science

Koonalda Cave

Koonalda Cave is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Koonalda Cave rather than just read about it. In short: Koonalda Cave is a cave in the Australian state of South Australia, on the Nullarbor Plain. It is located within the Nullarbor Wilderness Protection Area, 99 kilometres (62 mi) west of the Nullarbor roadhouse and 97 kilometres (60 mi) north east from Eucla, Western Australia.

Key takeaways

Koonalda Cave belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Koonalda Cave to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Koonalda Cave from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Koonalda Cave is a cave in the Australian state of South Australia, on the Nullarbor Plain. It is located within the Nullarbor Wilderness Protection Area, 99 kilometres (62 mi) west of the Nullarbor roadhouse and 97 kilometres (60 mi) north east from Eucla, Western Australia. It is notable as an archeological site.

I.D. Lewis described the cave in 1976 as:Large doline 60m in diam. and 25m deep; talus slope to two main large passages connected by a high window; total length of cave 1200m; three lakes at -80m; narrow airspace beyond third lake leads to 45m diam. dome and lake; another 30m sump leads off this... Thousands of square metres in the cave are covered in parallel finger-marked geometric lines and patterns, Aboriginal Australian artwork which has been dated as 20,000 years old. The cave was abandoned 19,000 years ago, and rediscovered by archeologists in 1956. Analysis of finger markings and archaeological deposits showed that Aboriginal people used the cave 22,000 years ago. The cave was explored by an expedition led by Captain J. M. Thompson in 1935. The team entered the cave by a ladder and found themselves in a chamber 244 metres (800 ft) in circumference and walked down tunnels over 366 metres (1,200 ft) in length. In the 1960s, the cave was excavated by Alexandor Gallus, who found that Aboriginal people had mined flint there. Koonalda Cave was declared a prohibited area under the South Australian Aboriginal and Historic Relics Preservation Act 1965 on 30 May 1968. It was listed on the South Australian Heritage Register on 4 March 1993 and inscribed onto the Australian National Heritage List on 15 October 2014. It was also listed on the now-defunct Register of the National Estate. In December 2022, it was reported that some of the artwork was destroyed by vandals who had illegally gained access to the cave at some time since June, prompting calls from the local Mirning people, who consider the site to be sacred, for the state and federal governments to improve security and legal protection for the cave. In March 2023 the Australian Government pledged $400,000 to improve the security of the cave, including the installation of cameras.

See also List of sinkholes of Australia Warratyi

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Koonalda Cave

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Koonalda Cave claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Koonalda Cave before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Koonalda Cave ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Koonalda Cave

In research: Koonalda Cave appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Koonalda Cave in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Koonalda Cave is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Archaeological sites in South Australia, Australian Aboriginal cultural history, Australian National Heritage List, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Koonalda Cave outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Koonalda Cave in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Koonalda Cave means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Koonalda Cave out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Koonalda Cave in simple terms?

Why does Koonalda Cave matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Koonalda Cave?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Koonalda Cave.