Located on the north-eastern slopes of Mount Putardie at 131.05°E. and a couple of kilometres south of the tropic. The name in it's various spellings is often confused with Piltardie Rockhole a couple of hundred kilometres to the southwest in the Petermann Ranges, and still further south, Piltadi in the Mann Ranges. Idriess places the spring at Mount Peculiar, about twenty kilometres to the ENE and Lasseter notes the name as Potardi Spring on his strip map from Illbilla to Ayers Rock.

According to Sullivan's Diary, Lasseter and Johns arrived at the spring on the 19th of September 1930, after having travelled from the dry Muruntji waterhole in the Cleland Hills. Apparently in a distressed condition, low on water and with cranky camels, to ease the loads on the beasts, the men decided to bury supplies, including 150 pounds of flour there. Neither Blakeley or Coote mention anything about travelling to, or burying supplies, in the vicinity of the spring and the researcher of course, initially puts the incident down to a dash of Idriess and therefore not to be relied on.

In due course Sullivan acquired a copy of Taylor's diary, and his entry for 12/12/30 shows that he and Johns arrived at Petarti spring at about six o'clock that evening after nine hours in the camel saddle from east of Mount Peculiar. They opened up the dump and repacked the supplies for Illbilla, about seventy kilometres away to the WNW. Taylor noted that the paint and sample bags were O.K. and the tins of unsealed butter from Quorn were quite edible, however most of the flour, buried thirteen weeks earlier, has been spoilt by the rain.

Taylor's confirmation that Lasseter and Johns buried supplies at Putardi indicates that he had been interviewed by Idriess, who then incorporates the minor incident into Lasseter's Last Ride.

LASSETERIA

© R.Ross. 1999-2006