INTRODUCTION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This publication records the formal proceedings of the Ninth Conference of the Australasian Cave and Karst Management Association held in Western Australia in September 1991.

The conference essentially commenced with a visit to the Yanchep National Park north of Perth and an informal dinner at the Yanchep Holiday Village on Sunday 8th Sept 1991. This first evening was very much a social get together to facilitate the various arrival times of delegates. During the lead up to the conference, it was fairly obvious that it was going to be one of the best attended conferences that I at least had been involved with. Imagine my surprise when I finally arrived at the Yanchep Holiday village after yet another airport pick-up to be taken aside by "Jaws" and asked if I was expecting two delegates from Thailand. Needless to say, I was not, but in true WA style hospitality we welcomed the lads in with open arms and "Jaws" and I slept on the gymnasium floor (the closest I was ever likely to get to this type of equipment).

Monday saw what was a very large group of approx 50 people descend upon the Yanchep National Park, "Crystal Cave", Boomerang Gorge, and the entrance only to the Silver Stocking cave followed by lunch on the banks of Loch McNess. From here we began our long and tiring 4 hour bus trip to Margaret River via the coast and a mystery trip to view the "Stromatolites" at Lake Clifton south of Mandurah. Unfortunately the tide was not right and to this day I'm not sure if any of the intrepid waders did in fact see the stromatolites.

The conference was formally opened on Tuesday morning by Dr John Williams, the Chairman of the Augusta - Margaret River Tourist Bureau who were to be the hosts of the conference. During his opening address Dr Williams welcomed all delegates to the Augusta - Margaret River area, the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park area and invited everyone to enjoy the region's hospitality and natural beauty. He also expressed the wish that we in WA would gain from the wealth of wisdom, knowledge and expertise of the many delegates gathered, and was looking forward to receiving any comments and advice. What followed was a record number of papers on a fascinating range of issues and interests faithfully recorded in these proceedings. Papers and field trips were conducted over the next five days with the Biennial General Meeting of ACKMA taking place on the Friday morning. The conference concluded with a very enjoyable dinner at the Captain Freycinet motel restaurant where delegates were joined by representatives of the Tourist Bureau management committee.

As convenor of the conference and in some way editor of these proceedings I wish to acknowledge and thank the following persons and organisations for their support and valuable assistance prior to, during and following the 9th Conference of the Australasian Cave and Karst Management Association.

Dr John Williams for opening remarks and ongoing support and the committee and staff of the Augusta - Margaret River Tourist Bureau; Department of Conservation and Land Management staff and in particular Neil Taylor, Dr John Watson, Rob Klok and Mike Newton the for recognising the value of ACKMA within their organisation and their assistance in early planning; Rauleigh Webb from W.A. Speleological Group for assistance in arranging the Yanchep end of conference; Wolfgang Thoran from Yanchep Holiday Village for his patience and for the gym floor; Jack Thorne from Yallingup cave for supporting me during the planning and for the Yallingup field trip; John and Betty Hindle and family and staff at Glenbrook for their superb hospitality, catering and patience throughout our stay; Lloyd Shepherdson and Steve Shaw for subsidised use of their buses; Dawn Graves for assistance in leading non-tourist cave trips; the Yallingup, Lake and Jewel caves respective tearooms; the Ullinger family at Redgate Winery for tour and tasting; the various shops in our region for their co-operation (especially liquor outlets) and of course Maureen at the Captain Freycinet for arranging a superb final dinner on extremely short notice. There are two people who deserve very special mention without whose assistance and support we would not have survived, my precious wife Kathy who did lots of 'little' things to ensure everyone's satisfaction and specific needs were catered for and of course Dave "Jaws" Hamilton who returned from afar at the 'right' time to ensure that everything ran smoothly throughout the conference, thanks "Obi-Wan Kenobi".

Finally I cannot summarise without a special big thank you to Pete Bell, who has worked tirelessly to compile and complete these proceedings and without whose expertise in this field we would still be waiting yet another year. In closing I must also pay tribute to the ACKMA gurus and delegates who made this conference such a tremendous success.

Amongst you all is a wealth of knowledge and experience from which others can draw. In his opening address my Chairman hoped that we would be able to learn something from this conference. Let me assure you that we did learn from on-site discussion and in conference discussion sessions that were invaluable. As you all know changes take time and finance but change has and will happen in our own cave and karst management. We are all still learning and will continue to do so from the successful interchange that occurs at such conferences.

I wish Ann ("Barbie") Augusteyn every success with conference number 10 and look forward to meeting up with everyone in "Rocky".

Keith Tritton
Manager
Augusta Margaret River Tourist Bureau