Mawson Plateau

The plateau is bounded by the Hamilton Creek on the north and west, the Granite Escarpment on the east and Freeling Heights in the south.

T Junction Waterhole appears on the Yudnamutana 1:50000 topographical map and is ~100m downstream from a distinctive T-junction on Granite Plateau Creek.

The waterhole is the location of an old emergency rations cache put there in the early 1980s by the owners of the Arkaroola pastoral lease.

The name of the cliff refers to the spider’s habit of submerging below the surface to hunt, or avoid predation, while breathing from bubbles of air attached to hairs on its abdomen.

The name refers to the discovery of two abandoned, or lost, saucepans found at different times, and at separate locations along the creek.

In places the creeks have cut deep gorges and valleys into the plateau’s granite creating permanent and semi-permanent waterholes that support numerous species of frogs including the brown toadlet (Pseudophryne bibroniiand),[2] water spiders (Dolomedes spp.)

[2] Despite the relative abundance of permanent water, mammals and birds are sparse on the plateau, but there are small populations of euros (Macropus robustus), echidnas (Tachyglossus aculeatusand) and a few species of bats.

Typical Mawson Plateau terrain; rolling hills, with sparse vegetation interspersed with numerous eroded granite boulders.
Eroded granite column on the central plateau 30°5′18.3″S 139°26′51.4″E  /  30.088417°S 139.447611°E  / -30.088417; 139.447611 .
Granite cliff overlooking Saucepan Creek.
Eroded granite boulders near the Granite Escarpment.
Waterhole on the Granite Plateau Creek; the more permanent of these waterholes support small populations of unidentified fish.