Margaret River Caves

Moondyne Cave

Useful Information

Location:	8 km north of Augusta on Caves Road, in the Jewel Cave Reserve Augusta. AU11.
Open:	During holiday periods daily, at all other times bookings
Fee:	Adults AUD 25. [1995]
Classification:	Karst cave
Light:	none.
Dimension:	L=270 m, D=26 m.
Guided tours:	D=120 min.
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	CaveWorks, 100 Bussell Highway, Margaret River WA 6285, Tel: +61-8-9757-7411, F: +61-8-9757-7421. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1881	discovered by Joseph Bolitho Johns, who had formerly been the bushranger known as Moondyne Joe.
1911	first opened for public viewing.
1959	end of guided tours.
1992	cave restoration program.
1993	reopened.

Description

Moondyne Cave was discovered in 1881 by Joseph Bolitho Johns (1826 to 13-AUG-1900). It was named after him, he was Western Australia's best known bushranger better known as Moondyne Joe.

A complete cave restoration program saw Moondyne Cave reopened for cave awareness tours with restricted group numbers in 1992. Visitors are supplied with basic caving equipment including electric lights (miners light), helmet, overalls and souvenir gloves.

The cave has two large chambers, the lower chamber reaches the water table. It is called Snowflake Chamber and contains an crystal pool, which is completely covered with calcite flakes. This chamber has some side extensions with fine displays of helictites, which are visited on cave trekking tours. The carbon dioxide levels are often high in this chamber.

The upper chamber contains many large columns and stalagmites. There are also some very long straws.