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2-5 Bridgewater Sea Caves

This information has been developed from the publications:
  • An assessment of the Geological/Geomorphological Significance of Private Land in the Shire of Portland (1981) by N. Rosengren, J Mallen, T Shepherd.
Geological heritage sites, including sites of geomorphological interest and volcanic heritage sites, are under regular revision by the Geological Society of Australia, especially in the assessment of significance and values. Reference should be made to the most recent reports. See the Earth Science Heritage section of the Geological Society of Australia website (external link) for details of geological heritage reports, and a bibliography.

Locality:

7121 - 345505. Six kilometres south-west of Bridgewater.

Access:

Blowholes Road then rope descent to the cave. Boat access is possible in calm weather.

Ownership:

Three caves are on Crown Land (P1, P2 and P3) and Fishermans Cave is on private land. Some features of the caves are dependent on ground water flow from private land.

Geology/Geomorphology:

The caves are developed on basalt but have extensive tufa terraces formed by calcite rich ground water emerging from the overlying Bridgewater Formation. Some caves have impressive speleothem development.

Significance:

State. Sea caves with extensive carbonate decoration are rare on the Victorian coast and the tufa terraces are of particular interest.

Management:

Due to the inaccessibility of the caves, management issues are limited. However, reduction of ground water movement to the coastal cliffs would lead to the drying up and decay of the tufa terraces. It is recommended that the rate of water withdrawal from bores and wells at Cape Duquesne and Cape Bridgewater should not be significant increased.

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