Gibson Desert

Map of Gibson Desert

A four wheel drive in the Gibson Desert

The Gibson Desert covers about 155,000 square kilometres (60,000 square miles), lying between Lake Disappointment and Lake Macdonald along the Tropic of Capricorn, in Western Australia. The area contains sandhills separated by dry grassland, along with isolated hills and low ranges, and forms part of the plateau of central Western Australia.

The desert was named after Alfred Gibson. Gibson perished while attempting to cross it in 1874, while on an expedition with Ernest Giles. Giles only narrowly avoided a similar fate.

The only human inhabitants of the area are Indigenous Australians. Due to a severe drought in 1984, which had dried up all of the springs and depleted the bush foods, a group of the Pintupi people who were living a traditional semi-nomadic desert-dwelling life walked out of the remote wilderness of the Gibson Desert in Western Australia and made contact for the first time with European-Australian society. They are believed to be the last uncontacted tribe in Australia.

Climate

Rainfall in the Gibson Desert ranges from 200 mm (7.8 in) to 250 mm (9.8 in) annually. The climate is generally hot; summer maximum temperatures rise above 40°C (104°F) whilst in winter the maximum may fall to 18°C (64°F)^[1].

Environment and wildlife

Due to the lack of large scale farming or industry in the area, the environment is relatively unchanged from its natural state. Wildlife includes red kangaroo, emu, the greater bilby, and reptiles such as the thorny devil and perentie. Feral animals include the camel. Pastoral stations lie on the edge of the desert.

Leisure and tourism

The Gibson Desert Nature Reserve is popular for visitors with four wheel driver vehicles and is accessible from the famous Gunbarrel Highway.

Geography

The Gibson Desert is south of the Great Sandy Desert and north of the Great Victoria Desert. The altitude sometimes rises above 500 metres.

Biogeography

The IBRA regions, with Gibson Desert in red

It is one of Western Australia's Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) regions,^[2][3] and an ecoregion of the World Wildlife Fund.^[4]

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. ISBN 0642213712

External links

• Gibson Desert 1997; a photo album of the Gibson Desert by Stuart Jackson, Verified 2006-01-23

See Also

• List of deserts by area

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