Why is the Nullarbor so valuable?

Hairy Nosed Wombat Photo: Kym Nicolson

Blind Cave Spider Photo: Steve Milner

The Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Arid Zone Monitoring project found Southern hairy-nosed wombat distribution only along the southern edge of the Nullarbor across 15000 sites covering its previous range. Southern Hairy Nosed Wombats were detected at less than 1% of all survey sites. They were detected only 25 times. Monitoring continues.

Sarconornia blackiana.

Photo: Clare Buswell

Red Fingers. Photo: Clare Buswell

Speleothems, for example, stalagmites and stalactites are formed from the reaction of rainwater percolating through and dissolving the limestone.

When scientists cut through speleothems, they see layers. The thickness of these depositional layers are isotopic records and can be used to determine our past climate conditions.

The crystals we see in Nullarbor caves, have recorded wetter climates going back to the Pliocene, 5.3 to 2.6 million years ago.

Fossil records from the Pleistocene (2.6 million to 11,700 years ago) litter many caves, including for example, complete skeletons of Thylacoleo Carnifex, and tree climbing kangaroos.

Flightstar Cave, Thylacoleo carnifex , marsupial lion. Photo: WA Museum

Chocolate Wattled Bat Photo: Reiner Richter

Microbial mantles (also know as the fungus or snotites) are found in the water filled passages of Olwolgin, Winburra, Warbla, Weebubbie, Murra-El-Elevyn, Pannikin Plains, Cocklebiddy, and other cave lakes on the plain. These mantles comprise sheets or tongues of mucoid material.

• "The communities appear to be chemoautotrophic. The energy source for the community appears to be based on the oxidation of nitrite to nitrate rather than on photosynthetic products. Chemoautotrophic systems are rare but not unheard of, including deep sea vents and sulfur based cave systems such as Moville Cave Romania and Cueva de Villa Luz Mexico ." Contos et al. 2001*

These amazing and extremely fragile communities are currently under threat from disturbance by cave divers and the introduction of foreign bacteria.

Eromophila Hillii, Nullarbor emu bush Photo M. Hancock.

Nullarbor Cave Cricket. Photo: Thomas Varga

Cave Entrance Photo Alan Pryke

Aus. Masked Owl. Photo: Nick White

The threatened Southern Hairy Nosed Wombat calls the Nullarbor home.

Microbial Mantles - unique life forms

Records of climate all the way back to the beginning

Fossil records of our recent and ancient fauna

The Mirning people occupied the Plain and traded with surrounding groups. They travelled across the Plain using waterholes on the limestone pavements in good seasons and quarried flint from layers in the deeper caves for use as scrapers. Several caves have occupation evidence (e.g. Koonalda Cave) extending for tens of thousands of years.

Indigenous History and Dreaming

Beneath the surface, the karst is made up of caverns, rivers and lakes all throughout the limestone, carved out over millions of years

Karst systems work as integrated landscapes, where disturbance of the surface affects many aspects of the whole system.

Eleven of these 600 recorded plant species are threatened such as the endemic Nullarbor emu bush.

Unique animals such as the newly discovered endemic spider,Troglodiplura Mygalomorphae Anamidae Nullarbor caves, (Weebubbie) provide refuge and maternity sites for the Chocolate Wattle Bat, Chalinolobus morio.

The caves and blowholes provide roosting sites for kestrels and masked owls.

Photo:Nicholas White

Photo: G.K. Smith

600 recorded plant species and many unique animals

Things to do urgently

• Write to your local member and WA state and Australian federal ministers

• Post on social media about the problem

• Email this flyer or pin it to the notice board

• Donate time and/or money to the campaign

• Join your local action group

Let's put the Nullarbor Caves & Karst on the

National and World Heritage Lists

This process will take time and money. The Australian Speleological Federation has committed $10,000 towards the cost of preparing the nomination. Another $20,000 is required and we need your help.

Tax-deductible donations can be made to the ASF’s Nullarbor Campaign via the Karst Conservation Fund.