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Koonalda Cave is a
cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...
in the Australian state of
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest o ...
, on the
Nullarbor Plain The Nullarbor Plain ( ; Latin: feminine of , 'no', and , 'tree') is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its ...
in the locality of Nullarbor. It is notable as an
archeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...
."Koonalda Cave"
''
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''
I.D. Lewis described the cave in 1976 as:
Large doline 60m in diam. and 25m deep; talus slope to two main large passages connected by a high window; total length of cave 1200m; three lakes at -80m; narrow airspace beyond third lake leads to 45m diam. dome and lake; another 30m sump leads off this...
Thousands of square metres in the cave are covered in parallel finger-marked geometric lines and patterns,
Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...
artwork which has been dated as 20,000 years old."Koonalda"
,
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It is west of the Nullarbor roadhouse and north east from Eucla within the
Nullarbor Wilderness Protection Area Nullarbor Wilderness Protection Area is a protected area in the Australian state of South Australia located about west of Ceduna in the locality of Nullarbor. The wilderness protection area was proclaimed under the ''Wilderness Protection Ac ...
. The cave was abandoned 19,000 years ago, and rediscovered by
archeologists Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscape ...
in 1956. The cave was explored by an expedition led by Captain J. M. Thompson in 1935. The team entered the cave by a ladder and found themselves in a chamber in circumference and walked down tunnels over in length. In the 1960s, the cave was excavated by Alexandor Gallus, who found that Aboriginal people had mined
flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start ...
there. Koonalda Cave was declared a prohibited area under the South Australian '' Aboriginal and Historic Relics Preservation Act 1965'' on 30 May 1968. It was listed on the South Australian Heritage Register on 4 March 1993 and inscribed onto the
Australian National Heritage List The Australian National Heritage List or National Heritage List (NHL) is a heritage register, a list of national heritage places deemed to be of outstanding heritage significance to Australia, established in 2003. The list includes natural and ...
on 15 October 2014. It was also listed on the now-defunct
Register of the National Estate The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Herita ...
. In December 2022, it was reported that some of the artwork was destroyed by vandals who had illegally gained access to the cave at some time since June, prompting calls from the local Mirning people, who consider the site to be sacred, for the state and federal governments to improve security and legal protection for the cave.


See also

* List of sinkholes of Australia * Warratyi


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koonalda Cave Sinkholes of Australia Caves of South Australia Archaeological sites in South Australia Australian Aboriginal cultural history Prehistoric art Paleoanthropological sites Nullarbor Plain Australian National Heritage List South Australian Heritage Register South Australian places listed on the defunct Register of the National Estate