Manager of the Age of Fishes Museum, Anne Clark, has just returned from a fascinating tour of WA.
Highlights included:
·       Busselton in SW WA. Extending 1.841 kilometres over the protected waters of Geographe Bay, the heritage listed Busselton Jetty is the longest timber-piled jetty in the Southern Hemisphere and is home to one of six underwater observatories in the world!
·       Jewel Cave in Deepdene in the Margaret River region is the largest show cave in Western Australia with three immense chambers.
·       Lookouts at both The Gap and Natural Bridge in Torndirrup National Park provide outstanding views of the Southern Ocean and the coast from Bald Head to West Cape Howe. Visitors to The Gap can venture onto the accessible viewing platform 40m above the surging seas.
·       The Lake Clifton thrombolites in the Yalgorup National Park. The most striking things about the thrombolites are their limestone colour and rounded shape. The thrombolite-building micro-organisms are too small for the human eye to see and resemble the earliest forms of life on Earth.
The discovery of modern examples helped scientists to understand the significance of micro-organisms in the environment and unravel the long history of life on Earth.
Scientists know little about the thrombolites and why they form at Lake Clifton, but one theory is that they form because the lake is associated with upwellings of fresh groundwater that is high in calcium carbonate. The micro-organisms living in this environment are able to precipitate calcium carbonate from the waters as they photosynthesise, forming the mineralised structure that is the thrombolite.
Lake Clifton’s thrombolites are very fragile, so an observation walkway has been built for visitors to enjoy these incredible formations while protecting them from damage.Â
You can view ancient fossil stromatolites, similar to the WA thrombolites, in the Age of Fishes Museum here in Canowindra.
·       Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, also in the Margaret River region. The historic Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse sits at the tip of a spectacular peninsula, where the Southern and Indian Oceans meet. Situated at the most south-westerly point of Australia, on one of the world's great capes, Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse is the tallest lighthouse on mainland Australia.
·       Albany’s Historic Whaling Station. When the Cheynes beach whaling company closed in 1978, they simply put down their tools and walked away, leaving it intact.
·       This region is where Antarctica was once joined to Australia, as part of the supercontinent Gondwana. When animal life first began on Earth, initially in the marine environment, Antarctica lay along what is now Australia’s southern margin. Australia and Antarctica were rotated 90° from where they are today. The equator ran though both continents. About 400 million years ago, Gondwana moved dramatically and Antarctica took its place over the South Pole.
Follow our blog as we continue to share our journeys and uncover more incredible discoveries from around the world. If you have any travel stories or museum recommendations, we’d love to hear from you!
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