Wonambi Fossil Centre and caves at Naracoorte: Ron visits the South East region of South Australia

Visit Naracoorte on the Limestone Coast and there's a fair chance you'll head underground at some point into the network of caves that won World Heritage listing in 1994. For palaeontologists, the dark caves have shone new light on the world, as it was nearly a quarter of a million years ago. Fossil digs have uncovered the remains of what's called Australia's mega fauna - the giant creatures that once roamed a very different continent.

And people like Steve Bourne are learning more and more about this "land of the giants" and providing more playmates for the Diprotodon or giant wombat at the Wonambi Fossil Centre.

"One of the great things about palaeontology is that there are always new discoveries being made and new interpretations being made from the fossils," said Steve. "In 2000 we found a giant goanna here for the first time. It's been added to the display and you can see it is quite robust and is about four metres long. It would have been quite a scary sight."

"It's interesting that everybody knows the word dinosaurs. We get school groups here and they can list off twenty names of dinosaurs but you say mega fauna and it's a foreign word. But we're gradually working to change that and to get an understanding and appreciation that Australia did have it's own unique fauna as little as fifty thousand years ago."

The mega fauna lived alongside creatures that have survived we know today but what killed them off is still the subject of debate. Maybe it was an ice age, maybe the arrival of the aborigines to the Australian continent. Some disappeared much more recently.

"A lot of researchers lump the Tasmanian Tiger in with the mega fauna," said Steve. "Of course, they roamed around the mainland till as little as three thousand years ago. Sadly, they disappeared from Tasmania in the 1930s."

It was a time when Tigers roamed wild, alongside marsupial lions. He's a fearsome critter and for years, debate raged over whether he was a carnivore or vegetarian.

"It was originally described by English palaeontologist, Sir Richard Owen as Thylacolea carnifex which basically means pouched lion that slices flesh, because of this large slicing tooth.

"But the argument raged for over a hundred years until the Victoria Fossil Cave deposit was found. That contained a complete skull and front legs of the animal that had large claws. Suddenly it became apparent that this animal could hang onto animals. It had killing weapons with its thumbs as well as its teeth and there was pretty conclusive work done by Professor Rod Wells at Flinders University."

One of the things that make Naracoorte caves so famous is the secrets they contain. Remains in some cases of animals that fell and became trapped inside.

They include Wonambi Narcoortensis - a mega serpent found in the district 100,000 years ago. It now lends its name to an amazing window into a different world at the Wonambi Fossil Centre part of the caves complex at Naracoorte. If you have any further questions please email info@postcards-sa.com.au

The Wonambi Fossil Centre
Naracoorte Caves National Park
Off the Riddoch Highway
10 kms south of Naracoorte
Open Daily 9am - 5pm