No ordinary man: Tenison Woods and the Naracoorte Caves

Abstract

Father Julian Edmund Tenison Woods arrived at Penola on the 19th March, 1857 as a newly ordained priest and commenced his ministry to the South East region. He was a man of intense intellectual power, with a remarkable sense of inquiry, combined with an absolute and enduring spiritual commitment to the Church. Over the next ten years, he provided an immense service to his parish and its people, established a teaching order of continuing distinction to this day, authored many scientific writings, including his remarkable book on the geology and geography of the South East region, and returned to Adelaide as Director-General of Catholic Education. He was a passionate man, and at times this led him into conflict with the established Church, or other establishments. The Mosquito Plains (now Naracoorte) Caves soon came to his notice and excited his sense of inquiry. Although he had no formal education in geology, he soon developed a genuine understanding of these caves, bringing a remarkable mix of resources to bear upon the questions that they posed. During his early ventures into theology, he benefited from the teaching and friendship of Saint Julian Eymard, and they often walked together through the French countryside discussing what they saw. This both developed his great sense of observation and inevitably fostered his interest in and basic understanding of geology. Then while at Penola, he became friends with Samuel Pratt Winter of the nearby Murndal station in Victoria, who shared his sense of inquiry, and purchased books for him, including Lyell's (1830–1833) Principles of Geology'. He had clearly also read, probably in Winter's library, the work of Thomas Mitchell and others on the Pleistocene fossils from Wellington in New South Wales. His ‘Geological Observations in South Australia, principally in the district southeast of Adelaide’ was widely acclaimed for its interest and quality. Reading it today, one can only be impressed by his struggle to reconcile his own very acute observations with the wisdom of the great George Lyell. Of course, Lyell was writing from European experience and in total ignorance of the very distinctive nature of the South Australian Karst. Fortunately, Woods was not silenced by deference to the authority of Lyell and others, and presented his own views, including his assessment of the Naracoorte fossils. Again fortunately, when William Reddan arrived at Naracoorte to manage the caves he recognised the importance of Woods' work, and arranged for further continuing inquiry by Stirling and Zeitz of the South Australian Museum. In turn, this (relatively unsuccessful) activity fuelled the initial and continuing exploration of the caves by the speleologists of the 1950s, including myself, and others who followed, eventually discovering the Victoria Fossil cave.