The Little Sandy Desert (LSD) is a
desert
A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...
region in the state of
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
, lying to the east of the
Pilbara
The Pilbara () is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal peoples; its ancient landscapes; the red earth; and its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore. It is also a glo ...
and north of the
Gascoyne
The Gascoyne region is one of the nine administrative regions of Western Australia. It is located in the northwest of Western Australia, and consists of the local government areas of Carnarvon, Exmouth, Shark Bay and Upper Gascoyne. The Gasc ...
regions. It is part of the
Western Desert cultural region, and was declared an
interim Australian bioregion in the 1990s.
History
Indigenous groups
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
that have identified with the region include the
Mandilara, an
Aboriginal Australian
Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...
group who are regarded as the
traditional owners
Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have rights ...
of the land.
Today the group recognised as traditional owners are the
Martu people
The Martu (Mardu) are a grouping of several Aboriginal Australian peoples in the Western Desert cultural bloc.
Name
The Martu people were originally speakers of various Wati languages in the Western Desert dialect continuum whose identity coa ...
.
[
The desert is crossed by the ]Canning Stock Route
The Canning Stock Route is a track that runs from Halls Creek in the Kimberley region of Western Australia to Wiluna in the mid-west region. With a total distance of around 1,850 km (1,150 mi) it is the longest historic stock route ...
, an historic stock route
A stock route, also known as travelling stock route (TSR), is an authorised thoroughfare for the walking of domestic livestock such as sheep or cattle from one location to another in Australia. The stock routes across the country are colloquially ...
created in the early 20th century.
Description
The Little Sandy Desert covers around and adjoins the Great Sandy Desert
The Great Sandy Desert is an interim Australian bioregion,[IBRA Version 6.1](_blank)
data (, to the north) and the Gibson Desert
The Gibson Desert is a large desert in Western Australia, largely in an almost "pristine" state. It is about in size, making it the fifth largest desert in Australia, after the Great Victoria, Great Sandy, Tanami and Simpson deserts. The ...
(, to the east), all of which lie within the huge Australian Arid Zone which covers the centre of the Australian continent
The continent of Australia, sometimes known in technical contexts by the names Sahul (), Australia-New Guinea, Australinea, Meganesia, or Papualand to distinguish it from the Australia, country of Australia, is located within the Southern ...
. It lies east of the Pilbara
The Pilbara () is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal peoples; its ancient landscapes; the red earth; and its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore. It is also a glo ...
region, and north of Gascoyne
The Gascoyne region is one of the nine administrative regions of Western Australia. It is located in the northwest of Western Australia, and consists of the local government areas of Carnarvon, Exmouth, Shark Bay and Upper Gascoyne. The Gasc ...
,[ and is part of the Western Desert.][
To the north the nearest large area identifiable is the ]Karlamilyi National Park
Karlamilyi National Park lies in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, northeast of Newman and north-northeast of Perth. Proclaimed an A Class Reserve on 13 April 1977, it is the largest national park in Western Australia.
The park was in ...
.
Geography
Its landforms, fauna and flora
In biology, an organism () is any living system that functions as an individual entity. All organisms are composed of cells (cell theory). Organisms are classified by taxonomy into groups such as multicellular animals, plants, and fungi; ...
are all similar to the Great Sandy Desert. The three deserts have low and highly variable rainfall, averaging annually, with most of it in summer.[ The ]median
In statistics and probability theory, the median is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a data sample, a population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as "the middle" value. The basic fe ...
annual rainfall, based on the years 1890–2005, across the whole of the LSD is .[ and are subject to extreme heat. The landscape is dominated by red ]sand dune
A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...
s, sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
mesas and rocky plains.[
The ]Rudall River
The Rudall River ( Wanman: ''Karlamilyi'') is an ephemeral river in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The entire length of the river is located within the boundaries of the Karlamilyi National Park, which straddles the Little Sandy Deser ...
has its headwaters
The headwaters of a river or stream is the farthest place in that river or stream from its estuary or downstream confluence with another river, as measured along the course of the river. It is also known as a river's source.
Definition
The ...
in the LSD, flowing northeast into the southern Great Sandy Desert,[ where it occasionally empties into Lake Dora, an ephemeral ]salt lake
A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per litre). ...
