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26/11/2005: "VALERIE TAYLOR dives Mt Gambier sink hole"

Possibly one of the best underwater images of Valerie was made in 1966 at a South Australian sink hole. At the end of a dive she sits on a rope ladder, which was how we got into the sink holes.

The crystal clear fresh water is always colder than ocean waters.

This was in her orange wet suit with red stockings era, with an orange colored Tarzan face mask from France and (not shown) blue Cressi flippers/fins from Italy.

Valerie touches the mirror calm surface with her fingers. Much of her body is out of water.

Ron Taylor was filming his 16mm documentary The Cave Divers which why the three of us, assisted by Pierre Dubuisson were in the region for a couple of weeks. (Pierre was to lead the mega million dollar Belgian GBR expedition the following year with The Taylor's).

The Cave Divers were Rodney Fox, Valerie and I. We explored while filming at The Shaft; Picaninnie and Ewen Ponds; The Pines.

With 1000 watt 240 volt lights to illuminate the pitch darkness of underground, crystal clear dives. The electrical cables also served as safety lines.

(Inside the caves fine sediment stirred too easily, reducing visibility to a few inches. A horror situation that was to claim many divers lives in the the decade that followed when they explored without safety lines).

We would return with a crew of about thirty film production people to make a TV commercial the following winter, a Rothman's project The Hands of Man. The theme centered on well-preserved extinct kangaroo bones we'd found underwater by the handful inside The Pines cave.


The big budget Mount Gambier project was axed. Somewhere there are a few hours of quality 35mm movie footage showing the sink holes in all their glory. I haven't been back - except for a quick swim in Piccaninnie Ponds - probably the most photogenic of all.