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Victorian
Limestone Caving Team
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Newsletter pdf. Click here Special newsletter ELK River cave Newsletter articles on Bunyip Cave Click on images for more photos
Contact us
Link to the Australian Speleological
Federation Mole Creek Caving Club Other Clubs in Australia
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Welcome to our web page ********************************************************* About us For some time it was known as the Somers Area Scout Caving Team. The main aim of the club back then was to take scouts from the Somers District (a scouting zone in Melbourne) on adventure caving activities. The name Victorian Limestone Caving Team ( VLCT) was first introduced in June 1996 after the club had run it's last trip for the Scouting Association. Deciding to continue as a private caving club, with no further connection to the scouting movement. In June 2000 we joined the Australian Speleological Federation Inc. (ASF) as a provisional member club. The club is active in many fields and has made some startling discoveries. We have on-going projects such as: Cave surveying, photography, exploration and of course the regular caving activites for members to choose from. ********************************************************* Special events VLCT has recently been involved in one of the most amazing discoveries for decades in the Murrindal region near Buchan. In the year 2006 our members found an underground river at the "Potholes" an area north of Buchan. It has long been muted that a system should exist (in therory at least) but no-one had been able to locate the fabled "Main Drain" that had eluded so many. The cave has been named the "ELK River Cave" MX444. Throughout the year 2006 we ran several trips into the cave, mapping documenting, photographing and exploring the system. On our seventh trip into the cave we made a connection to another well known cave system and on our eighth trip we made a reverse trip through the newly discovered connection. ParksVictoria has been given the location and all the information we have gained from our trips in a manuscript complete with maps, photo's and a CD. ******************************************************** One of the most significant events the club has been involved in is the discovery of a Palorchestes Azael skull. Found on a private property owned by the Hulley family at Murrinal (just north of Buchan) in the East Gippsland region of Victoria. The land and the cave are now under the care of Parks Victoria. The bones were found in a new cave which was dug open by Eric Munro who gave it one last shot when everyone else had given up. He leaned on a small stump, it broke away, leaving a hole for him to follow. He eventually dug through 1.5 metres of soil and rock to expose an 11 metre pitch. The initial working name for the cave was Palaeo Pot. Then later it became known as Bunyip Cave MX441.(Bunyip is believed to have been the Aboriginal word for Palorchestes) Kim Van Dyk entered the cave first and found the skull wedged high in a rift. The other cavers involved in the exploration were: John Van Dyk, Josh Van Dyk and Laurie Brown. The almost complete skull has now been removed from the rock and is undergoing restoration. It's unusual structure has caused science to rethink what the animal may have looked like.For picture's of the skull click on Link Relevent Newsletter articles on Bunyip Cave *********************************************************
Over the years the club has worked in conjunction with Parks Victoria and Palaeontologist's from the Melbourne Museum on a special project piecing together fossil sites from the Buchan area. VLCT members were invited to assist Parks Victoria and a museum representative in the reentry of Bunyip Cave MX441 to reassess the cave and remove the remaining portion of the skull. ********************************************************* Early in 2005 two of our members, John and Kim Van Dyk, participated in the first sanctioned trip since 1992 into Mandelbrott Cave M308. Kim wrote a report on the event for Parks Victoria. ********************************************************* In August 2005 a group from VLCT ran a trip into Exponential Pot M125 to explore the cave and check for any damage that may have occurred due to an attempted break-in through Albatross Pot. A compact disc complete with photo's and a written report on the state of the cave was handed over to Parks Victoria.
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