Buchan Caves

The Buchan caves formed over hundreds of thousands of years as underground rivers dissolved limestone laid down when the area was seabed, and two of them, Royal and Fairy, are shown on guided tours through chambers of stalactites, columns, rimstone pools and flowstone. Royal Cave is known for its calcite-rimmed pools, Fairy Cave for its dense decoration. Tours run several times daily and are timed. Above ground, the reserve holds a spring-fed pool built in the 1930s, walking tracks, kangaroos on the lawns and a campground. The area was in the middle of the 2019 to 2020 bushfires and the town and reserve took damage, since repaired.

History

The Gunaikurnai Nation are the traditional and present custodians of the caves, which were first described for colonists in 1840, when Stewart Ryrie Jr, with an Aboriginal guide and three soldiers, came upon them during a survey and entered one on 7 April; the artist Eugene von Guérard sketched a cave interior in January 1861. The land became a reserve almost by accident in 1887, as a stock camping ground, and was then kept to protect the caves on the advice of the geologist Albert Ernest Kitson; Frank Moon reported on the Fairy Cave, opened to the public in 1907, and the Royal Cave, mapped by Frederick Wilson in 1910, opened in 1913 after an entrance tunnel was dug (Wikipedia, Buchan Caves).

What you'll find

• Royal Cave - calcite-rimmed pools and flowstone on the guided route.
• Fairy Cave - densely decorated chambers of stalactites and columns.
• The spring-fed pool - the 1930s swimming pool in the reserve.
• The reserve grounds - kangaroos, walking tracks and camping above the caves.

When to go

October to April for the pool and the surroundings; the caves hold a constant cool temperature year-round, around fifteen degrees. Tours run daily on a fixed timetable and should be booked in holidays. Winter in East Gippsland is cold and wet.

Things to know

Cave access is by guided tour only at set times, with steps and low sections. Photography is allowed but tripods are not. The area is remote, and services in Buchan village are limited. Bushfire and flood have closed roads here in recent years.

Nearby

Snowy River National Park lies north; Lakes Entrance and the coast are south.

Key facts