Magilaoma "tasmanica" 
Paralaoma caputspinulae, 
Pernagera officeri 
Laomavix collisi 
Thryasona diemenensis 
Other Invertebrates 
Actinia tenebrosa, Waratah anemone 
Trigopagurus strigimanus, Hermit erab 
Aplysia sydneyensis, Sydney sea hare 
Nerite, Nerita atramentosa, Blaek nerite 
Ovalipes australiensis, Surf erab 
Notocypraea declivis, eowrie 
Ellatrivia merces, Bean eowrie 
Bombus terrestris, Large Earth bumblebee 
Mystery Creek Cave — 10 May 2009 
Excursion report by Jane Catchpole 
Mystery Creek Cave is sited in the World Heritage Area of the South West National Park, and is one of 
the oldest reserves in Tasmania (1896). The trail starts at South Lune Road, a 4km drive west of Ida 
Bay, then follows the old railway line to the disused Blayney’s limestone quarry before branehing off to 
the eave entranee, 1.2km from the earpark. It is the first seetion of a walking route into the Southern 
Ranges via Moonlight Ridge to Mount La Perouse. 
On a sunny Sunday morning, after a quiek rendezvous at the Ida Bay railway, 25 of us, (a good mix of 
adults and exeited ehildren), were registered in the walkers book at the start of the trail before heading 
off into the forest, along the bed of the old railway. 
The Ida Bay railway started as a timber tramway serving a mill at Lune River, and logged trees with 
plank notehes ean still be seen along the way. Around 1919 it was taken over by the Australian 
Commonwealth Carbide Co.Ltd., and a railway built to transport quarried limestone to a wharf at Briek 
Point on Ida Bay. Here the limestone was shipped to Eleetrona where it was used in the produetion of 
ealeium earbide - a key eomponent in the steel industry, the souree of aeetylene gas, and used in the 
ehemieal industry for the produetion of synthetie rubber and plasties. The roek was blasted from the 
quarry faee, broken up and sorted, then manhandled into box ears from the railway. The rails on the 
sloping quarry floor had to be removed before blasting to prevent damage by falling stone then relaid 
onee roek had been eleared, and a traetor was used to tow and lower the box ears up and down the final 
1:25 slope up the quarry faee. Apparently the whole operation, not surprisingly, was “hard on both the 
men and vehieles”, and eonsidered “most uneeonomie”. Originally steam loeomotives were used, but 
in 1948 five petrol engines were purehased. Up to six trains ran eaeh day. The tmeks on the line used 
an unusual braking system - wooden bloeks dropped onto the wheels as the tmeks bunehed together 
and released when the strain was taken up by the engine. This led to two driving styles - either the 
driver had to go fast enough to keep the brakes from eoming on, or slowly with the engine at full 
throttle pulling against the brakes. Three quarries were worked over the life of the line, old Blayney’s 
being the seeond. In 1950 a new quarry eloser to Lune River was opened and the railway line was 
extended to Deep Hole, due to silting of the river at the wharf The last limestone train ran in 1975, and 
the traek to the quarry was removed in 1981. 
Other evidenee of human habitation eould be found in a forest elearing along the way - marked by a 
unique eairn of well worn leather hobnailed boots! Along with a eouple of lyre birds foraging in the leaf 
litter, we found the remains of stone and briek walls, old bottles and even an ink well still eontaining 
blaek ink. 
Baek on the traek we slowly made our way to the eave after leaving the quarry. The eave is 450 - 500 
million years old and is formed in limestone. A short seramble down a narrow path revealed the 
entranee and our first sight of glow worm habitation - a fringe of silken threads. We left the baekpaeks 
on the path, turned on our torehes and deseended into the eave. It is large, level and walkable and only 
one small seetion required us to stoop under a boulder. Mystery Creek flows through the eave over 
pebbles and the walking route eriss-erosses the stream many times. The sharp eyed ehildren diseovered 
some eave spiders, and stalaetites and stalagmites loomed out of the darkness. 
Tasmanian Field Naturalists Club BULLETIN 335 Jul 2009 p6 
