Chillagoe-Mungana Caves National Park

Located 215km west of Cairns, the Chillagoe caves contain marvelous mud and coral reefs and impressive limestone towers up to 70m tall. The national park itself is a small park which preserves dry woodland vegetation, a number of decorated caves and some unique limestone outcrops. The limestone has been weathered, dissolved and reformed by water to create spectacular caverns and passages, decorated by stalactites, stalagmites and flowstones.

The landscape around Chillagoe began to form about 400 million years ago, when limestone was deposited as calcareous mud and coral reefs surrounding volcanic islands. Subsequent tilting, folding and erosion exposed and weathered the limestone which today towers over the surrounding plains. Fluctuating groundwater levels slowly dissolved some of the limestone, creating caverns and passages, some of which have since been decorated by calcite stalactites, stalagmites and flowstones, deposited by surface waters penetrating through the rock.

Few animals can survive inside the dark caves. Several bat species roost and breed here and Chillagoe is one of five known nesting sites for the white-rumped swiftlet. The caves are also home to spotted pythons and a variety of insects and spiders. Fossilised bones of many animals including those of the extinct giant kangaroo have been found in the caves.