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Balancing rock in the large group of rocks called the Tower of London

from State Library of Queensland

• Vesna Verencevic said:

  Chillagoe is an impressive combination of a relic copper mine, historic town, limestone caves, and Aboriginal rock paintings. It is located to the west of the Atherton Tableland and, although once a thriving mining town, is now little more than the ruins of its industrial past combined with some small mining operations. Still, it is genuinely fascinating, isolated, and exotic. Chillagoe is located 1,846 km northwest of Brisbane, 144 km west of Mareeba, 205 km west of Cairns, and 352 meters above sea level. Chillagoe-Mungana National Park The limestone in the area is the product of an unusual uplift of sediments (including coral) that were deposited in the ocean off the edge of the Australian continent about 400 million years ago. The sea level rose, the continental shelf moved east, and then, about 360 million years ago the sediments were compressed and uplifted. Source: www.aussietowns.com.au/town/chillagoe-qld

• Vesna Verencevic said:

  Although containing a wide variety of sedimentary rock types and basalt, the Chillagoe Formation is typified by limestone. In general the limestone is lime mud, variably recrystallised to marble. Locally it is fossiliferous with corals and stromatoporoids as well as megalodont bivalves, which are commonly in growth position. These and conodonts indicate that the formation is Silurian – Early Devonian (Telychian – Emsian). The Chillagoe area is noted for its spectacular landscape of jagged limestone towers and its extensive cave systems, many of which are protected within the Chillagoe-Mungana Caves National Park. The Royal Arch Cave is located about 5 km southwest of Chillagoe while the Donna, Pompeii, Bauhinia and Trezkinn caves are located 1.8 kilometres from the centre of town. Royal Arch, Donna and Trezkinn caves can be visited by guided tour only. Time will not permit us to visit these, but a short visit will be made to Balancing Rock. From the car park, 2.8 km from Chillagoe, a rough track climbs up the rock formation to view the spectacular limestone tower karst and the surrounding landscape of open woodland. Balancing Rock is an isolated limestone pillar, and in addition, the limestone shows many other features characteristic of karst, such as fluting (rillenkarren) and joints accentuated by solution (grikes). The Wallumba Aboriginal art site near Balancing Rock has viewing access provided by a boardwalk. Source: "North Queensland: 1700 million years of Earth history on the Proterozoic-Phanerozoic Margin of Eastern Australia", by Ian Withnell & Bob Henders, 2012 researchonline.jcu.edu.au/24850/2/24850_Withnall_and_Hend...