. There are a few permanent water sources in the hills, and some waterholes left by the Canning Stock Route.[
The town of ]Jigalong
Jigalong is a remote Aboriginal community of approximately 333 people located in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
Location
Jigalong is in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, approximately east of the town of Newman in the Shire ...
is on the western edge of the desert,[ with a population of approximately 300 in 2016. The traditional owners of this area are recognised as the ]Martu people
The Martu (Mardu) are a grouping of several Aboriginal Australian peoples in the Western Desert cultural bloc.
Name
The Martu people were originally speakers of various Wati languages in the Western Desert dialect continuum whose identity coa ...
. There are also two smaller communities at Parnngurr
Parnngurr is a medium-sized Aboriginal community, located 370 km from Newman in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, within the Shire of East Pilbara. Parnngurr was originally known as Cotton Creek, the name of the ephemeral creek t ...
and Punmu
Punmu is an Aboriginal community, located 640 km south east of Port Hedland in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, within the Shire of East Pilbara.
The Martu language, Manyjiljarra (pronounced Mun-dul-jar-ah), is the first languag ...
.[
]
Locations
Some of the landforms and locations within the LSD include:
* Carnarvon Range, aka Katjarra
* Calvert Range
* McKay Range
* Durba Hills
* Savory Creek
* Kumpupintil Lake
Kumpupintil Lake (pronounced ''goom-bu-pin-dil''), formerly known as Lake Disappointment, is an endorheic salt lake located in the Little Sandy Desert, east of the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
Description
Kumpupintil Lake is about lon ...
(formerly Lake Disappointment)
* Rudall River
The Rudall River ( Wanman: ''Karlamilyi'') is an ephemeral river in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The entire length of the river is located within the boundaries of the Karlamilyi National Park, which straddles the Little Sandy Deser ...
headwaters
* Beyondie Camp
* Cooma Camp
* Savory Camp
Ecology
There is a high level of biodiversity
Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...
among plants and animals, with some species threatened by various factors.[ Only around 4.6% of the Little Sandy Desert bioregion is within a ]protected area
Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...
,[ much of which is managed as an ]Indigenous Protected Area
An Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) is a class of protected area used in Australia; each is formed by voluntary agreement with Indigenous Australians, and declared by Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander representative organisations ...
,[ the ]Birriliburu Indigenous Protected Area
The Birriliburu Indigenous Protected Area, also known as Birriliburu IPA, is an Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) covering an area of in the Western Desert region of Western Australia, was declared in 2013. Text may have been copied from this ...
(IPA), which stretches into the Gibson Desert,[ meaning that the land is looked after by its traditional owners.][
Most of the area is covered by ]hummock
In geology, a hummock is a small knoll or mound above ground.Bates, Robert L. and Julia A. Jackson, ed. (1984). “hummock.” Dictionary of Geological Terms, 3rd Ed. New York: Anchor Books. p. 241. They are typically less than in height and ...
grasslands ( Triodia spp.), with a few eucalypt
Eucalypt is a descriptive name for woody plants with capsule fruiting bodies belonging to seven closely related genera (of the tribe Eucalypteae) found across Australasia:
''Eucalyptus'', '' Corymbia'', '' Angophora'', ''Stockwellia'', ''Allosyn ...
s, acacia
''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...
s,[ ]grevillea
''Grevillea'', commonly known as spider flowers, is a genus of about 360 species of evergreen flowering plants in the family Proteaceae. Plants in the genus ''Grevillea'' are shrubs, rarely trees, with the leaves arranged alternately along the b ...
s, and bloodwoods (''Corymbia chippendalei
''Corymbia chippendalei'', commonly known as sand-dune bloodwood or sandhill bloodwood, is a species of small tree or a Mallee (habit), mallee that is Endemism, endemic to desert country in central Australia. It has rough bark on part or all of ...
'') are found on sand hills.[ As of 2020 over 2000 plant taxa have been identified, with only two of these recognised as ]threatened species
Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensa ...
