|
02/10/08 : The Canberra Times - "Canberra's underbelly"
|
Secret Squirrel and Guy Fawkes Tunnel are not in any Canberra visitors' guides, but for urban cavers they're huge attractions.
Below the concrete cityscape, crews of "urban cavers" track the stormwater drains, tunnels and unused bunkers to find the "mother of all tunnels", Secret Squirrel.
The term "urban caving" us used to describe a relatively new activity, where people use rock climbing and abseiling gear to explore stormwater drains. While cave clans are popping up across the country, police and emergency services are concerned this new phenonmenon will end in serious injury or death.
According to Wizard (not his real name), an urban caving expert and founder of the website urbantwilight.net, caving began in bigger cities but is spreading to places like Canberra.
"I went to Canberra a few years ago and there were a few people who were part of the cave clan, but it's growing,'' he said. ''It's as simple as people looking into a stormwater drain and wondering what's in there, it's that curiosity that leads you."
Wizard has been urban caving for 12 years, documenting trips with photographs depicting everything from cathedral-like spaces to winding, hand-built stone tunnels.
"There are some interesting sites down there, and I wanted to bring them to people who couldn't go down themselves,'' he said. ''From an urban history point of view, sometimes you can see layer upon layer of development in one stormwater drain."
He said the underground streetscape provided refuge from the city.
"It's very quiet down there, and dark, there will be little animals, sometimes bats, but generally it's a very peaceful place."
|
Photo of Predator's memorial in article about mysterious underground explorers
|
24/01/08 : Today Tonight - "Secret society... the Cave Clan"
21/01/08 - 22/01/08 : Fortress deaths
Two graffiti artists tragically die when a storm hits fortress and washes them over 1km downstream and onto bars at the outfall. Amazingly a third member of their party manages to survive by squeezing through an opening made many years earlier by the drains discoverer, Predator. Questions are raised about the need for a lockdown of drains around the state. A media frenzy ensues, and photos from Urbantwilight.net appear on various news websites, MX, the Daily Telegraph, and Today tonight.
22/01/08 : Daily Telegraph - "Death Trap" 
Urbantwilight photos used on the front page of the Daily Telegraph 22/01/08
22/01/08 : Daily Telegraph - "Tunnel vision "
Photo of Predator's memorial in article about mysterious underground explorers
|
When it rains, no drains. That is rule No. 1 in the “art” of drain-exploring as outlined in the manifesto of Michael Carlton, aka Predator.
It is a short, snappy saying which could have prevented the tragedy which befell three young people who were trapped in a Sydney stormwater drain on Sunday.
“The last thing you want is to inflict the responsibility of rescue upon some poor SES member or fireman who really doesn’t need to risk his life getting you out.” Carlton wrote.
“To jeopardise the lives of such people is selfish and stupid.”
|
22/01/08 : MX - "Let's Party"
Mx use Urban Twilight picture of Nivelo in the fortress outfal. |
This is The Fortress – the death trap where two graffiti artists drowned and another miraculously escaped on Sunday.
It is also the end of a deep 1km maze that houses cavernous rooms that are regularly used for parties by an underground community of “urban explorers”.
The adventurers claimed yesterday they observed one critical rule: When it rained, no drains.
This was ignored by the trio, who were swept away after a sudden squall of rain flooded the drain. A man and woman were trapped against the bars that open on to Sydney’s eastern beaches; the other man managed to squeeze through.
|
15/08/06 : Sydney Morning Herald - "Wizard's Urbex Website"
|
For those who appreciate an abandoned tunnel but don't want to crawl into one, try the Wizards Urbex website. The Wizard is a member of the national network of Cave Clan groups who like to explore man-made underground facilities. He has posted some very good photos of abandoned sections of St James underground station, including the lake and World War II shelter. The Wizard has also infiltrated the Bankstown bunker, the Wakt drain under the harbour and the Milsons Park rainwater pipe, which, of course, we encourage you not to do. |
|
