1.After discussion at the second conference on Cave Tourism and management (Hobart, May 1977), it was resolved that the Australian speleological Federation should be asked to form a Commission, which would act to arrange future conferences and other related matter's.  This request was submitted to the next meeting of the Federation in January 1978, and the commission was duly established with the following terms of reference:

(i) to convene future conferences on Cave Tourism and Management, with other appropriate bodies where desirable;

(ii) as requested by such conferences or by individual management authorities, carry out other functions which may assist to develop the standard of cave tourism and management in Australia.

2. The present conference speaks for itself.  It has the widest representation of the conference series to date.  we are grateful to the south Australian National Parks and wildlife Service for their support and involvement.  From within the Federation, several members of the Cave Exploration Group of south Australia, particularly Ed Bailey and Graham Pilkington, have played a major part.

3. Also pursuant to a resolution of the Hobart conference, a Cave Management Newsletter has been established and circulated. Thanks are due to the National Parks service of Victoria for their assistance in printing both issues to date.  Comments on the Newsletter are welcome.  The first issue included a summary of Cave Classification proposals to date, again as requested by the Hobart conference.

4. At the request of the western Australian Department of Conservation and Environment, a management plan has been prepared for the Yallingup Cave, which is under the management control of the Busselton Tourist Bureau.  Also, in conjunction with the Federation's Commission on conservation, a resource management study of the Nullarbor Plain has been undertaken for the Environment Protection Authority of western Australia.  The first report of this study has been submitted and the second is currently in the final stages of preparation.  Roy skinner, co-convenor of the Commission, has also prepared a report for the National Parks and wildlife service of Tasmania on proposals for development at Mole Creek.

5. Several other activities of the Federation have a close relationship to the work of the Commission.  The conservation Commission has prepared several proposals for submission to land management authorities, including one on Wyanbene Cave, New South Wales and a major submission to the Western Australian Environment Protection Authority on the Kimberley region.  The report of the National Heritage Commission study on evaluation of caves and karst is in its final stages.  Nick white and Elery Hamilton-Smith presented a paper on this study to the International speleological Congress in Sheffield (September 1977); John Watson and Elery Hamilton-Smith have submitted a paper on cave and karst management to the forthcoming International conference on Indian ocean Studies (Perth, August 1979); Elery Hamilton-Smith has been commissioned by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature to prepare a resource paper on Caves and Karst as one element in the world Conservation Strategy.

6. At the Federations S meeting in Perth (January 1979), a report on the commission's activities was presented.  Some concern was expressed that the involvement of the commission in tasks such as the preparation of management plans was making excessive demands of some members' time.  It was felt that although there was no intention to turn the Federation or its commission into a professional consultation service, at least some payment should be sought for members of working groups engaged on such projects so that the members of working groups could more readily be recruited on the basis of real expertise rather than merely their availability of time.  Thus, it was resolved that:

This meeting views favourably the concept that whenever the Federation provides professional advice on karst or cave management to land management authorities, then the costing of such advice should include a reasonable recompense for the time spent by study team members.

7. We look forward to the Fourth conference (venue to be decided) and to any further involvement in planning for the future of Australia's caves.

Elery Hamilton-Smith April 1979