ASF Home
ASF Library


The Australian Speleological Federation Inc. maintains an extensive collection of caving and caving related literature, as well as being the repository for the Federation's Archives. The collection includes books, journals and magazines, club journals and publications, maps, posters, artwork, postcards, photographs and memorabilia. The Library is also developing a museum which holds objects of historical interest to caving and speleology.

Search the ASF Catalogue

The physical contents of the ASF Library and much of the museum collection are held at North Wyong NSW. Access to the Library is available to all ASF club members on request to the Librarian or a member of the ASF Executive. The resources of the Library exist to be used and everything except archive, reference and rare material is available for loan. Due to the ASF having member clubs all over Australia, an effort is being made to provide as much electronic access to the Library holdings as possible, and the Library would like to thank Rod OBrien from SUSS for donating an enormous amount of digital material to the ASF. Links can be found in catalogue entries where an item is available to view online. Some material will only be available to ASF members and you will need to log in to access this online (though we are still working on the login feature). The current ASF Librarian is Cathi Humphrey-Hood.

The "About" section of this wesbite has more details about accessing material. If you have any questions about the Library, please contact the Librarian at asf.caves.library@gmail.com

Dirk Stoffels from CSS has built a multimedia index to help with finding DVD, video and photograph holdings while cataloguing is taking place:

View Multimedia Index

New Book - Australian Caves and Karst Systems

Aust Caves and Karst 2023

Edited by ASF members Dr Sue White, John Webb and Garry K. Smith and published by SpringerLink in 2023, this is the most comprehensive book on the caves and karst areas of Australia published to date. The ASF Library has now purchased an e-copy of the book. ASF members with an AWS login can now access the book by logging into the AWS Console and navigating to the folder: st2.asflib.net>BKS>SPRNGR>CKSW. The catalogue entry is here. If you are an ASF member and would like access to the pdf version for research purposes, please email asf.caves.library@gmail.com.

CQSS Archive and Map Cabinet Finds New Home With the ASF

The ASF Library has picked up the contents of the Central Queensland Speleological Society (CQSS) from the Central Queensland University Rockhampton Library and these records have been transferred to NSW for re-cataloguing. We would like to thank the staff of the CQU Library, Clive Kavanagh, Noel Sands and Pauline Toop of CQSS, and a large number of ASF members and the ASF Executive for their help and support during the transfer process.

The CQSS/UQSS map cabinet in now also at North Wyong, and the contents are awaiting cataloguing.

Thank you to everyone who supported the film digitisation project

Film Reel 0001 Still from film reel

On viewing the CQSS Archives at CQU we discovered several rolls of 16mm film which were around 50 years old, and some old video tapes from around the same time (pre-VHS/Beta). Concerned the old films would be starting to deteriorate, we made inquiries about digitising them. We were then made aware of some 16mm films made by the University of New South Wales Speleological Society (UNSWSS), also during the 1970s. After tracking those down, we arranged to have them digitsied as well. FATS Media Lab in Sydney did a wonderful job converting the 16mm film and Umatic tapes, while Greentree Audio Video in Illinois were able to digitise the Phillips NVP530H video cassettes. Some very old and interesting footage has come to light as a result of this project, and the two early caving films made by UNSWSS are quite remarkable. Digitising this material was expensive and we would like to thank everyone who helped us to make it happen.

The CQSS archive films include some footage from Channel 9, Channel 7 and Nationwide ABC, dating from 1977 to 1979, relating to the battle to save Mt Etna from limestone mining, as well as general footage of the bat flights from Bat Cleft. There are two films taken by UQSS of the Texas Caves in QLD (most likely filmed during 1968). These are black and white and without sound, but the film is sharp and clear. These films are of great interest since the caves were flooded when the Glenlyon Dam was completed in 1976.

The two films made by UNSWSS, "The Crystal Kingdom" and "Kubla Khan", were both major film projects tackling the challenges of filming underground in 1974 and 1975. There is a soundtrack for the Crystal Kingdom but unfortunately the sound track to Kubla Khan was erased. Fortunately the film makers - John Carmichael, Graeme Pattison, Andrew Pavey and Chris Fisher - kept records about the making of the film and took lots of photos of the process, which they have also kindly provided to the ASF Library. These will also be catalogued as soon as time permits.




Periodical items recently received (digital format unless otherwise marked):

JSSS Vol.68 No.01 Jan 2024
STC Speleo-Spiel 455 April-June 2023
MSS Spring 2023 Newsletter
KSS Trog Vol.58 No.4 Late Spring 2023
ISS December 2023 Newsletter
Caves Australia 226 Nov 2023
JSSS Vol.67 No.11 Nov 2023
Spelunca 171 September 2023 (hardcopy)
Acta Carsologica 52/1 2023 (hardcopy)
Acta Carsologica 51/2 2022 (hardcopy)
Speleologica 87 March 2023 (hardcopy)
JSSS Vol.67 No.10 October 2023
E-Speleo The Cave Cricket Vol.2 No.3 September 2023
Senckenberg Museum Band 153 Heft 7-9 2023 (hardcopy)
Senckenberg Museum Band 153 Heft 4-6 2023 (hardcopy)
E-Speleo The Cave Cricket Vol.2 No.2 June 2023
JSSS Vol.67 No.09 September 2023
JSSS Vol.67 No.08 August 2023
BCRA Cave and Karst Science Vol.50 No.02 August 2023 (hardcopy)
MSS Winter 2023 Newsletter
ISS July 2023 Newsletter
SRGWA Caver's Chronicle Vol.42 No.2 Dec 2022 (hard copy)
Karstologia 81 - 1st Semestre 2023 (hard copy)
Bulletin of the Akiyoshi-Dai Museum of Natural History No.58, March 2023 (hard copy)
Spelunca 170 June 2023 (hard copy)
JSSS Vol.67 No.07 July 2023
NHVSS Newcaves Chronicles Vol.59 January 2023
FUSSI Newsletter Vol.34 March 2023
Northern Caverneers Troglodyte Vol.33 No.1 June 2023
KSS Trog Vol.58 No.2 June 2023
JSSS Vol.67 No.06 June 2023
MSS Autumn 2023 Newsletter
ISS March-May 2023
BCRA Cave and Karst Science Vol.50 No.01 April 2023 (hardcopy)
JSSS Vol.67 No.05 May 2023
CEGSA Issue 266 May 2023
Caves Australia 224 May 2023

Samples from the Library:

    Arkaroola     George Rose      Against All Odds      Caves of teh Nullarbor     Cave Diving in Australia     Sandstone Caves


Go to the Australian Speleological Federation Inc.homepage