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Cave Diving Down Under is an online resource for Australian cave divers.

A comprehensive listing of cave diving sites across the country is augmented by a great collection of underwater videos and still images of Australia's caves and sinkholes.

Read of some of the history of the sport in the last 60 years. For those divers considering moving to the dark side recognised course options are outlined on the training page.

Join the Mastodon news feed to read the latest cave diving news and keep up to date with cave diving developments from around the globe.
 
Accident Analysis

Cave diving pioneer the late Sheck Exley from Florida, USA, introduced the concept of Accident Analysis in order to develop cave diver rules of survival and training standards, and to curb the flood of deaths in the sport - 26 divers died in caves in Florida in 1974! In his seminal work, Basic Cave Diving - a blueprint for survival, Exley came up with the five minimal rules for safe cave and cavern diving from closely examining the mistakes of those divers who did not survive:

  1. Be trained in cavern or cave diving and dive within the limits of your training.
  2. Always run a single continuous guideline from the open water.
  3. Always reserve at least two-thirds of your beginning gas supply for the exit.
  4. Do not dive too deep. Stay within your training, experience level and ability.
  5. Always use a minimum three lights per diver.

There have been 17 deaths of divers while cave diving in Australia between 1969 and 2025. The majority of these occurred between 1969 and 1974 - 11 fatalities in total. This was before cave diver training and standards had developed and become recognised by the diving community to safely participate in the sport. The 10 incidents that led to the passing of the 17 divers will be examined in this series of articles. From the analysis of each, others may learn and not make the same mistakes of the past.

Case 1: Kilsbys Sinkhole 1969

Case 2: Piccaninnie Ponds 1972

Case 3: The Death Cave 1972

Case 4: The Shaft 1973

Case 5: Piccaninnie Ponds 1974

Case 6: Piccaninnie Ponds 1984

Case 7: Kilsbys Sinkhole 2010

Case 8: Tank Cave 2011

 

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News Feed Print

AustraliaCave Diving Down Under @cavediveaus@aus.social
Tuesday, 06 October 2026 13:31

Following close on from the previous fatality, in 2011 a well known cave diving explorer met her fate in Tank Cave while attempting to break new ground in a tight, low, silty section of the cave. This would be the first of three deaths in this complex and extensive cave system.

Read the accident analysis here:

cavediving.net.au/index.php/hi


AustraliaCave Diving Down Under @cavediveaus@aus.social
Friday, 02 October 2026 12:04

After a hiatus of 26 years without incident, the next Australian cave diving fatality occurred in Kilsbys Sinkhole in 2010.

Read the accident analysis here:

cavediving.net.au/index.php/hi


AustraliaCave Diving Down Under @cavediveaus@aus.social
Saturday, 26 September 2026 16:42

In 1984, after almost 10 years without incident, there was a double cave diving fatality in Piccaninnie Ponds. This brought the total number of divers to die in the site to four.

Read the accident analysis here:

cavediving.net.au/index.php/hi


AustraliaCave Diving Down Under @cavediveaus@aus.social
Monday, 21 September 2026 22:47

The body of an experienced British cave diver, who had been missing in the Gouffre de Saint-Sauveur cave system in France, has been found.

The diver had reportedly entered the cave system with an eight-hour supply of breathing gas. The missing diver’s body was located at a depth of 88m entangled in his guideline.

divemagazine.com/scuba-diving-


AustraliaCave Diving Down Under @cavediveaus@aus.social
Tuesday, 15 September 2026 13:46

The following year, 1974, another cave diving incident. This time, a fatality again in Piccaninnie Ponds, which had now claimed the lives of two cave divers: one in a small offshoot of the main underwater cave, the other at significant depth.

Read the accident analysis here:

cavediving.net.au/index.php/hi


AustraliaCave Diving Down Under @cavediveaus@aus.social
Thursday, 03 September 2026 14:55

The next cave diving incident occurred in 1973 when, in the worst cave diving tragedy in the world, four divers out of a party of eight drowned in The Shaft, one of the largest sinkholes known in the Mount Gambier area.

