Cathedral Cave 5

The first Europeans to explore the caves were probably associated with Lieutenant Percy Simpson's settlement (1823-1831), but the first written account was provided by explorer Hamilton Hume in 1828. Two years later George Ranken, a local magistrate, found fossil bones of both a diprotodon and a giant kangaroo in the caves. The diprotodon, which has been dated to the Pleistocene period was herbivorous and its teeth were well adapted to grazing.

Ranken returned later that year with Sir Thomas Mitchell and collected a huge variety of bones from the caves which appear to have acted as a natural trap for fauna. These remains became the subject of an address by Mitchell to the Geological Society of London in 1831. Since that time the cave has been a steady source of information about ancient geology and fauna, although collapses and other geological phenomena have splintered and scattered skeletons.

Geology
The caves at Wellington are located in an outcrop of Early Devonian limestone, which is about 400 million years old. That limestone is part of the Garra Formation.
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