Woke to a beautiful day and set off back to Wellington [without the caravan] to view the caves. There are two dry caves which are not very interesting. Much more interesting is a disused phospate mine which was begun in 1914 and closed in 1918. At the time phospate was being sourced from Nauru which had fallen into German hands so the discovery was considered timely. Mysteriously though, the phosphate was of poor quality [formed from ancient bat droppings] and there was not much of it, yet the tunnels go extensively into areas of limestone which cannot possibly bear phosphate as it is only found in caves. One explaination for this is that the mine was a sham so that wealthy men could send their sons to work there to avoid being drafted.
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| Wellington Caves |
The caves originally mined were filled with clay washed in from surrounding sinkholes hundreds of thousands of years ago when the whole area was much wetter and supported marsupial mega fauna. Enormous quantites of their bones were washed into the caves with the clay and giant wombats, kangaroos marsupial lions and others have been identified from the remains.
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| Infirmary at Dubbo Gaol |
In the afternoon we visited Dubbo Gaol which was very interesting. Opened in the 1870's it remained in operation until 1966. Originally just 4 cells for men it was expanded and a women's section added. The cells were spartan, small and had no heating. Later additions included 2 solitary confinement cells, completely dark and soundproof and a padded cell for lunatics as the mentally ill were often treated as criminals. Only 8 hangings were conducted during the prison's duration and all are documented with the original noose and other gruesome tools of the trade on display.
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