Engelbrecht Cave, Show cave in Mount Gambier, Australia

Engelbrecht Cave is a show cave in Mount Gambier accessed through a sinkhole opening that leads to two distinct passages below ground. One passage connects to an underground lake while the other stretches deeper into the system.

Julian Tenison-Woods first described the cave in print in 1865, using the name Vansittarts Cave. In 1864 four men reportedly explored it by canoe, a story Charles Grosser retold to The Border Watch in 1933. Carl Engelbrecht, who bought a nearby flour mill in 1885 and turned it into a whiskey distillery, dumped waste and bottles into the cave. The district council bought the land in 1929 and sealed the cave in 1940; it joined the South Australian Heritage Register in 1995.

The site is named after Carl Engelbrecht, a German immigrant who settled in Mount Gambier in the 19th century; in 1885 he bought a nearby flour mill and turned it into a whiskey distillery, dumping waste and bottles into the cave. The Cave Divers Association of Australia calls the flooded eastern passage Engelbrechts Cave - East and the western one Engelbrechts Cave - West.

The dry sections of the cave are open to walk through without special gear, though sturdy footwear helps on the uneven stone floor. Plan time to explore both passages at a leisurely pace, as movement underground can feel slower than on the surface.

The west passage runs about 300 metres and passes immediately beneath Jubilee Highway West, with a large air chamber under the road itself. In 2019 divers Matthew Aisbett and Josh Richards began exploring beyond the east passage's air chamber, opening a new network under central Mount Gambier.