Deserts of Australia

Coordinates: 24°34′S 137°25′E / 24.57°S 137.42°E / -24.57; 137.42
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Great Australian Desert
The Great Australian desert is the 4th largest desert by area after the Antarctic, the Arctic and the Sahara.
Typical landscape (Simpson Desert)
Length4,710 km (2,930 mi)
Width1,890 km (1,170 mi)
Area2,700,000 km2 (1,000,000 sq mi)
Geography
CountryAustralia
States
List
  • Northern Territory
  • Queensland
  • South Australia
  • New South Wales
  • Western Australia
Coordinates24°34′S 137°25′E / 24.57°S 137.42°E / -24.57; 137.42 

The deserts of Australia or the Australian deserts cover about 2,700,000 km2 (1,000,000 sq mi), or 18% of the Australian mainland, but about 35% of the Australian continent receives so little rain, it is practically desert.[1] Collectively known as the Great Australian desert, they are primarily distributed throughout the Western Plateau and interior lowlands of the country, covering areas from South West Queensland, Far West region of New South Wales, Sunraysia in Victoria and Spencer Gulf in South Australia to the Barkly Tableland in Northern Territory and the Kimberley region in Western Australia.[2]

By international standards, the Great Australian desert receives relatively high rates of rainfall or around 250 mm (9.84 in) on average, but due to the high evapotranspiration it would be correspondingly arid.[3] No Australian weather stations situated in an arid region record less than 100 mm (3.94 in) of average annual rainfall.[4] The deserts in the interior and south lack any significant summer rains. The desert in western Australia is well explained by the little evaporation of the cold sea current of the West Australian Current, of polar origin, which prevents significant rainfall in the interior of the continent.[3] About 40% of Australia is covered by dunes.[5] Australia is the driest inhabited continent,[6][7] with the least fertile soils.[8][9]

In addition to being mostly uninhabited, the Great Australian Desert is diverse, where it consists of

savannahs and bushland with a few rivers and salt lakes, which are mostly seasonally dry and often have no outflow in the east. The 3 million km2 desert is among the least modified in the world.[10] The Australian desert has the largest population of feral camels in the world.[11][12]

History

Geological

Wolfe Creek Crater in Western Australia

The area's geology spans a geological time period of over 3.8 billion years, therefore featuring some of the oldest rocks on earth. There are three main

Gawler cratons. Several other Archaean-Proterozoic orogenic belts exist, usually sandwiched around the edges of these major cratonic shields. The history of the Archaean cratons is extremely complex and protracted. The cratons appear to have been accumulated to form the greater Australian landmass in the late Archaean to meso-Proterozoic
, (~2400 Ma to 1,600 Ma).

Chiefly the Capricorn Orogeny is partly responsible for the assembly of the West Australian landmass by connecting the Yilgarn and Pilbara cratons. The Capricorn Orogeny is exposed in the rocks of the Bangemall Basin, Gascoyne Complex granite-gneisses and the Glengarry, Yerrida and Padbury basins. Unknown Proterozoic orogenic belts, possibly similar to the Albany Complex in southern Western Australia and the Musgrave Block, represent the Proterozoic link between the Yilgarn and Gawler cratons, covered by the Proterozoic-Palaeozoic Officer and Amadeus basins.[13]

Aboriginal

Kimberley, Western Australia

traditional owners of large parts of the Outback under Commonwealth Native Title
legislation.

Dieri tribe lives in a large area of the Simpson, Strzelecki and Tirari deserts.[15]

The

polar ice sheets expanded.[17] The oldest examples of rock art, in Western Australia's Pilbara region and the Olary district of South Australia, are estimated to be up to around 40,000 years old.[18] The oldest firmly dated evidence of rock art painting in Australia is a charcoal drawing on a small rock fragment found during the excavation of the Narwala Gabarnmang rock shelter in south-western Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory
.