Read the accident analysis here:

cavediving.net.au/index.php/hi


AustraliaCave Diving Down Under @cavediveaus@aus.social
Tuesday, 25 August 2026 13:47

The third accident analysis is of an incident in 1972 where three divers died on the one dive. They had dived in a small muddy cave, now commonly called the Death Cave, and swam into a side passage without using a guideline.

cavediving.net.au/index.php/hi


AustraliaCave Diving Down Under @cavediveaus@aus.social
Wednesday, 19 August 2026 11:24

The second accident analysis of the ten Australian cave diving incidents which led to 17 fatalities between 1969 and 2025 has been published. In this case, one diver died while exploring Piccaninnie Ponds in 1972.

cavediving.net.au/index.php/hi


AustraliaCave Diving Down Under @cavediveaus@aus.social
Saturday, 15 August 2026 15:25

An accident analysis of each of the ten Australian cave diving incidents which led to 17 fatalities between 1969 and 2025 will be released over the coming weeks. The first of these from 1969 in Kilsbys Sinkhole where two divers perished has been published.

cavediving.net.au/index.php/hi


AustraliaCave Diving Down Under @cavediveaus@aus.social
Sunday, 09 August 2026 10:57

Cave divers assist researchers behind a new paper on fossils in underwater caves as they hope it will help reconstruct Australia's, and the world's, prehistory. Divers extracted fossilised bones and teeth from underwater caves around Mount Gambier in the Lower South East of South Australia.

abc.net.au/news/2026-07-16/und


AustraliaCave Diving Down Under @cavediveaus@aus.social
Saturday, 08 August 2026 07:15

Over 3 kilometres of Elk River Cave have been explored, making it one of the longest caves in Victoria, Australia. At a depth of 135 metres, it is also one of the deepest and among the state’s most important, as its discovery resolved century-old mysteries about the hydrology and geology of the region.

abc.net.au/news/2026-08-08/elk


AustraliaCave Diving Down Under @cavediveaus@aus.social
Friday, 24 July 2026 08:49

Cave divers are using high-tech methods to map underwater caves in Mount Gambier in the lower south east cave region of Australia, with impressive results.

abc.net.au/news/2026-07-24/div


AustraliaCave Diving Down Under @cavediveaus@aus.social
Sunday, 31 May 2026 16:56

The search by cave divers in a flooded mine in Laos for two remaining men, believed to be still missing, continues. Five men have already been rescued.

abc.net.au/news/2026-05-31/lao


AustraliaCave Diving Down Under @cavediveaus@aus.social
Saturday, 30 May 2026 21:02

The remaining four trapped men have emerged from the flooded mine in Laos themselves after pumps lowered the water level. It is unclear whether there are another two men trapped in the mine.

abc.net.au/news/2026-05-30/lao


AustraliaCave Diving Down Under @cavediveaus@aus.social
Saturday, 30 May 2026 09:41

Cave divers have rescued the first of five men trapped in a Laos mine. Two other men remain missing.

abc.net.au/news/2026-05-30/fir


AustraliaCave Diving Down Under @cavediveaus@aus.social
Thursday, 28 May 2026 21:54

Australian cave diver joins the operation to rescue five villagers located but trapped in a flooded mine in Laos.

abc.net.au/news/2026-05-28/div


AustraliaCave Diving Down Under @cavediveaus@aus.social
Wednesday, 27 May 2026 22:14


AustraliaCave Diving Down Under @cavediveaus@aus.social
Wednesday, 27 May 2026 09:06

Cave divers are assisting with an operation to rescue seven people trapped in a flooded Laos mine.

divemagazine.com/scuba-diving-


AustraliaCave Diving Down Under @cavediveaus@aus.social
Sunday, 24 May 2026 09:15

A likely explanation of what occurred on the dive that resulted in five cave diving deaths in the Maldives and a debunk of one of the fanciful theories that had been put forward.

divemagazine.com/scuba-diving-


AustraliaCave Diving Down Under @cavediveaus@aus.social
Saturday, 28 March 2026 00:49

The body of a cave diver who went missing in the cave system known as the ‘Devil’s Well’ in Greece has been located after a three-day search and rescue operation.

divemagazine.com/scuba-diving-


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