Umphy and The Man
Umpherston's Cave is a prominent cenote in an attractive park on the approaches to Mt Gambier in the Limestone Coast of South Australia. Entry is free and visitors walking across the park are very surprised to see terraces of hydrangeas, lush curtains of ivy, two tall palm trees, possums, barbeques and a waterfall within the sinkhole. There are a number of important reasons behind this European presentation of a unique Australian natural geo-feature. Close to the site of the first settlement of the city in the 1830s, the cenote (and its hidden twin nearby) were initially part of the prosperous property of a prominent and innovative local farmer, James Umpherston, who in the 1880s decided to beautify it along the lines of an imperial garden with a dinghy on its sizeable lake. By the 1960s all this had been completely buried by industrial rubbish from the Forest Operations Mill which had taken over the old farm. The mill's Regional Administrator, Ken Norton, decided to clean and restore it. He led and motivated the large mill's Social Club for almost 20 years, sometimes in direct conflict with his employers and using company plant and equipment whenever they could get it to haul and clean out the cenote. The unexpected discovery of the original lost garden terraces at the bottom was a highlight. An enthusiastic, redoubtable and strongly ethical man, Ken had to deal determinedly with the mill politics and management issues generated by the staff involvement. Since the cenote was restored, Ken has devoted the last 18 years full-time since his retirement to maintaining and beautifying the park and gardens as a tribute to the forestry workers and for the greater community, for which he was recently awarded an OAM. He has now turned his energy to the hidden twin sinkhole ...