The isolated desert areas remained undeveloped for a long time. For example, the Spinifex people first had contact with whites in the 1950s, when they were expelled from their tribal lands because of nuclear weapons testing (1950–1963) by the British and Australian governments. The Pintupi Nine, a group of nine Aboriginal people of the Pintupi tribe, lived a nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle in the Gibson Desert until October 1984, when they first encountered whites as they left the desert. Both discoveries were sensations at the time.[19]

Large parts of the Australian desert areas are part of the Desert Cultural Area. Important cultural sites include Uluṟu and

Kata Tjuṯa. Aboriginal Australians of the desert produced many important artists, one of the first and most famous being Albert Namatjira, who was born in Hermannsburg in the Great Sandy Desert.[20] About a third of Australia's deserts are now Aboriginal lands. A very large part of it is managed by them as a nature reserve. A number of tribes have land use rights for almost all other desert regions. Today, numerous Aboriginal peoples live in settlements in the deserts.[21]

European

Strzelecki Desert in South Australia

The

Paul Edmund Strzelecki.[22]

The first European to cross the

"Afghan" cameleers and their beasts played an instrumental role in opening up the Outback and helping to build infrastructure.[24]

The

Overland Telegraph line was constructed in the 1870s[27] along the route identified by Stuart. In 1865 the surveyor George Goyder, using changes in vegetation patterns, mapped a line in South Australia, north of which he considered rainfall to be too unreliable to support agriculture. British explorer Ernest Giles named the Gibson Desert in memory of Alfred Gibson, who went missing during an 1873–74 expedition.[28]

The Tanami Desert was named by explorer and prospector Allan Davidson. He only assigned the name on his second expedition to this desert region, which ended in 1900. "Tanami" was the original Aboriginal name for two rock caves with clear drinking water.[29][30][31]

The

Allen Simpson, a geographer who ventured into this desert in 1845. The name was suggested by explorer and geologist Cecil Madigan. In 1936, Edmund Colson became the first white man to cross the Simpson Desert. Before that, the great Australian explorers Charles Sturt and David Lindsay had failed.[32][33] While the early explorers used horses to cross the Outback, the first woman to make the journey riding a horse was Anna Hingley, who rode from Broome to Cairns in 2006.[34]
The nuclear weapons
Emu Field in the 1950s and early 1960s have left areas contaminated with plutonium-239
and other radioactive material.

Regions

Deserts of Australia (in red), overlaid with internal boundaries and Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia biogeographic regions
Undesignated areas surrounding the labeled desert regions are still predominantly arid.

A large contiguous desert area is formed by the Tanami, Greater Sands, Lesser Sands, Gibson and Greater Victoria Sands in western Australia and a smaller one by the Simpson, Sturt, Strzelecki and Tirari Deserts in the east. Spatially isolated between Great Victoria Sand and Simpson lies the small Pedirka Desert, which spreads out over the geological Pedirka Sedimentary Basin. The Small Sandy Desert connects to the Great Sandy Desert and is similar in terms of landscape and vegetation. The Western Desert, which describes a cultural region of Australia's indigenous people, includes the Gibson, Great Victoria, Great Sand and Small Sand deserts in the states of Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia.[35]

Most of the inhabitants of the area are Indigenous Australians. There are other areas in Australia designated as desert that are not related to the Australian deserts mentioned above. On Kangaroo Island off the coast of South Australia is an area of two square kilometers called the Little Sahara, a formation of several sand dunes on its south coast. In Victoria, about 375 km west of Melbourne, there is still the Little Desert National Park. The Painted Desert is 121 kilometers northwest of Coober Pedy in South Australia.

The almost treeless Nullarbor Plain in southern Australia, made of limestone, are also known as the Nullarbor Desert.

Desert State/Territory Area (km2) Area (miles2) Area rank % of Australia
Great Victoria Desert South Australia
Western Australia 		348,750 km2 134,650 sq mi 1 4.5%
Great Sandy Desert Northern Territory
Western Australia 		267,250 km2 103,190 sq mi 2 3.5%
Tanami Desert Northern Territory
Western Australia 		184,500 km2 71,200 sq mi 3 2.4%
Simpson Desert Northern Territory
Queensland
South Australia 		176,500 km2 68,100 sq mi 4 2.3%
Gibson Desert Western Australia 156,000 km2 60,000 sq mi 5 2.0%
Little Sandy Desert Western Australia 111,500 km2 43,100 sq mi 6 1.5%
Strzelecki Desert New South Wales
Queensland
South Australia 		80,250 km2 30,980 sq mi 7 1.0%
Sturt Stony Desert Queensland
South Australia 		29,750 km2 11,490 sq mi 8 0.3%
Tirari Desert South Australia 15,250 km2 5,890 sq mi 9 0.2%
Pedirka Desert South Australia 1,250 km2 480 sq mi 10 0.016%

Geography

Generally flat lands of the Australian desert (Coober Pedy)
Menindee Lakes in NSW
Lake Gairdner, South Australia
Lake Frome salt flats
Darling River pictured from the International Space Station

