Exploring GOAT Cave’s Preserved Wildlife and Ancient Habitats
Back in 1998, I had the privilege of exploring caves on the Nullarbor with renowned explorers Grant Gartrell, Tom Wigley, Mark Sefton and Paul Devine. One cave, Goat Cave, caught our attention. We suspected it held secrets, though at the time we could only guess at their scale. I wrote in my diary: “The breeze is incredible and oozes from the collapsed doline, indicating that there is much to find.”
Despite our efforts, we were unable to push through the boulder choke. The cave remained a modest 250 metres in length, confined to its entrance chamber and a few dusty passages. In hindsight, that diary note was prescient.
Twenty-five years later, in 2023, a group of cavers finally navigated the complex collapse and entered a stable section of the system. New discoveries followed almost daily. Today, the cave extends 9.7 kilometres, reaching a depth of 94 metres beneath the surface.
The explorers found an exceptionally dry environment with extensive salt speleothems, along with preserved remains of mammals and insects, including blind spiders similar to those we had observed elsewhere on the Nullarbor.
Originally named for the goats seen near the entrance, the cave soon earned a new nickname: G.O.A.T. Cave, the Greatest of All Time. The name stuck.
In May 2025, my colleagues and friends Jess Marsh, Andrew Sempel, Phil Maynard and I joined an expedition with the Western Australian Museum and the Australian Speleological Federation to survey the cave’s insect fauna and contribute to ongoing exploration.
The insects we observed and collected were all mummified, preserved in the cave’s stable, arid conditions. We are still working to understand the processes behind this remarkable preservation. Radiocarbon dating revealed ages ranging from around 1,000 years to more than 10,000 years.
One of the most intriguing finds was an eyeless spider wasp new to science, completely blind, with extraordinarily long antennae. Spider wasps parasitise spiders, and its host may well have been one of the blind spiders we are currently studying.
The discovery points to an invertebrate community that has evolved over a very long period, with possible origins extending back five million years, when the Nullarbor supported wetter habitats and more vegetation before the onset of aridification.
Armed with new insights from DNA analyses and dating of the cave’s insect assemblage, we will soon return to GOAT Cave to undertake a detailed survey of the system. I am certain that there is much more to find.
Learn more about how Ancient Land Tours assists scientific teams through our research and specialist field support on the Nullarbor and in Far West South Australia.