The Caves, Queensland


The Caves is a rural town and locality in the Livingstone Shire, Queensland, Australia.

Geography

The locality is in Central Queensland region. Alligator Creek, a tributary of the Fitzroy River forms the western boundary of the locality. The Bruce Highway and North Coast railway line traverse the locality from south to north-west, passing through the town, which is served by The Caves railway station with Camoo railway station further north. The Mount Etna Caves National Park protects the limestone caves area in the north-east of the locality.

History

The town takes its name from The Caves railway station, which in turn was originally called Etna railway station but was renamed by the Queensland Railways Department on 23 July 1914, because of the limestone caves in the area.
Mount Etna Provisional School opened on 7 November 1904 but was renamed The Caves Provisional School in 1905. It became The Caves State School on 1 January 1909.
At the The Caves recorded a population of 708 people.

Tourist attractions

The Caves is home to two cave based tourist attractions. They are:
The Caves State School is a primary school for boys and girls operated by the Queensland Government at 1 Barmoya Road. In 2016, the school had an enrolment of 87 students with 6 teachers and 8 non-teaching staff.