There are four known types of terrestrial deserts:

  • continental (or remote) deserts
  • tropical (or zonal) deserts
  • shelter deserts
  • coastal deserts

Australian deserts generally meet the first three criteria, although some coastal desert areas exist in Western Australia. The great

Mount Olga or Uluru to the over-deepened wave of the wind rocks, by involving a thaw of (peri)glacial formations followed by wind action over a long period. The sand ridges have a trend of SSE-NNW and continue parallel for great distances.[36]

Areas of the formerly desert outback, deserts such as the Simpson Desert from west to east or mountainous regions such as the Arckaringa Hills are characterized by ocean landscapes of charred rocks, called

gibberss. As noted by early Australian explorers such as Ernest Giles[28] large portions of the desert are characterized by gravel-covered terrains covered in thin desert grasses and it also contains extensive areas of undulating red sand plains and dunefields, low rocky/gravelly ridges and substantial upland portions with a high degree of laterite formation. The sandy soil of the lateritic buckshot plains is rich in iron in the Gibson Desert. Several isolated salt-water lakes occur in the centre of the region and to the southwest a system of small lakes follow paleo-drainage features. The desert proper is uninhabitable and the environment remains unmarred, while the greener fringe is used for sheep grazing.[37]

Waterbodies

Lakes in the regions (most of which are dried up

saline lakes
), include:

Rivers and creeks, which are sparse and generally ephemeral, in the Australian desert include:

Biodiversity

Vegetation

A view of Mount Conner with typical tussock vegetation in the foreground

Two types of semi-desert, referred to as "

alluvial soils covered with grasses of the Astrebla genus ranges from 150 to 500 mm. Trees cannot take root on the heavy clay soils, and they are riddled with bushfires. Spinifex or hummock semi-desert grows spiny- headed grasses (Spinifex) in clumps, next to free areas as green Triodia pungens and blue-grey Triodia basedowii. Zygochloa dominates on the sand dunes of the Simpson, Strzelecki and Tirari deserts. In large areas of desert, semi-desert grasslands with mulga bushes (Acacia aneura) predominate.[38]

Semi-desert savannas with low-growing acacia species cover large areas in the south of the arid zone, where 200 to 500 mm of precipitation falls in winter and summer. The acacia species, called mulga, grow on the plains, mountain slopes and hills of the deserts. In connection with the

Witchetty Bush. This area is home to the endemic species of acacia, Acacia kempeana, which feeds the wood borer larva, the witchetty maggot, up to three inches in size. It is high in protein and was an important part of the Aboriginal diet.[39]

Zygochloa paradoxa) which occur on the crests and slopes of dunes. Tall, open shrubland also occurs on the slopes.[40]

In drier areas, species including Old Man Saltbush (

feral animals
, weeds, and uncontrolled grazing.

  • Great Sandy Desert from space
    Great Sandy Desert from space
  • Tussock grass in Gibson Desert
    Tussock grass in Gibson Desert
  • Kangaroo in Nambung National Park
    Kangaroo in Nambung National Park
  • Simpson Desert near Bedourie
    Simpson Desert near
    Bedourie
  • Red dune in Simpson Desert
    Red dune in Simpson Desert
  • Dismantled railway line near Lake Eyre South, South Australia
    Dismantled railway line near Lake Eyre South, South Australia
  • Desert savannah near Birdsville, Queensland
    Desert savannah near
    Birdsville, Queensland
  • Desert flowers near Uluru
    Desert flowers near Uluru

Wildlife

Significantly fewer animals live in the Australian deserts than in the Australian coastal regions. The most common creatures in Australia's arid regions are insects, such as termites and ants, which are of great importance to the ecology. Animals in the desert include

Alexandra's parrot, wedge-tailed eagles, Australian bustard, the mulga parrot, the scarlet-chested parrot and the chestnut-breasted whiteface (Aphelocephala pectoralis) found on the eastern edge of the Great Victoria Desert and the malleefowl of Mamungari Conservation Park
.

About 103 species of mammals lived there at the time of European colonization, of which 19 are extinct, such as the desert bandicoot (

water-holding frog
do.

Reptiles live in large numbers in the deserts, for example the

Litoria rubella), can also occur. The most numerous species of lizards in the world can be found in the Australian desert, there are over 40 species of them there. In addition to fish, the few permanent freshwater holes are also home to mussels, crustaceans and insects. 34 species of fish occur in Lake Eyre and others at the artesian springs (e.g. at Dalhousie Springs
in South Australia). Over 40 species of frogs have been observed after heavy rains.

