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2 unusual facts about Simpson Desert


Malleefowl

It occupies semi-arid mallee scrub on the fringes of the relatively fertile areas of southern Australia, where it is now reduced to three separate populations: the Murray-Murrumbidgee basin, west of Spencer Gulf along the fringes of the Simpson Desert, and the semi-arid fringe of Western Australia's fertile south-west corner.

Simpson Desert

The Donohue Highway is an unpaved outback track passing from near Boulia towards the Northern Territory border in the north of the desert.


Cecil Madigan

Throughout the 1930s, Madigan participated in numerous aerial surveys of the "trackless areas" of Central Australia, during which time he named the Simpson Desert after the president of the South Australian branch of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia -- Alfred Allen Simpson.


see also

Dalhousie Springs

Dalhousie Springs are a popular starting point for crossing the Simpson Desert eastwards to Birdsville in Queensland (around 600 kilometres).