; over 550 of these are in the southern LSD, including 16 species of conservation significance.[ The bark of the birdflower is used by local people to make belts and sandals, while the ]spear tree
''Acacia dictyophleba'', also known as the sandhill wattle, waxy wattle feather veined wattle, and spear tree, is a shrub belonging to the genus ''Acacia'' and the subgenus ''Phyllodineae''. The Nyangumarta peoples know the plant as Langkur ...
is used for making spears for men and digging stick
A digging stick, sometimes called a yam stick, is a wooden implement used primarily by subsistence-based cultures to dig out underground food such as roots and tubers, tilling the soil, or burrowing animals and anthills. It is a term used in ar ...
s for women.[
There are many reptiles and birds species, but many small- to medium-sized mammals have gone extinct, and many are threatened.][ There have been 103 bird species recorded in the Birriliburu IPA, and 116 within the whole desert, including the ]Australian bustard
The Australian bustard (''Ardeotis australis'') is a large ground dwelling bird which is common in grassland, woodland and open agricultural country across northern Australia and southern New Guinea. It stands at about high, and its wingspan is ...
(''Aredeotis australis'') and bush stone-curlew
The bush stone-curlew or bush thick-knee, also known as the Iben bird (''Burhinus grallarius'', obsolete name ''Burhinus magnirostris'') is a large, ground-dwelling bird endemic to Australia. Its favoured habitat is open plains and woodlands, whe ...
(''Burhinus grallariu'').[
Threatened animal species include:][
* ]Greater bilby
The greater bilby (''Macrotis lagotis''), often referred to simply as the bilby since the lesser bilby (''Macrotis leucura'') became extinct in the 1950s, is an Australian species of nocturnal omnivorous animal in the order Peramelemorphia. Oth ...
* Princess parrot
The colourful princess parrot (''Polytelis alexandrae'') is an Australian bird of the parrot family. Its name was given in honour of Princess Alexandra of Denmark, who in 1863 married the Prince of Wales Edward VII and eventually became Queen of ...
* Kakarratul
The northern marsupial mole or kakarratul (''Notoryctes caurinus'') is a marsupial in the family Notoryctidae, an endemic animal of arid regions of Central Australia. It lives in the loose sand of dunes and river plains in the desert, spending ne ...
/northern marsupial mole
* Australian bustard
* Brush-tailed mulgara
The brush-tailed mulgara (''Dasycercus blythi''), previously the mulgara ''Dasycercus cristicauda'' is a medium sized carnivorous Australian marsupial species weighing approximately . The brush-tailed mulgara is sexually dimorphic with males bein ...
* Grey falcon
The grey falcon (''Falco hypoleucos'') is a medium-sized falcon native to Australia, possibly the rarest. It is uncommon throughout its range and is currently classified as Vulnerable.
Taxonomy
The description of the species was published by ...
Threats to biodiversity include wildfire
A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire ...
s, feral animal
A feral () animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in some ...
s, weeds, and uncontrolled grazing.[ Feral camels destroy water sources, and along with donkeys, horses and rabbits help destroy the ecosystem by overgrazing.][ ]feral cats
A feral cat or a stray cat is an unowned domestic cat (''Felis catus'') that lives outdoors and avoids human contact: it does not allow itself to be handled or touched, and usually remains hidden from humans. Feral cats may breed over dozens ...
have reduced the populations of bilbies
''Macrotis'' is a genus of desert-dwelling marsupial omnivores known as bilbies or rabbit-bandicoots; Unabridged they are members of the order Peramelemorphia. At the time of European colonisation of Australia, there were two species. The ...
and mulgara
Mulgaras are the two small rat-sized species in the genus ''Dasycercus''. They are marsupial carnivores, closely related to the Tasmanian devil and the quolls, that live in deserts and spinifex grasslands of arid Australia. They are nocturnal, ...
