Beneath the Surface: a Natural History of Australian Caves

Caves are exciting places to visit, whether you are a tourist, a sporting caver or a scientist in one of the many disciplines which use caves as natural laboratories. This book comprehensively reviews what we presently know about Australia's caves including the varieties of cave types and how they form, cave fauna, fossils, Aboriginal relics and decorations in caves, and a history of cave exploration and cave science in Australia.

While Australia doesn't have a lot of caves compared with other continents, its caves have some special attractions that make them internationally renowned. They include the huge, water-filled passages under the Nullarbor Plain (where cave divers can undertake one of the longest cave dives in the world, more than six kilometres), the country's most visited caves complex, Jenolan, inland from Sydney, with its spectacular formations and massive limestone arches, and the cold, deep shafts of the Junee-Florentine region of Tasmania.

This is the first book to be published on the caves of the whole of Australia. Previous publications have described only the caves of specific localities. While this book has been written for a general, non-specialist audience, it is scientifically right up-to-date without using technical jargon. The book's contributors include some of Australia's leading scientists - and all of them are active cavers.

If you like going down holes in the ground, Beneath the Surface will help you understand and appreciate what you find there. And even if you don't like clambering underground you can still share the wonder of it all by reading this book. It will bring delight to all cavers and to lovers of Australian natural history.

This title includes a complete chapter devoted to bats and is beautifully illustrated with 37 colour and 49 black and white photos, most of which have not been published previously. Maps and line drawings are also included.