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For more information on the Wellington Caves, click here www.visitwellington.com.auDiscover a wonder down under and step back a million years when you explore the Wellington Caves and Phosphate Mine. |
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complex, situated on the Mitchell Highway just eight kilometres south
of Wellington, is one of the most significant fossil sites in the world.
It provides a physical link to the time when the large ancestors of Australia's marsupials roamed around the Caves area. The Caves contain the largest deposit of Plio-Pleistocene mammal fossils in Australia and are the site of the first discovery of marsupial fossils in 1830. The discoveries attracted international attention during the 19th century and were important in the development of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The first European record of the Caves consists of a series of sketches by landscape artist Augustas Earle in 1826. |
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 Diprotodon Model |
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| Named as the top regional tourist attraction at the inaugural Explorer Country Regional Awards for Tourism Excellence, the complex includes two show caves, the Phosphate Mine, the caves holiday complex and caravan park, and the central west's latest tourist attraction, the Wellington-Osawano Japanese Gardens. | |||
| The
Cathedral Cave boasts the Southern Hemisphere's and arguably the world's
largest stalagmite, a limestone structure measuring 15 metres high and
32 metres around its base.
The Gaden Cave is renowned for its delicate limestone coral, enabling visitors to marvel at nature's handiwork. |
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The subterranean waters of the caves are the home of a highly significant invertebrate community, consisting of a large population of syncarid crustacean which are considered to be "living fossils". The caves are also the habitat for the threatened Bent-wing Bat. Wellington Caves is the most significant site in NSW for the specialist sport of cave diving, and divers exploring the caves have made important contributions to knowledge about the caves and their aquatic inhabitants. |
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Phosphate Mine From the moment you don a hard hat, you enter a new world at one of the State's most unique tourist attractions, the Wellington Phosphate Mine. The Mine not only features the old workings from a World War I mine, but bone fragments and fossils from a prehistoric era. Seen as a forerunner in cave and mine restoration, the Phosphate Mine has allowed thousands of visitors to experience the conditions the hardy miners endured when they opened the mine early last century. |
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addition, today's mine explorers are able to view fossils and bones dating
back as much as 300,000 years. The original pick marks and drill holes where the miners laboriously forged their way into the phosphate deposits are still clearly visible on the walls. The mine opened during the First World War and during its lifetime more than 6000 tonnes of phosphate were removed and used for fertiliser. |
 Phosphate Mine |
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| The
extraction revealed the Bone Cave where, embedded in the walls, are bone
fragments of creatures which roamed the earth long before man. Paleontologists
from all over the world have been making pilgrimages to this cave since
the 1930s and now visitors to Wellington can see why.
The Mine is wheelchair friendly. It has no steps and mild gradients making it well suited also for strollers, young children or those who may have difficulty in climbing steps. |
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Tours, Accommodation & Getting There The Wellington Caves complex is only 4hrs west of Sydney on the Mitchell Highway, on a sealed road, only one kilometre off the main road. The turn-off from the Mitchell Highway is marked by the Wellington Gateway Project, a contemporary community-based sculpture and information bay. Located beside the Caves are a caravan park and holiday complex and one of the region's best 18-hole golf courses. The caravan park has 18 fully-self contained units, caravan and camp sites, swimming pool, barbecue areas and kiosks. Tours of the Caves and Phosphate Mine are conducted daily, except for Christmas Day. Educational and Group Tours of the Wellington Caves and Phosphate Mine are easily arranged. Please phone Wellington Visitors Centre for more information |
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| Contact Wellington Visitor Centre - Phone 1800 621 614 |
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