.[ ]Foxes
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
are the main threats to mammals.[
]Buffel grass
''Cenchrus ciliaris'' (buffel-grass or African foxtail grass; syn. ''Pennisetum ciliare'' (L.) Link) is a species of grass native to most of Africa, southern Asia (east to India), southern Iran, and the extreme south of Europe (Sicily). Other na ...
threatens the native plant species, as it is tough, and burns hotter in the ever more frequent bushfires caused by climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
.[
]Bush Heritage Australia
Bush Heritage Australia is a non-profit organisation with headquarters in Melbourne, Australia, that operates throughout Australia. It was previously known as the Australian Bush Heritage Fund, which is still its legal name. It's vision is: Heal ...
has done some plant and animal surveys in Katjarra.[
]
Bioregion
The Little Sandy Desert (LSD) is an interim Australian bioregion no. 63, covering . The biogregions were developed by the Australian Government
The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...
as an environmental planning tool in the 1990s, with IBRA7 defining "large geographically distinct bioregion
A bioregion is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a biogeographic realm, but larger than an ecoregion or an ecosystem, in the World Wide Fund for Nature classification scheme. There is also an attempt to use the ...
s based on common climate, geology, landform, native vegetation and species information".
Economy
There are almost no tourist facilities, and the environment is harsh. Only the most experienced travellers, who know how to survive without help in the desert, should visit. Few roads are signposted. At Katjarra, there are two camping spots, with shed tanks and long-drop toilets, and Indigenous ranger
The Indigenous ranger projects were introduced by the Australian Government in 2007 as part of its Working on Country program. Indigenous rangers are Indigenous Australians who combine traditional knowledge with conservation training in order to p ...
s are available to show tourists the part of the range that is open to the public.[
]Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...
for copper and gold, and some exploration for uranium
Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...
, are the main economic activities. There is limited grazing for stock animals in the east.
Carnarvon Range/Katjarra
The Carnarvon Range(s), known as Katjarra to the Martu people, covers around . It is a sacred and significant place for the Indigenous people, associated with the creator being
A creator deity or creator god (often called the Creator) is a deity responsible for the creation of the Earth, world, and universe in human religion and mythology. In monotheism, the single God is often also the creator. A number of Monolatris ...
sometimes termed the rainbow serpent
The Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake is a common deity often seen as the creator God, known by numerous names in different Australian Aboriginal languages by the many different Aboriginal peoples. It is a common motif in the art and religion ...
, and it contains much ancient rock art. There are rock painting
In archaeology, rock art is human-made markings placed on natural surfaces, typically vertical stone surfaces. A high proportion of surviving historic and prehistoric rock art is found in caves or partly enclosed rock shelters; this type also ...
s of the bilby, the black-flanked rock-wallaby and a headdress
Headgear, headwear, or headdress is the name given to any element of clothing which is worn on one's head, including hats, helmets, turbans and many other types. Headgear is worn for many purposes, including protection against the elements, de ...
made for ceremonial use,[ created using ]ochre
Ochre ( ; , ), or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colours produced ...
s and charcoal
Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, cal ...
,[ and it is one of the largest such sites in Australia. Over 25,000 lithic artefacts have been located at the site.][
Katjarra is fairly close to Well 5 on the Canning Stock Route, and had been frequently visited by travellers and tourists;][ access had also opened up from Wiluna in the 1970s owing to ]pastoral lease
A pastoral lease, sometimes called a pastoral run, is an arrangement used in both Australia and New Zealand where government-owned Crown land is leased out to graziers for the purpose of livestock grazing on rangelands.
Australia
Pastoral lease ...
s and mining interests nearby,[ Over time, there had been loss of or damage to thousands of Aboriginal artefacts, including ]grinding stone
Millstones or mill stones are stones used in gristmills, for grinding wheat or other grains. They are sometimes referred to as grindstones or grinding stones.
Millstones come in pairs: a convex stationary base known as the ''bedstone'' and ...
s. The federal government created an Indigenous Protected Area
An Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) is a class of protected area used in Australia; each is formed by voluntary agreement with Indigenous Australians, and declared by Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander representative organisations ...
of of the Central Desert
The deserts of Australia or the Australian deserts cover about , or 18% of the Australian mainland, but about 35% of the Australian continent receives so little rain, it is practically desert. Collectively known as the Great Australian desert, th ...
an Indigenous Protected Area in 2008, handing over management of the land to the traditional owners. The mountain was closed to the public, as part of the Birriliburu IPA, in 2008, which gave time to plan for future tourism and to do archaeological
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
research and ecological
Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...
surveys.[
]
Karnatukul
The rock art and archaeological site at Karnatukul was given the name Serpent's Glen by dogger Peter Muir (father of artist and Indigenous rights activist Kado Muir
Kado Muir is an Australian Aboriginal artist, anthropologist, archaeologist, and Indigenous rights activist in Western Australia.
