Camps South of Andamooka

The other day I visited two of John McDouall Stuart’s camps, south of Andamooka Homestead; the camp he called Sand Hill, close to the present day site of Hardie’s Dam and the next campsite which he called Permanent Water.

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The present day Todd Well at the bottom of the ariel photo with the start of the first waterhole at the top. Follow the creek north west to see the three waterholes.

I was traveling on the ATV (quadbike) in the reverse direction to Stuart, so that’s the order in which I’ll relate this photography trip.

Saturday, 19th June, The Elizabeth. The sky was quite overcast with cloud during the night, and a few drops of rain fell, but of no consequence. Started at 9.30 a.m., on a bearing of 308 degrees for six miles; changed the bearing to 355 degrees for one mile and a half; next bearing 328 degrees for four miles, to the north side of a dry swamp; next bearing 4 degrees for ten miles and a half; next bearing 350 degrees for four miles to a sand hill. Camped. Distance to-day, twenty-five miles, over a very bad country, with large fragments of a hard flinty stone covering the surface. Salt bush with small sand hills. No water.

Sunday, 20th June, Sand Hill. Started at 9 a.m., on a course of 25 degrees for sixteen miles. At 1 p.m., came upon a creek, in which I thought there might be water; examined it and found two water holes, with plenty of grass upon their banks. The water is not permanent. Our course to-day has been across stony plains (covered on the surface with fragments resembling hard white quartz), with sand hills about two miles broad dividing them. The black did not know of this water; I am very doubtful of his knowing anything of the country. The stony plains are surrounded by high heavy sand hills, especially to the west and north-west; I dare not attempt to get through them without rain. They are much higher than the country that I am travelling through. It seems as if there had been no rain for twelve months, every thing is so dried and parched up. On further examination of the creek we have found a large hole of clear water, with rushes growing round it; I almost think it is permanent, and intend to run the risk of falling back upon it should I be forced to retreat and wait for rain. The creek seems to drain the large stony plains that we crossed; the water is three and a half feet deep, ten yards wide, by forty yards long.

The first of the three waterholes found by John McDouall Stuart. He called this campsite Water Creek.

The description of the route from the Elizabeth to the Sand Hill is so involved, it leaves room for misunderstanding and error. But from there to Water Creek is quite short, direct and easy going. Here’s how I understand it:

From the camp in the small sand hill, Stuart went on 25 deg for 16 miles in four hours. At this point he came upon a creek that looked promising, so abandoned his course and followed the creek down till he came to the first waterhole.

The second of three waterholes. Looks to be quite deep.

Why did he think it may have water? Good catchment of stony country, no sandhills. Small, dry holes in the creek.

Why do I think his distance and bearing are reliable? Fairly flat going, no sand hills to speak of. The one sand area is not high. Except for the odd, limited, high area, it undulates only a metre or two. This is the area a few km north of Hardie’s Dam.

Sunset approaching at the third waterhole, Stuart’s likely campsite.

The first waterhole has water in! It’s in a bend of the creek, up against a cliff, about 6 metres high. Todd well is about 100 metres up stream, just out of the main stream bed.

Next waterhole, also with water, is maybe 200 metres downstream, on the reverse bend, with a similar bank.

The present day Hardie’s Dam with the small Sand Hill just visable in the distance, about a kilometre away.

There’s another hole a few hundred metres further down stream, also on a bend with a bank. No water and maybe not as deep, but longer and wider. I suppose that’s the third waterhole, although you wouldn’t know if there are more waterholes below Whip Well.

If you look at the topographic map you’ll easily be able to identify the two wells mentioned, about eight km south of Andamooka Homestead.

Even more exciting to my mind: If you look closely at Google Earth, you’ll see Todd Well and the three waterholes. The waterholes show up on Google Earth as black. I think it’s the shadow of the creek banks, rather than water at the time of the arial photo.

You wouldn’t know to what extent these waterholes have silted up since Stuart’s day.

So you could quite safely work backwards from where Stuart struck the creek, in order to pin-point the previous camp in the Sand Hill. It’s simply a matter of just where he struck the creek and how far he followed it to the waterholes.

Hardie’s Dam was nearly full. They had 32mm of rain in early February 2008 at Arcoona and Woomera. Only a few mm at Roxby town, none at Andamooka town and none at Bosworth.

There’s a small, isolated sand hill quite near Hardie’s dam, which is the likely campsite, and a couple more small sand hills in the general area. Good feed with grass in head, in the sand hills.