The

bilbies and mulgara
.

  • The marsupial mole prefers an underground life
    The marsupial mole prefers an underground life
  • A thorny devil in the Northern Territory
    A thorny devil in the Northern Territory
  • The Gould's monitor lizard is a large species of lizard found in the Australian desert
    The
    Gould's monitor
    lizard is a large species of lizard found in the Australian desert
  • The galah lives in tree-covered savannas and open grasslands
    The galah lives in tree-covered savannas and open grasslands
  • Desert goby
    Desert goby
  • Feral camels in Central Australia
    Feral camels
    in Central Australia
  • Emu in South Australia
    Emu in South Australia
  • Frilled-neck lizard
    Frilled-neck lizard
  • Camel farm in Uluru
    Camel farm in Uluru

Climate

Dust storm (haboob) over southwestern Queensland in 2010

Australia's climate is mostly determined by the hot, sinking air of the subtropical high-pressure belt (i.e. Australian High).[5] Dry conditions are associated with an El Niño–Southern Oscillation in Australia. Vegetation in arid areas is primarily dependent upon soil type.[5]

The average annual rainfall in the Australian desert ranges from 81 to 250 mm (3 to 10 in), which would make it a semi-arid climate. But a massive evaporation rate makes up for the higher than normal desert rainfall. Central Australia is arid, with the driest areas averaging 150 mm (5.91 in) of rainfall each year. Thunderstorms are relatively common in the region, with an annual average of 15 to 20 thunderstorms. Summer daytime temperatures range from 32 to 50 °C (90 to 122 °F); winter maximum temperatures average between 18 and 23 °C (64 to 73 °F), though will be more warmer in the north.[45]

Extensive areas are covered by longitudinal dunes.[5] The northwestern region of the desert is one which gives rise to the heat lows which help drive the NW monsoon. There, almost all rain comes from monsoon thunderstorms or the occasional tropical cyclone rain depression.[46] Frost does not occur in most of the area in the far north. The regions bordering the Gibson Desert in the far southeast may record a light frost or two every year, with frost being more prevalent in the Tanami region.[47] Away from the coast winter nights can still be chilly in comparison to the warm days. Minimum winter temperatures dip to 6 °C (43 °F) in most parts of the desert.[48]

  • Climate zones in Australia with deserts in orange and semi-deserts in yellow
    Climate zones in Australia with deserts in orange and semi-deserts in yellow
  • Annual rain days in the desert range from less than 20 to no more than 80 days (on the 0.2 mm threshold)
    Annual rain days in the desert range from less than 20 to no more than 80 days (on the 0.2 mm threshold)

Tourism

Devils Marbles

Tourism is a major industry across the Great Australian desert, and commonwealth and state tourism agencies explicitly target Outback Australia as a sought after destination for domestic and international travelers.

Indigenous rangers are available to show tourists the part of the range that is open to the public.[50]

Riversleigh, in Queensland, is one of Australia's most renowned fossil sites and was recorded as a World Heritage site in 1994. The 100 km2 (39 sq mi) area contains fossil remains of ancient mammals, birds and reptiles of Oligocene and Miocene age.[51]

There are several popular tourist attractions in the desert, which include:

  • MacDonnell National Park
    MacDonnell National Park
  • Lake Mungo National Park
    Lake Mungo National Park
  • Uluru / Ayers Rock
    Uluru / Ayers Rock
  • Millstream-Chichester National Park in Pilbara
    Millstream-Chichester National Park in Pilbara
  • Munga-Thirri National Park in Queensland
    Munga-Thirri National Park in Queensland
  • Sturt National Park
    Sturt National Park
  • King's Canyon
    King's Canyon
  • Mount Augustus National Park
    Mount Augustus National Park
  • Mutawintji National Park
    Mutawintji National Park

Mining

Other than agriculture and tourism, the primary economic activity in the vast and sparsely settled desert is mining. Owing to the almost complete absence of mountain building and glaciation since the

Challenger Mine. Oil and gas are extracted in the Cooper Basin around Moomba. The Tanami Desert features The Granites gold mine and Coyote Gold Mine
.

