The world’s oldest known open caves have been closed to visitors after the only roads in were destroyed or damaged by storms, fires and floods.
The Jenolan Caves, in the Blue Mountains region west of Sydney, are now impossible to access by road, after months of heavy rain forced the only remaining road to close for repairs for 18 months.
The caves have faced intermittent shutdowns over the last five years as a series of severe weather events damaged infrastructure and made the alternative route unsafe for drivers.
“Our feature is nature, and we’re subject to the vagaries of that,” Andrew Le Lievre said, acting director of the Jenolan Caves Reserve Trust, which manages the historic precinct.
“Everything has a use-by date and unfortunately the road reached it, and now we’ve got to repair it,” he said.
About 230,000 visitors each year accessed the public caves and surrounding walking trails, and accommodation before the black summer bushfires in 2019-20, which burned 80% of the Blue Mountains world heritage area.
Those bushfires ripped $2.8bn almost instantly from Australia’s economy by crushing spending on tourism, according to a University of Sydney study.
The entire Jenolan Caves precinct is now closed to the public as roadworks begin, the latest in a string of severe weather hits to tourism across Australia.
A former chair of the trust, Richard Mackay said it was “very disappointing” that the caves had been closed off.
“They really have had a very bad run of luck with major storm and flooding events on top of bushfires, and that has combined literally into a perfect storm,” he said.
“It is tragic that such an important cave conservation area and part of the greater Blue Mountains world heritage area is not going to be accessible to the community.”
The black summer bushfires destroyed the bushland of the surrounding valley, leaving the caves and roads vulnerable to regular flooding in following years, Le Lievre said.
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Nearly 30% of walking trails in NSW national parks were inaccessible because of heavy rainfall and flooding during the latest La Niña, which ended in early 2023.
More recently, far north Queensland’s tourism sector faced widespread holiday cancellations in December at an estimated cost of $60m, as heavy rains and flooding shuttered businesses over the summer holiday season.
The rain damage was consistent with some scientists’ estimates that rising global heating would intensify Australia’s extreme rainfall events.
Gary Dunnett, executive officer of National Parks Association of NSW, warned in March that “more regular cycles” of Australian bushfires and floods would put environmental attractions in increasing danger.
Le Lievre said the trust planned to take the opportunity offered by the forced shutdown to carry out maintenance, open up more caves to visitors, and make repairs that better fit the local environment.
“It’s unavoidable that there’s going to be natural events that are going to impact us,” he said.
“What we’re looking to do with any of the replacement of damaged infrastructure, though, is look at how we can design it in a way that works with nature rather than against it.”
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