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The Great Victoria Desert is a sparsely populated desert ecoregion and interim Australian bioregion in Western Australia and South Australia.


History

In 1875, British-born Australian explorer Ernest Giles became the first European to cross the desert. He named the desert after the then-reigning monarch,
Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...
. In 1891, David Lindsey's expedition traveled across this area from north to south.
Frank Hann Frank Hugh Hann (19 October 184521 August 1921) was an Australian pastoralist and explorer. Early life Hann was the son of Joseph and Elizabeth Hann. Fellow explorer William Hann was his older brother. They were born in Wiltshire, England ...
was looking for gold in this area between 1903 and 1908. Len Beadell explored the area in the 1960s.


Location and description

The Great Victoria is the largest desert in Australia, and consists of many small sandhills, grassland plains, areas with a closely packed surface of pebbles (called desert pavement or gibber plains), and salt lakes. It is over wide (from west to east) and covers an area of from the Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia to the Gawler Ranges in South Australia. The Western Australian mulga shrublands ecoregion lies to the west, the Little Sandy Desert to the northwest, the Gibson Desert and the Central Ranges xeric shrublands to the north, the Tirari-Sturt stony desert to the east, and the Nullarbor Plain to the south separates it from the Southern Ocean. Average annual rainfall is low and irregular, ranging from per year. Thunderstorms are relatively common in the Great Victoria Desert, with an average of 15–20 thunderstorms yearly. Summer daytime temperatures range from , while in winter, this falls to . The Great Victoria desert is a World Wildlife Fund ecoregion and an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia region of the same name.IBRA Version 7
data


Habitation

The majority of people living in the region are
Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...
from different groups, including the Kogara, the Mirning and the
Pitjantjatjara The Pitjantjatjara (; or ) are an Aboriginal people of the Central Australian desert near Uluru. They are closely related to the Yankunytjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra and their languages are, to a large extent, mutually intelligible (all are vari ...
. Aboriginal populations have been increasing in this region. Young Indigenous adults from the Great Victoria Desert region work in the Wilurarra Creative programs to maintain and develop their culture.Wilurarra Creative 2011
Despite its isolated location, the Great Victoria is bisected by very rough tracks, including the Connie Sue Highway and the
Anne Beadell Highway Anne Beadell Highway is an outback unsealed track linking Coober Pedy, South Australia, and Laverton, Western Australia, a total distance of . The track was surveyed and built by Len Beadell, Australian surveyor, who named it after his wife. T ...
. Human activity has included some mining and nuclear weapons testing.


Flora

Only the hardiest of plants can survive in much of this environment. Between the sand ridges, the areas of wooded steppe consist of ''
Eucalyptus gongylocarpa ''Eucalyptus gongylocarpa'', commonly known as baarla, marble gum or desert gum, is a species of tree endemic to central Australia. It has smooth bark, lance-shaped to elliptical leaves arranged more or less in opposite pairs, flower buds in grou ...
'', ''
Eucalyptus youngiana ''Eucalyptus youngiana'', commonly known as large-fruited mallee, Ooldea mallee and yarldarlba, is a species of mallee, less commonly a tree, that in native to arid and semi-arid areas of southern Western Australia and South Australia. It has ...
'', and '' Acacia aneura'' (mulga) shrubs scattered over areas of resilient spinifex grasses, particularly ''
Triodia basedowii ''Triodia basedowii'', commonly known as lobed spinifex, is a species of tussock-forming grass-like plant found in Australia. It occurs on sandy plains and small hills and dunes of bare red sand. Green to purple flowers are displayed from long ...
''.


