Sturt Stony Desert

An old wagon wheel is half buried in the Sturt Stony Desert close to the Birdsville Track, SA.

At 29,750sq. km, Sturt Stony is Australia’s third smallest desert, located in the north east corner of South Australia, reaching into New South Wales and Queensland.

It was named partially after Chales Sturt, who first came to the desert in 1845 while attempting to find an in-land ocean he believed Australia to have. Instead, he found a desert filled with rocks and gibber, pavement-like stones. 

Sturt Stony Desert

Brolgas in the Sturt Stony Desert

Sturt Stony Desert dunes

Sturt Stony Desert blooms

Tanami Desert

Australia’s third largest desert, the Tanami Desert covers 184,500sq.km across Western Australia and the Northern Territory. It provides habitat for 11 threatened species, including the emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae), the Masked owl (Tyto novauhollandiae), the great desert skink (Egernia kintorei), and the bilby (Macrotis lagotis).

The Canning Stock Route in the Tanami Desert

Created in the early 1990s, the Canning Stock Route runs for almost 1800km, crosses 800 sandhills and four deserts – the Great Sandy, the Little Sandy, the Tanami, and the Gibson. Despite the time and expenses that went into creating the route, it was rarely used. Today, it is a popular tourist 4WD route.

In this photo, smooth-barked coolibahs are in an ephemeral lake area caused by floodwater from Sturt Creek draining into Lake Gregory, the freshwater lake that sits between the border of the Tanami and the Great Sandy deserts.

Lake Gregory, Tanami Desert

Located in the Kimberely region of Western Australia, Lake Gregory straddles the Tanami and the Great Sandy deserts. It is Australia’s most popular inland lake with waterbirds, often supporting over 100,000 birds.

The lake varies in depth from 0 to 10m, sourcing freshwater from Sturt river. The lake becomes saline as it evaporates. 

It’s nearest community is Mulan, a population of 200 approximately 8km to the east. The lake is part of the Paraku Indidgenous protected area, administered by the Aboriginal Lands Trust.

Yuendumu, Tanami Desert

Yuendumu, on the edge of the Tanamia Desert, 300km north-west of Alice Springs, is one of the largest Aboriginal communities in central Australia. Here locals play a game of Australian Rules Football.

Napperby Station, Tanami Desert, Northern Territory

Napperby Station is a 5,600sq.km cattle station which has been owned and operated by the Chisholm family since 1948. Located close to the Western Australia border off the Tanami Road, the cattle station is located squarely within the desert.

Mackerel sky over the Granites Tanami Desert Gold Mine, Northern Territory

A new gold ore was discovered in 2012, prolonging the mine life to 2027. Another operational gold mine, The Coyote, is also within the Tanami desert closer to the Western Australia border.

The Serpentine Lakes, Great Vicoria Desert

A chain of salt lakes, the Serpentine lakes run almost 100km along the state borders of South Australia and Western Australia. 

The Great Victoria Desert is Australia’s largest desert – at 348,750sq.km, it is slightly smaller than Germany. Stretched across the the southeast of West Australia into South Australia, the desert is mostly comprised of dunefields and gibber plains, where stones and pebbles cover the top soil.

Coober Pedy, South Australia

The landscape outside Coober Pedy, a small opal mining town in South Australia east of the Great Victoria Desert. Much like the animals of the Great Victoria Desert, many living in Coober Pedy have below-ground lodgings as a way to escape the heat.

The Great Sandy Desert

As seen from the International Space Station.

At 267,250sq.km, the Great Sandy Desert is Australia’s second largest desert. 

The scar-like grooves over the desert are dunes, approximately 25m high, separated in a fairly regular fashion, tending to be 0.5-1.5km apart. These are casused by winds blowing from east to west. Lake Auld, a salt lake, runs through the centre of the photo. It is white and blue due to its combination of salt flats and small pools of water.

