Borenore Karst Conservation Reserve is located near Orange and managed by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. Karst Conservation Reserves are managed for their special geological, natural and cultural conservation values. Other cave systems at Jenolan, Wombeyan and Abercrombie are also conserved as Karst Conservation Reserves.
The caves are the most important feature of Borenore Karst Conservation Reserve and have significant conservation and recreation value. The large diversity of karst morphological and sedimentological features on the existing Reserve and around Verandah Cave has led to the area being listed on the Register of the National Estate.
The Reserve is the only protected karst system in the Orange District open to the public to enjoy. Borenore offers visitors caves, karst bridges, blind valleys and numerous karst features to be explored. The Reserve is also popular for bush walking, picnicking, bird watching and bicycle riding.
The Arch Cave is the main cave to be visited in the Reserve.
The attractiveness of Borenore Karst Conservation Reserve is that it contains caves which are open for the public to explore for themselves at their own pace and without the distraction of artificial features such as concrete pathways and electric lighting. There are many other caves in the hills surrounding the Reserve, however these caves are gated and not open to the public.
The peaceful natural surrounds of the Reserve offer the visitor many scenic views. A walking track runs the full length of the reserve and offers a variety of natural features including karst landforms, flora and fauna, as well as an abandoned phosphate mine and old marble quarries.
Geological, Geomorphological and Karst Values
Landscapes with special land form and drainage characteristics owing to a greater solubility of certain rocks in natural waters are known as karst landscapes. Karst terrain is commonly characterised by closed depressions of various size and form, disrupted surface drainage, caves and underground drainage.
The limestone that created the karst landscape at Borenore is a sedimentary rock, which in this instance formed from a limey mud in association with a chain of volcanic islands off the then east coast of Australia. It is made up of numerous fossils from a long-lived reef complex from the Silurian era. Fossils include corals, crinoids, brachiopods, gastropods, pentamerids, colonial tryplasmids and trilobites.
These fossils are an outstanding feature of the limestone. Borenore’s karst is totally surrounded by igneous rock that flowed from volcanic eruptions at nearby Mount Canobolas. At this time, or possibly earlier, the limestone metamorphosed into marble. Several small abandoned marble quarries are spread throughout the area. Three types of soils occur on Borenore Karst Conservation Reserve: Terra Rossa soils on the hill slopes; Krasnozems on the hill tops; and Black Structured Earths on the alluvial flats.
Borenore has many representations of the distinctive land form features of karst landscapes including a karst bridge, a small arch, cliff lines, a blind valley, steepheads, dolines, karst window, swallets and springs and solutional features such as karren, clints, grikes, solution pipes and several caves. A variety of speleothems (cave decorations) can be found throughout Borenore’s cave system.
The caves and associated features were formed by the infiltration of water through the marble’s cracks and joints. A number of springs continually flow into Boree Creek. The water from these springs is of high quality and is an important source of water in maintaining the general health of Boree Creek and the Reserve.
Flora and Fauna Values
Because the Reserve is one of the few stands of remnant vegetation in the region, the conservation of the vegetation and fauna on the Reserve is most important. The vegetation communities are comprised of an open woodland dominated by White Box (Eucalyptus albens) and Yellow Box (E. melliodora). However the floristic composition of the area has been greatly altered by past grazing and mining activities and a number of weeds are present on the Reserve.
Mammals found on the Reserve include the Eastern Grey Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus), Swamp Wallaby (Wallabia bicolor), Brushtail Possum (Trichosurus vulpecula), Ringtail Possum (Pseudocheirus peregrinus) and the vulnerable Spotted-tailed Quoll (Dasyurus maculatus). Tunnel Cave is used as a roosting site by the vulnerable Common Bent-winged Bat (Miniopterus schreibersii) and is closed during the winter months so that they are not disturbed while hibernating.
Over 50 species of birds are attracted to the Borenore Karst Conservation Reserve including the uncommon Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus). The formation of the karst and its stable environment has preserved bone bearing deposits. The bone material that is present in the cave fill and sediment contains valuable information about past ecosystems and its related fauna in the Borenore area.
Historic and Cultural Values
Borenore Caves is located within the area of the Boree Local Aboriginal Land Council. The presence of an occupation site within Borenore Karst Conservation Reserve demonstrates that the area was known to and frequented by Aboriginal people, however little is known of their use of the area.
The first European visitor to the caves was John Henderson in 1830 while he was engaged in geological reconnaissance work that also included the Wellington Caves. Major Thomas Mitchell visited the caves in 1836 during his third expedition after his friend, George Rankin, excitedly reported his recent discoveries and nearby caves. In 1878 the reserve area became a Water Reserve and formed part of a Travelling Stock Route, although it remained a popular tourist destination. At this time the land south of Boree Creek was known as Helen Henderson’s Reserve (Sadowsky, 1992).
Around 1898, while enjoying a picnic at Borenore, Mr. Frank Rusconi who was a monumental stonemason from Italy recognised the rich quality of the marble on the reserve. This marble was considered to be some of the best in the world and was mined for around thirty years. An example of the famous Borenore red marble can be seen in Jenolan Caves House as a mantle piece.
To complete this Earthcache you need to:
A. Gather a few pieces of information to make the experience more challenging and fun. Please do not post your answers in the cache log as it will spoil it for others. Don't worry if you can't answer all the questions, just do your best. Please email me I will let you know the answers to the questions you could not answer.
B. Take a photo of yourself or your GPS with the Arch Cave entrance or interior in the background and post it with your log on the web site. While this is optional it really adds to the cache listing for others.
The information you need to get is:
At the entrance to the park you will see a sign:
1. What time does the gate close?
2. What facilities are available (look at the symbols)?
3. What is not allowed in the reserve?
A bit further on you will see another sign
4. What is the speed limit in the park?
As you move further into the park there is another sign
5. What three things are prohibited (not allowed)?
6. Why do you think there are all these rules?
When you get down to the parking area you need to look for the picnic tables:
7. How many are there?
Go towards Arch Cave:
8. What is the structure you used to get across Boree Creek made of?
On the other side of Boree Creek there is a sign:
9. How far is it to Arch Cave via the loop?
Take the shortest way to Arch Cave:
10. As you walk up to the cave how many pine logs are used to make the steps?
At Arch Cave:
11. What caused this cave to be formed?
12. What are the lumpy things hanging down from the ceiling?
13. How were they formed?
Explore the cave:
14. In some places there are things rising from the ground. What are these called?
15. How are these things formed?
16. When a thing on the ground joins with a thing from the ceiling what is it called?
Acknowledgment: Portions of this listing have been extracted from the "BORENORE KARST CONSERVATION RESERVE PLAN OF MANAGEMENT", Jenolan Caves Reserve Trust, April, 2001, ISBN 0 7313 6988 2, Crown Copyright 2001 and reproduced by permission.
