May 23, Capricorn Caves, Rockhampton, Mount Morgan

Our first stop this morning was the Capricorn Caves. There were several caves linked together and they are the only privately owned caves in the country. They were called 'dry caves' because they don't have many formations created by water. There were a few stalactites and stalagmites and a little flow stone. Primarily we walked through different rooms. The largest was called The Cathedral. There are weddings held there and this weekend there will be opera performances. We sat on the pews while the guide lit the room with candlelight. Then she played some music and it was quite nice. Although it was a little musty and damp in there.We had the option to take the zigzag trail out of the cave. It was pretty tight in places and then it exited the cave by a suspension bridge.

We drove to Rockhampton and found the info center. There was a large spire marking the Tropic of Capricorn. The actual tropic was 4km away, and there was a marker there. But the highway was moved and the decision was made to put a marker at the info center, where people would visit it.

Next we drove out to Mount Morgan to take a tour of the town and the old gold mine site. A statue in town was titled "Running the Cutter". It showed a man running with a pail. Back in the mining days, the miners brought their tea to work in a billy or pail. After work they would go to the pub and fill the billy with beer. They settled down near the pub and had a youngster run the billies back to the pub for refills. Don't know why it was called running the cutter. But now they have a yearly festival where they have a relay race to commemorate it. The first runner takes the billy to the first pub, drinks his billy and passes it on until the runners have hit all 4 pubs in town. Kids race, but drink fruit juice.

John showed up with a little bus and 10 of us piled in. Mount Morgan has a population of 2500, and isn't very big, but it does have an interesting history. Gold was found there in 1892 and the ore was dug out by tunnels for 50 years miners lived and worked there. There were separate communities of Irish, Scot, and Welsh families.

New owners started an open pit operation that lasted until 1950. Now the open pit is filled with water that is an environmental problem. It's very acidic and there is an effort being made to make it safer. In January the water overflowed into the river.

A Chinese company recently bought the site and is going to try to get the remaining gold out of the hills of tailings around it.

We drove on the Gladstone to see the worlds largest aluminum plant. It was a very industrial town on the water with a coal shipping terminal.

We parked next to the water, near the marina. It was really quiet, but we realized later that it was a gathering place for young people and their cars.

Pictures - Camping spot last night, 100 year old bridge in Capricorn Cave, Jeanne on the suspension bridge, Samson at the Tropic of Capricorn, Running the Cutter statue, Mt Morgan hotel - now a private residence, Mt Morgan Library, Water in the open pit, Mt Morgan RR Station