Cave Divers Association of Australia

Piccaninnie Ponds 3D Model
Piccaninnie Ponds in 3D is now available for CDAA members to view here. The model is in essence a meshing of many horizontal layers of peripheral survey points obtained over many years by various projects & sources. In essence, you need to download a freeware viewer program called eDrawings, then download the Cave file to view. There are also introductory instructions to viewing the model with eDrawings. You can manipulate the model in various ways, and, by looking at the various horizontal cross sections, I hope it gives you a feel of what Pics is doing. The project group is happy to answer any questions. Enjoy.
John Dalla-Zuanna, Piccaninnie Ponds Research Project Team 2008

AGM Minutes
Minutes of the 2008 Annual General Meeting are posted here

Barnoolut Bookings Online
Bookings for Black Hole and Ten Eighty Sinkhole are now available from the dive bookings page

DEAH Christmas / New Year Closure
In addition to the usual public holidays over the Christmas New Year period the Department for Environment and Heritage Mount Gambier office will be closed on Friday 2nd January 2009. To avoid disappointment (and make life easier for our office staff!) could members please organise their dive bookings early. Many thanks.
Trudy Barnett, DEAH

Results of Postal Vote
This year we had a reasonable response to the postal voting with 167 votes received. For the motion to Change the Hall of Fame and Life Membership 167 votes were recorded which meets the 20% of eligible members requirement to change the Constitution. The motion was adopted. Consequently in the Hall of Fame nomination, Max Marriott was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Heartfelt congratulations to Max and well deserved! Steve Trewavas was elected for the position of Standards Director. Helen Higgins was accepted for the position of Business Director. Thank you to Linda Claridge who also stood for the position of Standards Director.
Helen Higgins, Business Director

State Meeting Minutes
Minutes from the three state meetings held in Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney in September have been posted here.

AGM
If anyone is planning on going to the presentations before or dinner after the AGM, please let Helen Higgins know, as I require rough numbers for catering purposes. So far I have no-one for the talks and 8 for dinner. The menu will be set with the option of 2 dishes [probably lamb shanks and fish]. I will not be attending the AGM as I will be away on 4 weeks fieldwork around the Darwin area with work, leaving on Oct 10. Please send your dinner / presentations/ apologies information to Helen. If anyone has any special dietary requests, please state that also
Heike Apps, Business Director

Video Gallery
For those budding underwater cinematographers, the cavedivers.com.au YouTube video gallery is now up and running. Check it out here. Members are welcome to contribute their videos (must already be loaded on YouTube). Your videos MUST be cave diving related.

Events in South Australia
I have set up a web page as a notice board for events that may be of interest to cave divers in South Australia. These events may or may not be CDAA organised events. You can see the events here. Please come along and be sociable!
Ken Smith, SA Representative

Reports and Opinion Poll Results
A number of reports of investigations and the results of the recent opinion poll on a capital purchase have been posted here. You will need to use your CDAA number and Deep Cavern certification date in format d/mm/yyyy to access.
Heike Apps, Business Director

Nullarbor Caves Expedition 1971-72
Recently Terri and I were both sent a fascinating pictorial record of the early Nullarbor cave diving expeditions including shots of a very young Dave Warnes (CDAA 001), Phil Prust (CDAA 003), the Nullarbor Nymph, and Ian Lewis helping set gelignite to blast what is I think is the other side of Cocklebiddy Cave (where there is significant air flow)!! And no that isn't a rebreather in one of the photos, its a twin hose reg!! Many thanks to Ron Doughton for his contribution. View photos.
Tony Richardson, Web Site Admin

Site Access Directors Report
As this report was not printed in June Guidelines, it is now available here. You will need to use your CDAA number and Deep Cavern certification date in format d/mm/yyyy to access.

State Meetings
State meetings have been called this year by the National Committee: September 12th (Melbourne), 13th (Adelaide), 14th (Sydney) 2008. Full details here.

Directors Meeting Minutes
As per the National Directors report in June Guidelines, the minutes of directors meetings are now available here. You will need to use your CDAA number and Deep Cavern certification date in format d/mm/yyyy to access.

Membership Renewals 2008
I will be overseas from 19 July till 2 August 2008 and no memberships will be processed during this time. Please try to get your memberships in before this time.
Jason Caldwell, Records Officer

Members Opinion Poll
In my report in the latest issue of Guidelines I mentioned that I would like to canvas the opinions of members on the subject of a capital purchase. You can now express your opinion here online. You will need to login – but details of your opinion VS your CDAA # will not be viewable by anyone. I will release the tally [with some member comments] when the poll has closed. Thanks to Tony for setting this up.
Heike Apps, Business Director

Winter Clothing Stock
The winter stock of CDAA clothing has just arrived, so put in your order now for a nice warm fleece or for that beanie for after a dive. And don’t forget the travel mugs for your cuppa. There is also a small selection of clothing in Mt. Gambier at Pine Tank Lodge and Blue Lake Diving, so call in and have a look when you’re next in the Mount. Visit the online store to place your order.
Helen Higgins, Products Officer

New Records Officer
Please make welcome our new records officer Jason Caldwell, just in time for 2008 renewals! Many thanks to Michael Kelly for all his years of hard slog for the members on the records.

Team Dynamics in Cave Diving Study
Researchers from the University of Florida are sponsoring a groundbreaking research study for the underwater cave diving community. Your participation is requested for a never-before-done study on underwater diving team dynamics and its effects on the success of underwater explorations. More information is located here (61Kb pdf).

New Products
There are two new products available in the online store - Cavern/Cave Diver Workbook and the Abseiling Handbook. Orders can be placed via the online store or by sending an order in the mail.
Helen Higgins, Products Officer

Engelbrecht’s Cave Closure
Engelbrecht’s Cave (east and west) will be closed from Monday February 11th for 4 or 5 days. The site is being redeveloped and this includes a new fence and pathway into the cave. This would make it completely inaccessible to everyone during this time. Apologies for the short notice.
Terri Allen, Publications Director

Barrie Heard
It is with regret that I have to inform the Association that Barrie Heard has passed away. It seems that Barrie suffered a heart attack from first reports, while working in his shed. I suppose that some consolation can be taken in the fact that Barrie's shed was a place where he kept his "toys", a place where an Aussie bloke fiddles with his "stuff". On behalf of the CDAA I would like to pass on our condolences to his family and friends, he will be sadly missed. Barrie Heard was a Penetration Examiner and a Tank Cave Guide, he served the Association well in many positions over the years and I'm sure the training he gave has ensured the safety and skills of many members. Having worked with Barrie on many courses within the CDAA and through IANTD I and many others will miss that dry sense of humour and the twinkle in the eye.
Warrick McDonald, CDAA National Director.

News Archives: 2000 | 2001 |2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007