Buchan Area

Image: Helictites in

Buchan Caves in Australia. (© Mathias J. Duckeck)

Buchan in East Gippsland is Victoria's most visited karst area.

The hard Devonian limestone is over 100 metres thick and extends over an area of 15 by 5km in a shallow syncline. The main deposit is divided into three regions for the purposes of record keeping. These are

Murrindal with over 350 features,
Buchan with over 100 features and
East Buchan with over 100 features,

Faulting of the original rock mass has led to the existence of several outlying deposits of the limestone at Gillingal, W Tree, New Guinea Ridge, Jackson's Crossing, The Basin and Mooresford.

The Buchan region contains Victoria's longest cave, the three kilometer long B-4 (the show cave system). The New Guinea Ridge region contains Victoria's deepest cave, NG-1, at 120 metres deep (Matthews, 1985).

Buchan Caves Reserve has three show caves, all three caves are parts of the B-4 system. The first two caves are toured regularly.

Fairy Cave |

Royal Cave |

Federal Cave

Additional caves in the Buchan area outside the Caves Reserve are:

Murrindal Caves |

Shades Of Death Cave

Buchan Area

See also