The Tunnel Rats

The Tunnel Rats is an Australian urban exploration group, numbering well over a thousand members. It had a special focus on exploring urban infrastructure and subterranean cavities, be they natural or otherwise. With chapters in both New South Wales and Victoria, their membership was generally considered closed to the public.

History

Founded in 2000 by a loose-knit group of students the group stayed relatively small during its early years. A few of the founding members were past members of Cave Clan, another notorious urbex group, who for personal reasons chose to pursue their exploration in a different atmosphere.

By 2004 membership had grown in excess of a hundred. Various websites and means were used for the organisation to communicate, as the hobby had always been considered somewhat a legal grey area due to the question of whether storm water drains and other such bodies are private property or not.

In 2005 members stumbled across an unknown bunker dubbed Faux-Gecko, located at North Head that was accessed by a vent-shaft with a concrete cap on it. They also were the first members of the public to explore the Westlink M7 Light Horse Interchange at Eastern Creek.

Activities

Most urbex groups participate in activities as diverse as the people the hobby attracts. The main areas of interest appear to be exploring abandoned buildings, quarries and other sites, as well as subterranean exploration of tunnels, cavities and storm water drains, of which there are many of significant size running under most cities.

All activities carried out by this group were dictated by a strict code of ethics, including a strict no-alcohol and no-drug policy for participants. The group also had dedicated chapters of their website to the code of conduct expected of explorers who adventure with them, including behaviour pertaining to photography, graffiti and the preservation of speleothems or potentially historic articles.

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