In Western Australia the Argyle diamond mine in the Kimberley is the world's biggest producer of natural diamonds and contributes approximately one-third of the world's natural supply. The Pilbara region's economy is dominated by mining and petroleum industries.[52] Most of Australia's iron ore is also mined in the Pilbara and it also has one of the world's major manganese mines.

View of dunefields and mesa, Central Australia

Transport

A roadway within the red desert.

The outback is reticulated by historic tracks with excellent

Tarcoola-Darwin railway line. There is a proposal to develop some of the roads running from the south-west to the north-east to create an all-weather road named the Outback Highway, crossing the continent diagonally from Laverton, Western Australia (north of Kalgoorlie), through the Northern Territory to Winton, in Queensland. Air transport is relied on for mail delivery in some areas, owing to sparse settlement and wet-season road closures. Most outback mines have an airstrip and many have a fly-in fly-out
workforce.

Roads in the desert include:

Towns

Although the desert covers about three-quarters of the continent, it only supports around 800,000 residents – less than 5% of the Australian population. In addition, there are approximately 1,200 small Indigenous communities, of which almost half have a population of fewer than 100 people. The

Pitjantjatjara. Aboriginal populations have been increasing in this region.[53]

Inhabited areas within the Great Australian desert include many towns and as well as some cities, such as:

Northern Territory
New South Wales/Victoria
Western Australia
Queensland
South Australia

Languages and people

Main article:
Indigenous Australian languages

The Aboriginal languages with the most speakers today in the desert include

Pama–Nyungan language family.[54][55]

Ethnic groups include the

Yuruwinga, Yulparija and the Maduwongga.[56]

  • Cape Dombey people in Northern Territory, circa 1905
    Cape Dombey people in Northern Territory, circa 1905
  • Aboriginal tribe in NT
    Aboriginal tribe in NT
  • Luritja people
    Luritja people
  • Frederic Bonney with an Aboriginal tribe
    Frederic Bonney with an Aboriginal tribe
  • Eastern Arrernte people, Arltunga district, Northern Territory
    Arltunga
    district, Northern Territory
  • Arrernte boy, South Australia
    Arrernte boy, South Australia

Popular culture

Popular movies set or filmed in the Australian desert include:

