Cave divers set new depth record in Mt Field expedition
A group of cave divers have set a new record in the process of discovering a link between two of Australia’s deepest caves in the Mt Field National Park.
Tasmania
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A GROUP of cave divers have set a new record in the process of discovering a link between two of Australia’s deepest caves in the Mt Field National Park.
The team from the Hobart-based club Southern Tasmanian Caverneers established an Australian-record cave depth of 395 metres as they found a connection between the Niggly Cave and Growling Swallet cave systems — Australia’s deepest and fourth-deepest caves.
They spent four days camped underground during the just-completed expedition.
Expedition organiser and cave diver Stephen Fordycesaid explorers have spent decades searching for a link between the two cave systems.
“The really exciting thing for us is making the connection between two already giant and significant cave systems,” Mr Fordyce said.
“People have known that they would connect for decades, but actually doing it is the hard bit.
“We hope to go back and do a complete through trip from one entrance to another where we will in one trip go from the highest point to the very lowest point.”
He said the record was achieved on a technicality.
“We’ve achieved [395 metres] by taking the lowest point from Growling Swallet and the highest point of Niggly,” Mr Fordyce said.
“Connecting the caves together, we’ve set a record, but we didn’t actually go to the deepest point.”
Mr Fordyce dived through more than 200 metres of unmapped, flooded cave passages to find the link.
He said it was “pretty technical” work, with a lot of planning involved.
“We got a flying fox across a waterfall over a giant pit that we had to take the dive gear across to get to the dive,” he said.
Mr Fordyce said the discovery of the connection was the result of the combined work of generations of cavers in Tasmania, and wouldn’t have been possible without a huge team effort.
The caves are part of the Junee-Florentine system, which is home to more than 600 caves and more than 50 kilometres of explored underground passages to date.
“Caves are unpredictable, underground obstacle courses — you have little idea what’s coming next and you need to have the skills to handle whatever they throw at you,” Mr Fordyce said.
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STC Vice President and cave scientist Dr Stefan Eberhard said ongoing cave exploration was not only important for building scientific knowledge, but also for better environmental protection.
“The Junee-Florentine caves contain features of great cultural, scientific and conservation value, including archaeological heritage sites, unique species of cave-adapted fauna, bones of extinct megafauna and ancient sediments deposited during glacial periods,” Dr Eberhard said.
“Exploration of these caves is far from complete and much more of this complex and extraordinary puzzle remains to be discovered and mapped by speleologists and cave divers for years to come.”
The record-breaking expedition included team members Stephen Fordyce (push diver), Alan Jackson, Gabriel Kinzler, Stefan Eberhard, Serena Benjamin, Fraser Johnston, Petr Smejkal, Patrick Eberhard, Chris Sharples, Rolan Eberhard.
A documentary is being made about the expedition.
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