or a single pronouncedly dry year is sufficient to achieve this, cannot be determined from available data. On either count, it seems probable that the cave opened up two or more times between the known occasions of 1902-3 and 1968 in the period 1909-53 when the cave was visited infrequently.
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.
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