Chillagoe Caves

Useful Information

Location:	In Chillagoe, Chillagoe Caves National Park. 210 km west of Cairns. Tickets sold by Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service staff based at The Hub in the Chillagoe township. (-17.089762, 144.392149)
Open:	Donna Cave: daily at 9. Trezkinn Cave: daily at 11. Royal Arch Cave: daily at 13:30. [2020]
Fee:	Single cave tour: Adults AUD 29.25, Children (4-14) AUD 15.55, Children (0-3) free, Family (2+2) AUD 73.35, Student AUD 23.45, Senior AUD 23.45. Two cave tour: Adults AUD 46.60, Children (4-14) AUD 23.90, Children (0-3) free, Family (2+2) AUD 118.50, Student AUD 38.30, Senior AUD 38.30. Three cave tour: Adults AUD 58.65, Children (4-14) AUD 29.95, Children (0-3) free, Family (2+2) AUD 147.20, Student AUD 47.90, Senior AUD 47.90. [2020]
Classification:	Karst Cave Stone Forest
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:	T=23 °C
Guided tours:	Donna Cave: D=60 min, St=440. Trezkinn Cave: D=30-45 min. Royal Arch Cave: D=90 min, L=1,300 m, St=385. V=18,000/a [2000]
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Chillagoe Caves, Post Office, Chillagoe. Qld. 4871. Tel: +61-7-0-94-7163, Fax: +61-7-0-94-7213. Lana Little, District Ranger. Chillagoe Caving Club, PO Box 92, Cairns 4870.
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

1872	presence of limestone was first mentioned by William Hann.
1874	James Venture Mulligan discovered the Chillagoe-Palmer River gold field.
1887	Chillagoe was first settled, after the discovery of copper ore.
1986	Chillagoe marble industry started.

Description

The Chillagoe area has huge deposits of limestone covering an area of 225 km², in the middle of a primarily volcanic area. The volcanic rocks and the limestone contain numerous ores, so the town has a history of mining gold, silver, copper, lead, and marble.

The limestone of the area is heavily karstified, typical are up to 70 m high pinnacles of limestone. They were formed by coral reefs 400 million years ago. This explains why there are several isolated patches of limestone, Later this limestone was altered by volcanic activities, which transformed part of it into marble and deposited the ores.

There are several caves in the area wich can be visited. Donna Cave, Trezkinn Cave, and Royal Arch Cave are show caves of the Chillagoe Caves National Park. Bauhinia Cave and Pompeii Cave may be visited on self-guided tours after notifying the Ranger. Castle Cave, Haunted Cave and Spring Cave can be visited on cave trekking tours through the Chillagoe Caving Club.

The caves are inhabited by various bats, for example the Common Bentwing Bat, the Little Brown Bat, the Little Bentwing Bat, and the Sheath-Tail Bat. The smell of bat guano fills the chambers where many of them live. Of course there are also predators who live in the bats, first off all the Spotted Python. Many insects and spiders live in the caves, many of them live from the remains of the bats.

There is one of only five colonies of the White Rumped Swiftlet in the caves. The swiftlet is a species of cave-dwelling birds, belonging to the swift family, Apodidae. Swiftlets are found in south Asia and the south Pacific.

Numerous bones were found in the caves, like dingo, wallaroo, pademelon, bandicoot, giant kangaroo, giant wombat, and crocodile.