Englebrecht Cave

Useful Information

Location:	In Mount Gambier. Located at Chute Street, a southern parallel road to Jubile Highway.
Open:	Adults AUD 6, Children (4-14) AUD 4, Family (2+4) AUD 19. [2006]
Fee:	All year daily 9:30-14:30, tours hourly on the hour. [2006]
Classification:	Karst cave
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:
Guided tours:	D=45 min. V=10,000/a[2000]
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	Engelbrecht Cave Tour, Jubilee Highway West, Mount Gambier, Tel: +61-8-8725-5493. The Lady Nelson Visitor and Discovery Centre, Jubilee Highway East (P O Box 56), Mount Gambier SA 5290. Tel: +61-8-8724-9750, FreeCall: +61-1800-087-187, Fax: +61-8-8723-2833.
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

1862	first described by Father Julian Tenison Woods in his book Geological Observations of the South East of South Australia.
1864	four young men nearly lost there lives when their canoe carried them into the depths of the cave.
~1860-1950	waste dumped in the cave.
1885	Dr Wehl's old Flour Mill purchased by Carl Engelbrecht, a German emigrant, who converted it into a whiskey distillery.
1964	City Council started investigations for tourist potential of the cave.
1979	cave "cleaning and beautification process" started by the Lions Club of Mount Gambier.
1982	cave cleaning completed, cave handed back to the council.
15-NOV-1986	opened for the public.

Description

Most parts of Engelbrecht Cave are only accessible to cave divers. The horizontal, one level cave lies at the same level as the ground water table. It is located in the city of Mt. Gambier.

The cave was named after the German immigrant Carl Engelbrecht, who owned the area above the cave and ran a whisky distillery in a former flour mill. Carl Engelbrecht was born in 1833 in Germany and came to Australia in 1857. He died in 1914 in Mount Gambier, aged 80. He and his successors used the cave to dump waste of the distillery. But at least those waste products were more or less organic.

Later the cave was used to dump any kind of rubbish until the late 1950's. Fortunately the attitudes changed and in 1970 the cleaning of the cave started. Before the cave was opened for the public in 1986 several years of cleaning were necessary.

The tours into the cave show some dry parts of the cave and two large chambers with a cave lake, which represents the karst water table. Subsequent parts of the cave are submerged and only accessible to cave divers. The cave visit is completed by a short video on cave diving.