Simpson Desert

Related Category: Australian and New Zealand Physical Geography

c.50,000 sq mi (130,000 sq km), barren region of central Australia, predominantly in the southeastern portion of the Northern Territory, extending S into Queensland and E into South Australia. Long, parallel sand dunes, up to 150 ft (46 m) high and 1,500 ft (457 m) apart, run for miles across the desert. Charles Sturt briefly visited the desert in 1845 and Cecil T. Madigan crossed it in 1939.