A land down under Mt Gambier, Australia

[Wayne Harrison]

A land down under Mt Gambier

BRAD CROUCH
August 11, 2007 11:30pm

UPON landing at Mt Gambier airport you are quickly informed that you are in the Blue Lake City, but there is more to the town than just the Blue Lake.

The result of a volcanic explosion 5000 years ago, the 70m deep crater lake in a bush setting dramatically changes colour from grey to a vivid blue over a few days each November before gradually turning back to grey in late March.

But, I repeat, there is more to Mt Gambier than the Blue Lake.

It's just that some of the good things in South Australia's second-biggest city are out of sight. Engelbrecht Cave, for example.

Many people drive over it every day without a second thought, and many actually live on top of it. The 600m-long cave winds under the Jubilee Hwy and 19 houses are built over it.

It was named after a local identity who used to dump his waste - including gunge from his distillery - down what appeared to be a natural well, as was the out-of-sight, out-of-mind custom of the times.

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