Hardy, Notes on Ramsden's Cave. F^ 



ict. Nat. 



May 



NOTES ON RAMSDEN'S CAVE, CAPE PATTEN. 

 By a. D. Hardy, F.L.S. 

 (Read hef ore the Field Naturalists' CI uh of Victoria, Wth April, 1910.) 

 That portion of the Victorian coast stretching north-easterly 

 from Cape Otvvay to Point Grey is well known for its pic- 

 turesqueness. Here we find cliff and beach, rock platform 

 and sandy shore in rapid succession, but the cliff formation 

 predominates, averaging at least loo feet in height, while in 

 many places vertical precipices rise to greater heights. The 

 spurs, which run south-easterly from the main Otway ridge, 

 are truncated at the shore line, and between them many 

 streams have cut deep valleys, which are now well timbered. 

 The surplus water of the copious Otway Forest rains finds 

 its way tumultuously to the coast through ferny ways, with 

 frequent cataract and abrupt fall, screened by an almost impene- 

 trable jungle of Aster, Senecio, Pomaderris, Prostanthera, 

 Coprosma, &c., canopied by tall acacias and eucalypts, in places 

 descending at the rate of about 300 feet to the mile. Emerging 

 from the State Forest, these streams run in the stony bottoms of 

 timber-denuded valleys, through the seaward belt of selected lands, 

 to gently meander a little near the shore, in places, across what 

 appear to be raised beaches, or, in others, to burst boldly from the 

 mouths of steep, stony-sided gullies, which form gaps in tlie high 

 coast-land. Other interruptions in the line of cliff are those which 

 have been formed by the sea ; the various blowholes, the Loch 

 Ard Gorge, of fateful memory, on the other side of Cape Otway, 

 being examples, to say nothing of the numerous small caves and 

 grottoes which the waves have fretted here and there. 



The whole district is a delightful one, as visitors to Lome and 

 Apollo Bay are well aware, and so it happened that the discovery 

 of a new feature some little time ago caused considerable interest 

 among tourists and others. But the reports were of such an 

 exaggerated nature that persons with some knowledge of the 

 geological formations were sceptical — an attitude subsequently 

 justified by the rough examination which I was able to make in 

 March, 1909. The measurements, by means of aneroid, compass, 

 and tape — were in paits obtained with difficulty, and are, as a 

 whole, to be taken as approximate only, and the accompanying 

 plans as diagrammatic. The latter are offered as a help to those 

 who desire to include this feature in a physiographical examina- 

 tion of the coast, and to venturesome tourists who do not object 

 to considerable discomfort, including a wetting and a bruise or 



two. 



In the vicinity of Cape Patten, which is situated between Lome 

 and Krambruk (better known as Apollo Bay), are to be found 

 some striking examples of marine denudation. '' The Blowhole," 

 so called, is a gulch reaching from the sea at almost low water 

 to the foot of the cliff It is about 30 feet wide, and is the site 



