OPENING ADDRESS
As a geologist, or more professionally as an hydrogeologist, I should be more familiar with cave systems than I am. However, I welcome this invitation to open your conference and thank you for it, but the task has necessitated my having to read-up on the general problems of cave management, and, more so, on management of caves in Western Australia.
It is clear that there is a better understanding now, of cave management than existed in Western Australia several years ago. In managing tourist caves, there is clearly conflict between use and total preservation, or preferably conservation. Whereas natural populations such as forests are renewable, caves are not, and we must therefore not destroy the attractions of caves in short term gain.
Interestingly, caves are developed mostly by solution whereby slightly acidic water dissolves away calcium carbonate from limestone and conduits develop. In the course of time, collapse of the roof results in a cave. Here we have an aspect of the geological cycle where inevitably the landscape is degraded (or eroded if you will). What we must ensure against, however, is the acceleration of geological processes by the inadvertent or misguided actions of man. This requires management.
There is likely to be, for any cave, a critical people pressure or carrying capacity determined, for example by the microclimate, or physical constraints. Research and monitoring are clearly required as a basis for sound management.
In my reading, I noted that there is a general consensus that tourist caves have value for several reasons:
- they are a source of local revenue
- they attract tourists to a district and hence contribute to the general economy of the area
- they are a vital educational resource ideally suited to the growing public interest in interpretation of natural features
- as local features, they add a character to the district as part of the natural heritage which with good planning, should meld with the architectural styles appropriate to the landscape.
Overall, however, the challenge is to obtain the correct balance between short term economic value and long term value of the cave resource.
Fortunately for this State, cave conservation is relatively strong. Most of the significant cave areas to the north and south of Perth were protected within reserves from the turn of the century. Most, but not all, of these reserves have gone on to become parts of National Parks; the Nullarbor Plain area is the main exception. It is the only major area of the State where caves have not been reasonably protected by being set aside within management reserves.
Many of the State's main caves are found within:
National Parks of the Kimberley
Cape Range National Park
Nambung National Park
Yanchep National Park
Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park
The National Parks Authority also runs two of the State's six tourist caves, Crystal and Yonderup Caves at Yanchep National Park. Last year approximately 70,000 visitors toured Crystal Cave of the 300,000 visitors to Yanchep. That is a fair proportion and points-up the interest people have in caves.
Tourist caves are but one facet of the region's attractions. The four tourist caves of the Leeuwin-Naturaliste Ridge, the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park, and the hinterland of farms and vineyards are all complementary. We should all be helping each other to promote the regional qualities because the visiting tourist perceives or visits the whole, not just the parts.
Whereas the National Parks Authority is the major land managing agency responsible for caves, the Department of Conservation and Environment has also taken a major role in promotion of cave conservation, especially during the late 1970s.
That Department has established a "Working Group on Cave Management and Protection" which meets about twice a year to discuss and act as necessary upon the promotion of cave and karst conservation throughout the State. The group comprises key personnel including experienced speleologists and selected members of the land managing agencies. It tends to concentrate its efforts on the conservation of caves outside National Parks, so as to bring them under an agreed set of guidelines for conservation and management.
The Department of Conservation and Environment has also sponsored the Yallingup Cave Study (1977), cave research and monitoring (on-going check), and a major land use study of the Nullarbor Region (1978). Officers of the National Parks Authority have been involved in both major studies.
In 1978 the Department of Conservation and Environment also organised a seminar on cave tourism (Busselton). This was in conjunction with the Department of Tourism and the Busselton Tourist Bureau.
What is important here, at this forum, is in fact two-fold. Firstly, in convivial circumstances, a gathering of professionals to discuss and debate the science of speleology and the understanding of cave systems; and secondly, I would urge discussion on how you believe your management ideas, based as they should be on a thorough understanding of cave phenomena, can be brought to the attention of the public, so that all can enjoy these features without difficulty or desecration.
Now is possibly a fair time, during fiscal restraint, to give thought as to how to promote tourism and management, when the funds for appropriate facilities are not readily available. How can it be done?
At the 1978 seminar at Busselton, on cave tourism, participants were provided with two sets of questionnaires, the responses from which are most interesting. I thought it reasonable to review some of the findings here so that you can follow up perhaps, on some of the items.
Generally, the responses to seventeen statements are very much as one might have expected, although there are some surprises. Overall, the responses support the general philosophies of tourist cave management which are now developing in Australia. Here is a selection of views which were "strongly agreed" with (100-50%).
The cave guide should be friendly ... (seems more than reasonable).
Lights, fittings and wiring should be hidden from view where possible.
Septic toilets should not be located above the cave or close to a stream entering the cave ...
Tourist caves are valuable in creating awareness of the need for cave conservation in general ...
Tourist caves are but part of a region's resources ...
As a counter to these positive points, the questionnaire highlighted quite a number of notions which the respondents "disagreed" with, often strongly, for example:
Tourist caves should be promoted independently by each managing authority ...
Visitor car parks should be located as close to the cave entrance as possible ...
The standard of colour slides and postcards available to the tourist is perfectly adequate ...
Visitor understanding of each cave should begin underground rather than on the surface (to me, and I guess also you, the cave system is part of the landscape and is dependent on the surface. Therefore discussion of the geomorphology quite rightly should commence at the surface).
Planning the surface facilities is much less important than planning for the tourist cave itself. (They are an integral part).
Coloured lights should be used where possible ... (obviously, this statement observes that it is far better to use white light rather than to inappropriately enhance features with colour).
These views are an amusing but pragmatic approach to understanding the real issues of management, and in life generally, a fuller understanding usually only comes in the light of experience.
You are all earnestly aware of the need for conservation. I would therefore urge you in these few days of discussion, to work towards that objective in the light of the knowledge you have gained over the years here and elsewhere, in respect of cave tourism and of people's aspirations toward interesting but delicate landscape features.
I have much pleasure in formally opening the Fourth Session of the Australasian Conference on Cave Tourism and Management.