The Simpson Desert in bloom

In 2009, the floodplains of Eyre creek filled with water after some of the heaviest rain in decades. The Simpson Desert erupted into a bloom of daisy flowers, life, and colour.

At 176 500sq.km, the Simpson Desert is Australia’s fouth largest desert. It is Australia’s most popular desert tourist desination, situated in the southeastern corner of the Northern Territory, spreading into Queensland and South Australia.

Purnie Bore, Simpson Desert

The artifical wet area created by the outpourings of Purnie Bore, in the Simpson Desert, South Australia. The man-made wetland was creatied when the bore was intentionally sunk below ground. Just below the Northern Territory border, Purnie Bore is a popular stopover on 4WD trips to the Witjira-Dalhousie Springs, a national heritage site consisting of 60 natural spring lakes about 250km southeast of Alice Springs.

Emily Gap waterhole, Simpson Desert

Located 10km east of Alice Springs, Emily and Jessie Gaps Nature Park is a popular tourist destination.

A sacred site, the park is filled with Indigenous rock art referencing the Dreaming story of the caterpillar trail. Emily Gap is the first site of the story where the caterpillar beings of Mparntwe (Alice Springs) originated. The caterpillars formed Emily Gap and Alice Springs, crawling outwards to the edge of the Simpson Desert.

Dingo in the Simspon Desert

The dingo (Canis lupus dingo) once inhabited all major parts of Australia, before European settlers culled many to protect live-stock. Today they are not considered threatened, but no longer live throughout most parts of New South Wales, Victoria, the south-eastern third of South Australia and from the southern-most tip of Western Australia. 

While they prefer woodland and grassland areas, Dingos, such as this one, can be found on the egdes of Australia’s deserts so long as they have access to water sources.

Dingo puppies in the Simpson Desert

Dingoes produce one litter per year, ranging from 1 to 10 puppies. Mating in autumn, the dingo will give birth about 60 days later.

Tirari Desert, South Australia

An ariel shot, as seen from space. At 15,250sq.km, Tirari Desert is the second smallest in Australia. In the northern ends of South Australia it is bordered by deserts – the Simpson Desert is north, the Sturt Stony Desert is north-east, and the Strzelecki Desert is located to the east. 

A pack of feral camels

Introduced to Australia as pack animals in the 1840s, camels were set free in the outback when cars became more popular. It is estimated that the camel population may have reached 1 million in the past. Considered a pest and a threat to our ecosystems, culling programs involving shooting and transportation to abbatoirs have successfully reduced the population – in 2013, the Australian Feral Camel Management Project estimated numbers at about 300,000, half the estimated 600,000 of 2008.

Spencer’s burrowing frog

The Spencer’s burrowing frog lives throughout central Australia and the Simpson Desert. It survives dry periods by slowing its heart rate and breathing while burrowing underground, sometimes for years at a time.

Strzelecki Desert

A bogged 4WD beneath a storm on Cobbler sandhills, Strzelecki Track. The Stzelecki Track is a popular 4WD track that cuts through the Strzelecki Desert in South Australia, next to the often dry Stzelecki creek.

The Strzelecki Desert is 80,250sq.km, located in the north of Western Australlia and reaching over the border to Queensland and New South Wales. It is covered by dune fields that extend from the west of New South Wales towards Cooper creek, its north eastern boundary and the infamous site where explorers Robert O’Hara Burke and William John Wills died in 1861.

Strzelecki Desert blooms after rainfall

Strzelecki Desert

Shingleback lizards in Strzelecki Desert

Two shingleback lizards (Trachydosaurus Rugosus) in the Strzelecki Desert. The largest of the blue-tongues, the shingleback lizard is common throughout low rainfall areas west of the Great Dividing Range, meaning they feature in most Australian deserts.

Large snakes and birds are the shingleback’s largest predators. When threatened, shinglebacks will open their mouths wide and stick out their blue tongue, hiss and flatten out their body to look bigger.