4th July 2011 Wellington Caves

We travelled to Wellington today ...to visit the Wellington Caves....

The complex is situated on the Mitchell Highway just 8 kl south of Wellington, it is one of the most significant fossil sites in the world.


It is said to provide a physical link to the time when the large ancestors of Australia's marsupials roamed around the Caves area. The Caves contain the largest deposit of Plio-Pleistocene mammal fossils in Australia and are the site of the first discovery of marsupial fossils in 1830.


These  discoveries attracted international attention during the 19th century and were important in the development of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.

The Cathedral Cave boasts the Southern Hemisphere's and arguably the world's largest stalagmite, a limestone structure measuring 15 metres high and 32 metres around its base. 

Out of one cave we then entered the Phosphate Mine from the moment you don a hard hat,

 you enter a new world at one of the State's most unique mines.... Wellington Phosphate Mine.


The Mine not only features the old workings from a World War I mine, but bone fragments and fossils from a prehistoric era.

Seen as a forerunner in cave and mine restoration, the Phosphate Mine allows you to experience the conditions the hardy miners endured when they opened the mine early last century.

Also we was able to view fossils and bones dating back as much as 300,000 years.



The THYLACOLEO was first discovered in these caves...

This is what it looked like in real life...

This was the largest mammalian predator in Australia.. it was as big as a lion..but they were marsupials related to the wombats and not the cats..


Also they found a DIPROTODON which was the largest marsupial that ever lived, reaching 3 tonnes in weight. Although part of the Australian environment for millions of years it disappeared several thousand years after the arrival of aboriginals, it was also first discovered in these caves.

This is what it looked like in real life

The original pick marks and drill holes where the miners forged their way into the phosphate deposits are still clearly visible on the walls.

The mine opened during the First World War and during that time more than 6000 tonnes of phosphate were removed and used for fertiliser.







The extraction revealed the Bone Cave where, embedded in the walls, are bone fragments of creatures which roamed the earth long before man. Paleontologists from all over the world have been making pilgrimages to this cave since the 1930's amazing history.... fascinated me !