The Cave Clan is a group of Urban Explorers based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, that was started by a group of friends in 1986 on a trip to the Diamond Creek Mines in North-East Melbourne.
Their most famous member is Doug who also publishes a quarterly magazine on the group's activities called Il Draino.
Their logo is also unique as it features the name of the group written in the Coca Cola style dynamic ribbon.
Although they started in Melbourne they have now spread to most states in Australia, with the Sydney branch being one of the biggest. Last year several members also travelled overseas to meet with French cataphiles and explore subterrianian Paris as well as some other famous quaries in France.
They have featured irregulary throughout the media including one story by a major TV network in Australia on a show called A Current Affair. Most of the articles written about the group contain many factual errors.
Their annual awards night called "The Clannies" is held in a large venue under Melbourne and attracts a fair few people including quite a few interstate visitors.
The awards include catagories such as Best Drain, Most Wasted and Biggest Japes amongst others. Most of the guests get very drunk and go exploring afterwards.
As with any group they have developed their own language and customs. These can be observed when attending their expeditions (called expos), seen on their videos or observed from the guest books that can be found at least 1/2 an hour up each drain or near the end of a shorter drain.
Some of the bigger drains that this group has explored include The Maze, which is a huge tunnel system located in the Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne, Anzac so called as it was discovered on Anzac Day and Dreadnought, which is actually a huge underground overflow basin for sewerage which doesn't flood all that often (there is a video from the group showing people running around/skating in it.)
Currently under the rule of the iron fist meaning interviews with the media are forbidden unless prior permission is given. One misguided journalist has already tried to use a iffy Wikipedia entry as a basis for a story
The members are very diverse and recently quite a number of them have shown an interest in photography and film making with the first annual short film festival being held in 2007.
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