Cocklebiddy is a small roadhouse community located on the

Eyre Highway Eyre Highway is a highway linking Western Australia and South Australia via the Nullarbor Plain. Signed as National Highways 1 and A1, it forms part of Highway 1 (Australia), Highway 1 and the National Highway (Australia), Australian Nat ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. It is the third stop after Norseman on the journey eastwards across the

Nullarbor Plain The Nullarbor Plain ( ; Latin: feminine of 'no' and 'tree') is part of the area of flat, almost treeless, arid or semi-arid country of southern Australia, located on the Great Australian Bight coast with the Great Victoria Desert to its no ...

. Like other locations in the region, the site consists of little more than a roadhouse. It is the nearest locality to the coastal feature of Twilight Cove, which is to the south. Cocklebiddy follows the time zone used by Eucla of UTC+8:45. It is situated from Border Village.

History

1800s and 1900s

Cocklebiddy started as an Aboriginal mission station, of which only the stone foundations remain today. The area was thought to be a potential water source and, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Army engineers attempted to tap fresh water from the lakes, but it was found that a thin skin of fresh water overlay a vast volume of

saline water Saline water (more commonly known as salt water) is water that contains a high concentration of dissolved salts (mainly sodium chloride). On the United States Geological Survey (USGS) salinity scale, saline water is saltier than brackish wat ...

. The Eyre Telegraph Station, located south of the settlement, operated from 1897 until 1929. Unlike most others, it remained in a relatively well-preserved state due to its isolation and protection from the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the world ocean, generally taken to be south of 60th parallel south, 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is the seco ...

, and in 1976, when the State Government created the Nuytsland Nature Reserve, the building became the Eyre Bird Observatory, which opened in 1978. The observatory offers basic camping facilities. Over 230 species of birds have been recorded there.

2000s

A new species in the Restionaceae (a family of tussock-like plants), namely '' Harperia eyreana'', was discovered about to the south-west of Cocklebiddy, and described in 2000. Cocklebiddy was visited in 2007 by the Australian comedic duo, Hamish and Andy.

Caving

The Cocklebiddy area is noted for its

cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

s, the most notable of which is Cocklebiddy cave – a single passage more than long, of which around 90% is underwater and only accessible via cave diving. In August 1983, a French team set a world record here for the longest cave dive in the world. In October that year, the French record was beaten by an Australian team when Hugh Morrison of Western Australia pushed another beyond where the French had tied off. In 1995 South Australian cave diver Christopher Brown went another further again, and in late 2008 much of the cave's more distant regions were explored, mapped (using radio-location "pingers" designed and operated by Ken Smith) and videotaped by Craig Challen and

Richard Harris Richard St John Francis Harris (1 October 1930 – 25 October 2002) was an Irish actor and singer. Having studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, he rose to prominence as an icon of the British New Wave. He received numerous a ...

''et al'' using

rebreather A rebreather is a breathing apparatus that absorbs the carbon dioxide of a user's exhaled breath to permit the rebreathing (recycling) of the substantial unused oxygen content, and unused inert content when present, of each breath. Oxygen is a ...

technology. (Challen and Harris would later be better known for their involvement in the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue.)

References

External links

Shire of Dundas – Towns of the Eyre Highway
including local information.
History of Cocklebiddy Cave Exploration
{{Authority control Towns in Western Australia Shire of Dundas Nullarbor Plain Roadhouses in Western Australia Underwater diving sites in Australia Eyre Highway Caves of Western Australia