Cave Clan
Cave Clan is a primarily Australian group dedicated to urban exploration. The organization has branches in all capital cities of Australia and associates in other countries. Unlike traditional caving groups they do not limit their activities to natural cavities.
History
Founded on Australia Day by three Melbourne teenagers, Woody, Dougo and Sloth (most Clan members are known by pseudonyms) . The trio started exploring together over the summer of 1985/6 and the name Cave Clan was chosen on January 26th, 1986.
In its publications and media interviews, Cave Clan members have claimed that they are the original underground exploration groups to spread to other cities. One pioneer often cited as an inspiration to the Cave Clan's founders was Alf Sadlier, a worker for the MMBW (Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works) who, after building many of Melbourne’s drains in the 1940s and 50s, would leave his name and the date in tar paint before the last section of tunnel was put in place. It was not until mentioning Alf in an article in Melbourne’s The Herald-Sun (Monday, May 11, pp7 – Tunnel Culture) that Alf’s sister wrote to the Cave Clan explaining that her brother was in fact a “builder of drains” and not an explorer. He died in the mid 1970s.
The Cave Clan gained new members and information in the 1980s by leaving messages on sections of tunnels in order to meet other explorers. In the 1990s the Cave Clan used stickers posted around the cities of Australia along with a PO Box. By the late 90s the Cave Clan had established a web site, although new batches of Cave Clan stickers still appear from time to time. It is rumoured that the Cave Clan or a member is somehow connected with the proliferation of This Is A Heavy Product stickers around Australia and the world.
In December 2005 the latest branch of the Cave Clan formed. The Virginian branch of the Cave Clan is the first official North American branch of the Cave Clan.
Cave Clan activities
The Cave Clan, as the name suggests, are primarily tunnel explorers. With such a diverse range of members, the Cave Clan's membership also includes explorers that are into other areas of urban exploration such as rooftops, abandoned buildings and climbing towers. The Cave Clan will explore just about any type of artificially made tunnel or cavity, stopping short of sewers.
The Cave Clan published its newsletter “Il Draino”, a photocopied zine, which was in publication between 1989 and 2004. The Cave Clan Magazine is also a zine brought out by the Cave Clan. This zine, unlike Il Draino, may be found in various alternative and countercultural bookshops in Australia, and includes photographs taken in underground formations.
Controversy
The Cave Clan has an excellent safety record with only a handful of non-tunnelling injuries in the last 20 years. Cave Clan members have made statements discouraging inexperienced youth from going into tunnels.
The Cave Clan distances itself from graffiti although it does have graffitists in it. ‘Tagging in drains’ is not tolerated in the Cave Clan. Leaving details of an expedition with a small marker in a plain section of the tunnel or cavity is the level of graffiti the Cave Clan reach. All new members must first go through a probationary period before agreeing to a list of Conditions aimed at keeping the locations they explore in an undamaged condition.
When Brian McHugh drowned in a Melbourne drain, it made everyone aware of the dangers involved in exploring drains. He and close friend Ben Lindsay had been trying to join the Cave Clan, but failed to do so as they were under 18. They continued to explore drains until one tragic summer’s afternoon when a sudden thunderstorm washed the two away. Ben managed to clamour to safety after being washed out of the tunnel. There are two articles on this subject in Juice Magazine (#100, April 2001) and the Sunday Age (January 2001).
The MMBW and subsequent authorities in charge of drains are on record as disapproving of public exploration of drain systems; in most Australian states and territories it is a bye law. Nonetheless, the fact that such activity happens on such a relatively large scale in Australia could be seen as an example of the Australian tradition of larrikinism, or paying little heed to authority.