Jenolan Caves - Culture and History

The first European to discover the caves was the bushranger and escaped convict James McKeown. In a report in the Argus newspaper the story of his capture and the discovery of the Caves was recounted in a suitably dramatic fashion.

'James McKeown was an escaped convict...whose presence on the main western road was for years excessively irritating to the settlers, on whose stores he laid an oppressive toll...Whalan set out to track McKeown and followed him up hill and down dale for miles. After they had covered about 20 miles the bushranger suddenly disappeared...The tracks led up to a wild cavern and into it...and burst again into open day, and the route lay along a rugged gorge for some three miles. Here the bushranger again disappeared...All about were evidences of careful cultivation, the bushranger having laid out quite a nice little farm. Satisfied that he had run down his bird, Whalan retraced his steps...When he returned home he told his brother Charles of the strange country he had wandered into. 'I have been through the Devil's Coachhouse,' he said. Next day a party was made up, and with the aid of troopers McKeown was captured. His hiding place was a huge hole in the mountain-side, known now as McKeown's Hole...McKeown lived to return from a long term of exile on Norfolk Island and to re-visit the scene of his former exploits.'

There is some confusion as to when these events occurred. Some time between 1838 and 1841 is the best guess. Certainly both James and Charles Whalan returned to the caves many times and in 1846 the Arch Cave was discovered. The Elder Cave was discovered in 1848 and the Lucas Cave in 1860. The government declared the whole area a reserve in 1866 and appointed Jeremiah Wilson the first 'keeper' the following year.

It is worth contemplating the difficulties of the early visitors. Until 1880 visitors had to take the train to Tarana railway station. They then progressed by coach and buggy but had to walk down into the valley where they spent the night in the Grand Arch before exploring the caves. This all changed in 1880 when Wilson established an accommodation house at the caves and the road from Oberon was completed. In 1884 a bridle track was constructed from Katoomba. By the late 1880s the road which is still the main route to the caves had been completed and visitors from Sydney could reach the caves in less than 24 hours.