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Crystal Cave Restoration

Pieces of the shawl prior to assembly (the dotted parts have already been glued).

Threaded stainless steel rod (316) was used to ‘pin’ the larger fragments.

Drilling a pin hole in the central piece of the shawl

The shawl supported and left to set.

The reassembled shawl

Pinning a stalactite.

The pinned stalactite setting

A further stalactite section glued.

Installation time: Melanie Roberts and Rob MacCracken locate where the stalactites came from

Greg Thomas marks the drilling positions for the shawl

Greg and Rob drill holes to reattach the shawl

Drilling the lower part of the shawl

Unplugging the corer

Washing out dust and spoil

Rob Foulds dries off the shawl section

Greg cutting sections of threaded rod

Ian, Steve Miller and Ben Thomas mix and apply the resin glue

The shawl reattached and supported by an Acrow prop and sand bucket while setting

Sandbags and ladders hold the Acrow prop firm.

Steve shows where a stalactite is to be reattached

The rounder stalactite sections were supported in PVC pipes

A seesaw system was used to apply upward pressure

Close-up of the fulcrum arrangement

Ben indicating where the stalagmite is to be reattached

The stalagmite in place

Steve ready to support the double stalactite…

Small shawl, before…

Cluster of four stalactites, before…

The large shawl, before….

Overall chamber shot indicating all the speleothems which were reinstalled.

The glues used: ‘Hot Stuff’ instant superglue for light speleothems in less vulnerable locations, and a two-pack epoxy resin ‘Techniglue’ for the heavier ones.

Close-up of the coring bit.

A diamond coring kit, obtained courtesy of Greg Thomas, was used to drill speleothems without splitting or shattering them.

All the tools used by Ian and his team.

Some of the pieces with the evidence bags in which they were released to us

Ian Collette laid out the pieces according to the map, and was able to see how many of the pieces fitted together.

The map made by Rob Foulds immediately following the vandalism, showing where the broken pieces of formation were found.

This small jack was left in place to support the formation

The large rock in the foreground was placed to reduce the effect of intermittent water flow

Norm Poulter commenced the work with this very large and heavy piece (128 kg) which had been suspended just above the sand floor. Paving slabs were installed under the sand to give a firm base, and the formation was jacked back up into place.

The entry gate to Crystal Cave

© 2021 Western Australian Speleological Group