The Mound Springs You’ll Pass on the Way to Lake Eyre (And Why They’re Worth the Stop)
Most people booking a Lake Eyre tour are focused entirely on the lake itself, which is fair enough — it’s the headline act. But some of my favourite moments on these trips happen well before we get anywhere near the salt. The mound springs at Wabma Kadarbu Conservation Park, north of William Creek, are one of those stops that quietly steals the show.
These springs are fed by the Great Artesian Basin, and the water reaching the surface has often been underground for tens of thousands of years, slowly making its way through the aquifer before finally emerging as a spring in the middle of what looks like featureless desert. Over time, mineral deposits and sediment build up around the outlet and form raised mounds, some several metres high, with a small pool of water sitting on top or nearby.
Why the mound springs matter
- They’re a rare permanent water source in an otherwise arid landscape
- Aboriginal people have used these springs as reliable water points for thousands of years
- They support unique plant and small animal life found almost nowhere else in the region
- Early European explorers and pastoralists relied on the same springs to move stock and supplies
We usually build a short stop here into the itinerary on the drive up. It’s a good leg-stretch, a genuinely interesting bit of geology and history, and it sets up the contrast nicely — from ancient bubbling water to the driest, flattest expanse of salt on the continent, all in the same day.