See also

References

  1. ^ Deserts by Geoscience Australia
  2. ^ Geosciences Australia –Deserts
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-1438106663
    . Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  4. ISBN 978-9400960800
    . Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  5. ^
    ISBN 978-1444300741
    . Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  6. ^ "The Australian continent". Bureau of Meteorology. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  7. ^ "Deserts". Geoscience Australia. Australian Government. 15 May 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  8. ^ Kelly, Karina (13 September 1995). "A Chat with Tim Flannery on Population Control". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 13 January 2010. Retrieved 23 April 2010. "Well, Australia has by far the world's least fertile soils".
  9. ^ Grant, Cameron (August 2007). "Damaged Dirt" (PDF). The Advertiser. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2010. Australia has the oldest, most highly weathered soils on the planet.
  10. PMID 27552116
    .
  11. ^ Managing the impacts of feral camels in Australia: a new way of doing business. Desert Knowledge CRC Report Number 47. Accessed 8 May 2014.
  12. ^ Northern Territory > Department of Land Resource Management > Feral Camel Archived 8 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 8 May 2014.
  13. ^ Pirajno, F., Occhipinti, S. A. and Swager, C. P., 1998. Geology and tectonic evolution of the Palaeoproterozoic Bryah, Padbury and Yerrida basins, Western Australia: implications for the history of the south-central Capricorn orogen. Precambrian Research, 90: 119–140.
  14. S2CID 4470503
    .
  15. ^ Berndt, Ronald Murray; Vogelsang, T. (1939). Notes on the Dieri tribe of South Australia. Royal Society of South Australia.
  16. PMID 30231025 – via ResearchGate
    . The re-excavation of Karnatukul (Serpent's Glen) has provided evidence for the human occupation of the Australian Western Desert to before 47,830 cal. BP (modelled median age). This new sequence is 20,000 years older than the previous known age for occupation at this site
  17. ^ Cassidy, Caitlin (22 March 2022). "Wattle used for tools, food and medicine by Western Desert traditional owners for 50,000 years, study shows". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  18. ^ Rock Art Archived 1 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Aboriginal Art Online, retrieved April 2008.
  19. ^ "The Last Nomads". Aboriginal Art Store. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011.
  20. ISSN 0261-3077
    . Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  21. ^ "Our Country". Aboriginal Australian Art & Culture. n.d. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
  22. ^ "He found Gippsland". The Argus. Melbourne, Victoria: National Library of Australia. 16 January 1954. p. 8. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  23. ^ "Dismissal of Captain Tolmer". South Australian Register. South Australia. 12 March 1856. p. 3. Retrieved 29 December 2019 – via Trove.
  24. ^ "Afghan cameleers in Australia". australia.gov.au. 15 August 2014. Archived from the original on 15 August 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  25. ^ Michael Cathcart, The Water Dreamers, Text Publishing, 2009
  26. ^ "Governor-General on N.T. Visit". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 32, 946. New South Wales, Australia. 30 July 1943. p. 4. Retrieved 13 October 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  27. ^ "Overland-telegraph | australia.gov.au". Archived from the original on 29 June 2015. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  28. ^
    ISBN 0-86824-015-X. Archived from the original
    on 22 March 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
  29. Australian Government. Archived from the original on 5 September 2006. Retrieved 31 January 2007. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help
    )
  30. ^ IBRA Version 6.1 data
  31. ^ "Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA7) regions and codes". Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. Commonwealth of Australia. 2012. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
  32. doi:10.1080/03736245.1980.10559618
    .
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  34. ^ "The Times & The Sunday Times". thetimes.co.uk. Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  35. ISBN 978-0-702-23245-9
    .
  36. ^ "Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment". Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment.
  37. ^ "Rangelands – Overview – Gibson Desert". Australian Natural Resources Atlas. Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities. 27 June 2009. Archived from the original on 16 March 2011. Retrieved 19 December 2010.
  38. ^ Arid Zone Trees Archived June 10, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  39. ^ "Acacia kempeana F.Muell". Atlas of Living Australia. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 12 May 2019.
  40. ^ "South Australian Arid Lands Biodiversity Strategy Draft" (PDF). The Department for Environment and Heritage (Federal Government of Australia) and South Australian Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board. p. 34. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 June 2008. Retrieved 23 June 2008.
  41. ^ "South Australian Arid Lands Biodiversity Strategy Draft" (PDF). The Department for Environment and Heritage (Federal Government of Australia) and South Australian Arid Lands Natural Resources Management Board. p. 17. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 June 2008. Retrieved 27 June 2008.
  42. ^ Pavey, Chris (May 2006). "Notomys longicaudatus" (PDF). Department of Natural Resources, Environment and the Arts, Northern Territory Government. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 September 2008. Retrieved 17 April 2011.
  43. ^ Wild dog populations will be out of control within five years without dedicated dogger, former trapper says Archived 28 April 2018 at the Wayback Machine SA Country Hour, ABC News, 29 June 2016. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  44. ^ Explainer: South Australia's wild dog problem and sheep industry's plea for dedicated doggers Archived 15 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine ABC Rural, 7 April 2017. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  45. ^ "Western Australia For Everyone: Great Sandy Desert". www.australiaforeveryone.com.au. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
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  47. ^ "Gibson Desert | desert, Western Australia, Australia". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  48. ^ Great Victoria and Gibson Deserts, Western Australia from Climate and Weather Atlas of Australia by Michael Thompson, verified 2006-01-23.
  49. ^ Australia, Tourism. "Aboriginal Tourism – Markets – Tourism Australia". www.tourism.australia.com. Archived from the original on 22 November 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  50. ^ "Latest visitor data – Tourism NT Corporate Site". www.tourismnt.com.au. Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  51. ^ Archer M; Hand, Suzanne J. & Godthelp H. [1991] 2000. Australia's lost world: Riversleigh, World Heritage Site. Reed, Sydney.
  52. ^ The Pilbara's oil and gas industry is the region's largest export industry earning $5.0 billion in 2004/05 accounting for over 96% of the State's production. source – WA.gov.au Archived 19 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  53. ^ Wilurarra Creative
  54. ^ "International Year of Indigenous Languages commemorated with new coins launched by Royal Australian Mint and AIATSIS". Royal Australian Mint. 8 April 2019. Archived from the original on 26 June 2019. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  55. ^ Claire Bowern and Quentin Atkinson (2012) "Computational phylogenetics and the internal structure of Pama-Nyungan", Language 88: 817–845.
  56. AIATSIS
    . 10 November 2022.

Further reading

  • Johnson, John & Catherine de Courcy.(1998) Desert Tracks Port Melbourne, Vic. Lothian Books.
    ISBN 0-85091-811-1

External links

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