Great Sandy Desert

1. a desert in NW Australia, ab. 300 mi. (485 km) long; 500 mi. (800 km) wide; ab. 160,000 sq. mi. (414,400 sq. km).

2. See Rub'al Khali.

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Wasteland, northern Western Australia.

It extends from Eighty Mile Beach on the Indian Ocean eastward into the Northern Territory and from the Kimberley Downs south to the Tropic of Capricorn and the Gibson Desert. An arid expanse of salt marshes and sand hills, it roughly coincides with the sedimentary Canning basin. Canning Stock Route (1,000 mi [1,600 km] long) spans the region from Wiluna via Lake Disappointment to Halls Creek.

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▪ desert, Australia

also called  Western Desert  or  Canning Desert  

wasteland, northern Western Australia, extending from Eighty Mile Beach on the Indian Ocean eastward into Northern Territory and from Kimberley Downs southward to the Tropic of Capricorn and the Gibson Desert. A vast, arid expanse of salt marshes and sand hills interlaced with Triodia (Spinifex) grass, it roughly coincides with the sedimentary Canning basin. Canning Stock Route (1,000 miles [1,600 km] long) spans the region in a northeasterly direction from Wiluna via Lake Disappointment to Halls Creek. The first Europeans to cross the desert (east to west) were in a party led by Maj. Peter Egerton Warburton in 1873.

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