The Jenolan Caves are known both for being the world’s oldest open cave system, and for the almost pure white shades of the limestone formations.

The shimmering, dramatic karst formations created over eons under the Blue Mountains were changed quickly and dramatically to cater to inquisitive eyes fascinated by their ethereal landscape. The Jenolan Caves rose rapidly in popularity on discovery, and lights and platforms were constructed creating some of the most magnificent show caves in the world and one of New South Wales’ top tourist attractions for the past hundred and fifty years.

The story goes that first European to find these caves was a convict on the run who was living in them and using them as a hideout in the early 1800s. Once their cave mouths began to be discovered, people began to plunge further and further into their depths, revealing more and more spectacular formations the deeper they got, reaching some of the current major show caves the Elder and Lucas caves in the 1860s. Unfortunately early visitors were a bit hap hazard with their souvenir collecting and some of the most dramatic formations were damaged, you can see the marks of these early visitors in the Elder cave. By the 1880’s the Jenolan Caves had become a tourist attraction, with lighting rigged up and paths cleared so that less adventurers could see the wonders as well as the cavers, who pushed through passages to discover the Imperial and Chifley Caves and then the Jersey and Jubilee Caves.

Written by  World Reviewer Staff.

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