How To Clean Your Sinkhole

Feed the sheep, check the fencing, clean the sinkhole.

As daily tasks go, this is probably one of the more unusual jobs on Graham Kilsby’s list.

But when you’ve got Kilsbys Sinkhole, one of South Australia’s biggest natural drawcards in your backyard, you have to be prepared for some fairly random duties.

It’s been an entertaining and somewhat complex problem for the Kilsby family for many years – just how does one keep a giant sinkhole clean?

Advertising “gin clear” water and crystal depths with piercing beams of light throughout the day, keeping the sinkhole pristine is a job of uber-importance.

Floating leaves, sticks and the odd birds nest just won’t do when clarity is your selling point.

However, as Graham found out, when it comes to cleaning a 30-metre wide sinkhole with steep cliff-like sides, there are no dedicated tools for the job.

Paddling a blow-up boat around the interior scooping out debris by hand was entertaining for onlookers but labour-intensive.

Trialling a solar operated swimming pool cleaner, Graham found the sinkhole didn’t get enough sunlight to sustain the battery.

“It conked out down the back of the sinkhole and I had to retrieve it,” Graham says.

Ironically, it was an old-fashioned long handled pool cleaner that did the job to perfection.

No frills, no fuss and no robots.

So, a few times each week, you’ll find Graham calmly wrestling the net around the sinkhole’s surface, skimming it clear.

“It’s the best way, he says,” and it only takes me ten minutes or so.”

Now it’s his zen time, a form of meditation and release from the daily grind of farming.  

No matter how many times he’s seen it, Graham admits he still gets carried away, just gazing into the sinkhole’s ever-changing depths.

“It’s just so special,” he says.

“Every time I go down there, the light and reflection on the water are different.

“Sometimes in late afternoon, a beam of light looks like it curves in the water and lights up a little spot at the bottom.

“Some days you feel like you can reach out and touch the rocks at the bottom. I never get tired of it.”

However much the site’s many visitors might enjoy it, this Aussie farmer remains firm on his sedate sinkhole-cleaning attire.

Graham sweeps aside the pool boy references and “I come to clean ze pool” jokes with a chuckle.

“I don’t own a mankini,” he declares, “and there is not enough money in the world to get me in one.”