Cathedral Gorge


Useful Information

Location: Bungle Bungles, Purnululu National Park, East Kimberley.
Great Northern Highway between Kununurra and Halls Creek. Turn east 250 km from Kununurra or 100 km from Halls Creek. 53 km to the park entrance, strictly four wheel drive and off-road trailers only.
Open: No restrictions except weather conditions.
Visitor Centre: APR to mid OCT daily 8-12, 13-16.
[2008]
Fee: Park: per car AUD 10.
Gorge: free.
[2008]
Classification: GorgeGorge
Light: n/a
Dimension:
Guided tours:
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address: CALM Kimberley Regional Office, Messmate Way, PO Box 942, Kununurra 6743, Tel: +61-8-9168-4200, Fax: +61-8-9168-2179.
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


Description

Cathedral Gorge is a gorge in the Bungle Bungles, the beehive like cones of banded sedimentary rocks. It is located at the southern end of the mountains ridge. The specialty of this narrow gorge is a place where the gorge widens, at least at the foot of the cliffs. The result is a huge cathedral like erosional cave foming a sand floored amphitheatre.

The Bungle Bungles are famous for their extraordinary beehive hills. The rocks reach 578 m asl, which is about 370 m higher than the surrounding plains. During times with higher amounts of rain the sandstones of the area were eroded and deep gorges cut into the rocks. The rocks got their typical beehive shape. The unique colouring is a result of changing bands of sandstones and conglomerates. This sedimentary rocks were deposited some 375 to 350 million years ago during the Upper Devnian, a stage which is internationally called Famennian. The continental sediments were deposited on dry land while in the north mountains were uplifted, which were the source of the material. Later the sands and gravels were lowered and became solid rocks. Only 20Ma ago again uplift started and exposed the rock to erosion. The bungle bungles were formed in this time.