What is the largest desert in Australia?
The Great Victoria Desert is the largest desert in Australia, covering about 350,000 square kilometres across Western Australia and South Australia.
The desert features sand dunes, sandplains, salt lakes and low hills covered in spinifex and scattered trees. It was named by explorer Ernest Giles, who crossed it in 1875 and named it after Queen Victoria.
Aboriginal peoples, including the Anangu groups of the Western Desert, have lived in the region for tens of thousands of years. Large areas today are Aboriginal lands and protected reserves.
A hidden history
Parts of the desert were used for British nuclear weapons tests at Maralinga and Emu Field in the 1950s and 1960s. The tests contaminated the land and harmed Aboriginal people living nearby, and a major cleanup was later carried out.
The desert is crossed by the Anne Beadell Highway, a remote outback track, and by the Trans-Australian Railway near its southern edge. Water is scarce, and summer temperatures often exceed 40 degrees Celsius.
Did You Know?
About 18 percent of mainland Australia is classified as desert, according to Geoscience Australia.