Early life and family
Muir's father was dogger Peter Muir, who gave the important sacred and archaeological site ...
) in 1965, "on account of the large number of snake drawings hereabouts and their obvious association with Aboriginal legends of Rainbow Serpents".[
The site was, until recently, estimated to have been inhabited for up to 25,000 years, and known as the site of the oldest continuous recorded occupation in the Western Desert cultural region. The Martu people used to congregate at Katjarra when other water sources had dried up.][ However, a study published in September 2018 showed that humans had in fact occupied the site around 47,830 ]Cal BP
Before Present (BP) years, or "years before present", is a time scale used mainly in archaeology, geology and other scientific disciplines to specify when events occurred relative to the origin of practical radiocarbon dating in the 1950s. Becau ...
.[ This and other recent studies, which were done at the request of the ]native title
Aboriginal title is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty under settler colonialism. The requirements of proof for the recognition of aboriginal title, ...
holders, shed new light on the concept of deep time
Deep time is a term introduced and applied by John McPhee to the concept of geologic time in his book ''Basin and Range'' (1981), parts of which originally appeared in the ''New Yorker'' magazine.
The philosophical concept of geological time w ...
, as well as the social geography
Social geography is the branch of human geography that is interested in the relationships between society and space, and is most closely related to social theory in general and sociology in particular, dealing with the relation of social phenomena ...
of arid zones. The study, using archaeobotany
Paleoethnobotany (also spelled palaeoethnobotany), or archaeobotany, is the study of past human-plant interactions through the recovery and analysis of ancient plant remains. Both terms are synonymous, though paleoethnobotany (from the Greek words ...
to establish its findings, found that wattle
Wattle or wattles may refer to:
Plants
*''Acacia sensu lato'', polyphyletic genus of plants commonly known as wattle, especially in Australia and South Africa
**''Acacia'', large genus of shrubs and trees, native to Australasia
**Black wattle, c ...
had been collected throughout the whole history of the site, confirming its status as the oldest known site of continuous occupation in the Western Desert. The wood was used as firewood, food, bush medicine
Bush medicine comprises traditional medicines used by Indigenous Australians, being Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Indigenous people have been using various components of native Australian flora and some fauna as medicine for t ...
and for making tools, from the Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
through to the Holocene
The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togethe ...
eras,[ and more than 100 species were used across the continent by other ]Aboriginal peoples
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
. Karnakatul shows one of the earliest uses of firewood, and habitation continued through times of extreme climate change, when the desertification occurred as the polar ice sheet
A polar ice cap or polar cap is a high-latitude region of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite that is covered in ice.
There are no requirements with respect to size or composition for a body of ice to be termed a polar ice cap, nor a ...
s expanded.
In 2014, the Birriliburu traditional owners and rangers reopened Katjarra for the month of July, with the hope of opening it to the public each July in the future. Permits were issued for 70 visitors, with an access fee of $100 access fee per vehicle. It was also hoped that more Aboriginal people, especially young people, would visit to reconnect with their culture.[
]
See also
* Deserts of Australia
The deserts of Australia or the Australian deserts cover about , or 18% of the Australian mainland, but about 35% of the Australian continent receives so little rain, it is practically desert. Collectively known as the Great Australian desert, th ...
* List of deserts by area
This is a list of the largest deserts in the world by area. It includes all deserts above .
Notes
See also
* Desert
* Desertification
* List of deserts by continent
* Polar desert
* Tundra
* United Nations Convention to Combat Deserti ...
References
Further reading
* Thackway, R and I D Cresswell (1995) ''An interim biogeographic regionalisation for Australia : a framework for setting priorities in the National Reserves System Cooperative Program'' Version 4.0 Canberra : Australian Nature Conservation Agency, Reserve Systems Unit, 1995.
External links
Great Sandy Desert
Map showing boundaries and various landmarks
{{Coord, -25.26, 121.86, dim:300000_region:AU, display=title
Biogeography of Western Australia
Deserts of Western Australia
IBRA regions
Pilbara