The Nullabor's fagile topsoil is a surface held together with a biofilm stabilised by delicate biological crusts formed from lichens and bacteria which, if disturbed, creates a dust bowl.

BULLDUST

Karst systems work as integrated landscapes, where disturbance of the surface affects many aspects of the whole system. The building of roads and burial of cables are a case in point, where the impacts affect surface drainage, soil movements and sediment flows that can then block underground cavities. This impacts on cave biota, air flows, and humidity.

What will happen if they go ahead?

Why is the Nullarbor so valuable?

The Nullarbor contains the largest single exposure of limestone bedrock in the world occupying an area of around 250,000 square kilometres.

It is underpinned with spectacular caves with saline lakes and Halite formations metres in length. The surface records: ancient sand dunes, nine pocket valleys, ten ancient river beds (paleochannels) and ancient reefs.

The unique evviromental treasures of the Nullarbor are miriad. A few a catalogued below.

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 detected 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 surveys in the AZM dataset. They were detected only 25 times.

* Source: ACKMA Proceedings #14, 2001. Challenges in conservation of the microbial mantles in Nullarbor Caves Annalisa Contos, Julia James, Peter Rogers and Phil Prust

Sarconornia blackiana.

Photo: Clare Buswell

Red Fingers. Photo: Clare Buswell

Speleothems are mineral deposits formed from groundwater within underground caverns such as stalagmites and stalactites. They record wetter climates going back to the Pliocene.8

The forms may be annually banded or contain compounds that can be radiometrically dated. The thickness of these depositional layers or isotopic records can be used to determine our past climate conditions.

Fossil records from the Pleistocene (2.5 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 chemautotrophic. The energy source for the community appears to be based on the oxidation of nitrite to nitrate rather than on photosynthetic products. Chemotrophic 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.

Nullabor 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. Several caves have occupation evidence (e.g. Koonalda Cave) extending for tens of thousands of years. 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.

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

600 recorded plant species, eleven of which are threatened species such as the endemic Nullarbor emu bush.

Unique animals such as the newly discovered endemic spider. 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

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 flier 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 Heritage List

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.

More Media on the WGEH Proposal

The Conversation The Nullarbor’s rich cultural history, vast cave systems and unique animals all deserve better protection (Newspaper Article)

Background Briefing Paper Valuing the Nullarbor Clare Buswell 2024 (Download PDF)