Fauna

The wildlife that adapted to these harsh conditions included few large birds or mammals. However, the desert does sustain many types of lizards, including the vulnerable
great desert skink The great desert skink (''Liopholis kintorei''), also known commonly as Kintore's egernia, is a species of skink, a lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is endemic to the western half of Australia. It is a burrowing lizard and extremely ...
(''Egernia kintorei''), the Central Ranges taipan (discovered in 2007), and a number of small marsupials, including the endangered sandhill dunnart ''(Sminthopsis psammophila)'' and the crest-tailed mulgara ''(Dasycercus cristicauda)''. One way to survive here is to burrow into the sands, as a number of the desert's animals, including the
southern marsupial mole The southern marsupial mole (''Notoryctes typhlops''), also known as the itjaritjari () or itjari-itjari, is a mole-like marsupial found in the western central deserts of Australia. It is extremely adapted to a burrowing way of life. It has lar ...
''(Notoryctes typhlops)'', and the water-holding frog do. Birds include the
chestnut-breasted whiteface The chestnut-breasted whiteface (''Aphelocephala pectoralis'') is a species of bird in the family Acanthizidae The Acanthizidae—known as Australian warblers—are a family of passerine birds which includes gerygones, the thornbills '' Acant ...
(''Aphelocephala pectoralis'') found on the eastern edge of the desert and the malleefowl of Mamungari Conservation Park. Predators of the desert include the dingo (as the desert is north of the Dingo Fence) and two large monitor lizards, the perentie ''(Varanus giganteus)'' and the sand goanna ''(Varanus gouldii)''.


Conservation and threats

As this area has had very limited use for agriculture, many habitats remain largely undisturbed. 31% of the desert is in protected areas, including Mamungari Conservation Park (formerly known as Unnamed Conservation Park) in South Australia, a large area of pristine arid zone wilderness, which possesses cultural significance and is one of the 14 World Biosphere ReservesAustralia's Biosphere Reserves
Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Populations and Communities. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
in Australia. Habitat is also preserved in the large Aboriginal local government area of Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara in South Australia and in the
Great Victoria Desert Nature Reserve The Great Victoria Desert is a sparsely populated desert ecoregion and interim Australian bioregion in Western Australia and South Australia. History In 1875, British-born Australian explorer Ernest Giles became the first European to cross th ...
of Western Australia. Protected areas include:"Great Victoria Desert". DOPA Explorer. Accessed 8 May 2022

/ref> * Antara-Sandy Bore Indigenous Protected Area * Apara-Makiri-Punti Indigenous Protected Area * De La Poer Range Nature Reserve *
Gawler Ranges National Park Gawler Ranges National Park is a protected area lying north-west of Adelaide in the northern Eyre Peninsula of South Australia. It is known for its spectacular rock formations. History The national park originated as the Paney Station pasto ...
* Gawler Ranges Conservation Park *
Great Victoria Desert Nature Reserve The Great Victoria Desert is a sparsely populated desert ecoregion and interim Australian bioregion in Western Australia and South Australia. History In 1875, British-born Australian explorer Ernest Giles became the first European to cross th ...
* Kalka-Pipalyatjara Indigenous Protected Area * Lake Gairdner National Park * Mamungari Conservation Park * Mount Willoughby Indigenous Protected Area *
Neale Junction Nature Reserve Neale may refer to: * Neale (surname) * Neale, County Mayo * Neale (electric car) The Neale electric car was made in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1897 by Douglas Neale of 21 Rutland Square, Edinburgh. The car was described as electrically driven, with ...
* Ngaanyatjarra Indigenous Protected Area * Nullarbor Regional Reserve * Plumridge Lakes Nature Reserve * Pureba Conservation Park * Queen Victoria Spring Nature Reserve * Tallaringa Conservation Park * Walalkara Indigenous Protected Area * Watarru Indigenous Protected Area * Yellabinna Regional Reserve * Yellabinna Wilderness Protection Area * Yeo Lake Nature Reserve *
Yumbarra Conservation Park Yumbarra Conservation Park, formerly the Yumbarra National Park, is a protected area in the Australian state of South Australia located about north of the town centre of Ceduna. To the north it borders Yellabinna Regional Reserve; to the east ...
The nuclear weapons trials carried out by the United Kingdom at Maralinga and Emu Field in the 1950s and early 1960s have left areas contaminated with plutonium-239 and other radioactive material.


See also

* Deserts of Australia * List of deserts by area * Tallaringa Conservation Park


References


External links


Online natural history of Great Victoria Desert


Further reading

* * * * * {{Coord, 29.15, S, 129.26, E, source:dewiki_region:AU_scale:7000000_type:landmark, format=dms, display=title Deserts and xeric shrublands Deserts of Western Australia Deserts of South Australia Ecoregions of South Australia Ecoregions of Western Australia Ergs Goldfields-Esperance IBRA regions