Mawson Plateau - Place Names

Place Names

Originally known as the Freeling Heights lower granite plateau, it was renamed The Mawson Plateau after Sir Douglas Mawson.

The main creek on the plateau has been known by successive owners of the Mount Freeling pastoral lease as the Granite Plateau Creek.

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 Granite Escarpment also appears on the Yudnamutana 1:50000 topographical map. It is a high ridge of exposed and weathered granite overlooking Lake Frome.

In a gorge on Granite Plateau Creek there is a high granite cliff known to bushwalkers as Aqualung Wall 30°5′12.5″S 139°27′51.3″E / 30.086806°S 139.46425°E / -30.086806; 139.46425. At the base of the cliff there are permanent waterholes containing water spiders (Dolomedes spp.). 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.

Edmund Hill 30°6′12.4″S 139°25′17.2″E / 30.103444°S 139.421444°E / -30.103444; 139.421444 is a small peak high on the central plateau with 360-degree panoramic views of the plateau.

Ray's Waterhole is a picturesque permanent waterhole on Saucepan Creek.

The plateau is a remote and inaccessible wilderness and it is very unusual to find any modern human artifacts on the plateau. When they are found at, or near significant locations they occasionally contribute to the place name:

Stardrop Waterhole is a permanent waterhole upstream of T Junction Waterhole and is named after the solitary steel "star dropper" fence post found at the site.

Saucepan Creek is a major tributary of the Granite Plateau Creek. The name refers to the discovery of 2 abandoned, or lost, saucepans found at different times, and at separate locations along the creek. One was found hanging from a River Red Gum at the junction (Saucepan Junction) of Saucepan Creek and the Granite Plateau Creek 30°5′18.9″S 139°27′43.7″E / 30.088583°S 139.462139°E / -30.088583; 139.462139, the other was found near a major waterfall on Saucepan Creek.