Springs within Wabma Kadarbu Mound Springs Conservation Park were intimately associated with early European exploration of the Far North of South Australia.

Explorer Peter Warburton traversed the area in 1858 and named Coward Springs – a natural spring to the north of Blanche Cup and the Bubbler – after one of his party, Corporal Thomas Coward. Warburton and his party had actually been sent north by the Commissioner of Crown Lands to track down and replace a party led by BH Babbage. Babbage’s party had left Adelaide in early 1858 to explore the country between Lake Torrens and Lake Gairdner, but his slowness led to public disquiet and Warburton was sent north to supersede him. (Babbage was probably the first European explorer to discover a mound spring – Emerald Spring – south-east of Wabma Kadarbu Mound Springs Conservation Park.)

Noted explorer John McDouall Stuart had several expeditions through this springs country and during his second expedition in 1859 named Elizabeth Springs after the daughter of one of his sponsors, James Chambers. Blanche Cup was named after Blanche, wife of Governor MacDonnell.

The mound springs of northern South Australia directly influenced the siting of the Overland Telegraph line and the Ghan Railway. A section of the former narrow gauge Ghan Railway passes through Wabma Kadarbu Mound Springs Conservation Park and the nearby Coward Springs Camp-ground is the site of an important settlement and railway station on the Ghan line.

Construction of what was then known as the Port Augusta to Government Gums Railway began in 1878. The 1,070 mm (3 ft 6 in) line reached Hawker in June 1880, Beltana in July 1881, Herrgott Springs (later renamed Marree) in January 1884 and Oodnadatta in January 1891. It was not until 1926 that the extension of the line to Alice Springs began and that section was completed in 1929. Until then, the final leg of the journey to Alice Springs was still made by camel. The Old Ghan made its last journey in 1980 and was replaced by a standard gauge line through less flood-prone country to the west of the Stuart Highway.

Much of the post-European exploration history of the locality relates to the settlement established at Coward Springs to service the Ghan railway. A government bore was completed in 16 July 1886. It was 400 feet deep and the artesian water rose 15 feet into the air from the bore. The brackish water from the Great Artesian Basin quickly corroded the bore head and bore casing and by the 1920s millions of gallons of water flowed without control over the dry gibber plains, creating a wetland. A large pool formed where water bubbled from the corroded bore and was popular with railway passengers, crew, residents and locals alike. The bore was re-drilled and relined in 1993 by the South Australian Government and the flow rate controlled and reduced.

Coward Springs had a school from 1888 to 1890 although it was probably better known for the Coward Springs Hotel that was licensed from 1887 to 1953. For many decades passengers were directed to the ‘pub’ and the ‘bath’ at the collapsed bore head. The hotel was demolished and salvaged for its materials in 1965.

Coward Springs was also important as a trucking point for sheep and cattle from considerable distances around. A Travelling Stock Route extended from Coward Springs through to the Kingoonya-Tarcoola district.

Coward Springs today is privately owned and operated as a campground and heritage area. The site was listed on the South Australian Heritage Register on 13 August 1998. Conserved under this heritage agreement are the two railway buildings (the Engine Drivers Cabin and the Stationmasters House), two in-ground rainwater tanks, the bore, date palms and athel pines. The built heritage on site has been restored, he Stationmasters House as the owners’ private residence and the Engine Drivers Cabin as a museum.

The wetland area at the Coward Springs Campground has been established by the overflow from the artesian bore. It is therefore, strictly speaking, an artificial wetland ecosystem. However, its spontaneous evolution over more than 100 years has transformed the site into a diverse habitat for a vast variety of biota.The range of aquatic plants and animals and the value of the area have been given formal recognition through its being only one of five bores in the region permitted to remain as free-flowing and also by the granting of a protective Heritage Agreement over the area by the State Environment Minister.

The mound springs of the Great Artesian Basin are genuine oases in the desert and support plants and animals of immense conservation significance – some occurring only in the springs. Blanche Cup and the Bubbler have wetland vegetation typical of many mound springs in the region – predominantly bore-drain sedge, Cyperus laevigatus, a sedge commonly growing to about 30cm high. At Blanche Cup there is a coolabah growing near the spring – it is about 20 years old and may well have germinated from seed carried in on the foot-wear of a visitor. At some other springs within Wabma Kadarbu Mound Springs Conservation Park tall reeds (Phragmites) are predominant and it is of interest that these reeds have not established at Blanche Cup or the Bubbler.

The animals of the springs are not so obvious although waterbirds, including on rare occasions brolgas, may sometimes be seen. In shallow open water, little isopods are often quite common – slater-like crustaceans up to about five millimetres long. Even harder to discern are tiny snails, known as Hydrobiids, often no larger than about two millimetres across. Although tiny, these creatures are of substantial scientific interest because of their evolutionary history and patterns. Some species of Hydrobiid are found only at specific individual mound springs.

The importance of the plants and animals of the mound springs is reflected in the fact that they are classified as “endangered” under Commonwealth legislation – the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.