Great Sandy Desert is one of the largest desert areas in Australia. It occupies part of the desert basin in northern Western Australia, in the eastern part of the Pilbara region. The desert covers about 110,000 square miles (285,000 square kilometers). The Great Sandy Desert stretches from the Kimberley region in the north to the Gibson Desert in the south. It ranges from the west coast, between the towns of Broome and Port Hedland, to the Tanami Desert, near the border between Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
The desert mostly consists of sand dunes, with an area of stony desert near its center. Spinifex grasses are the most common plant life in the Great Sandy Desert. Australian Aboriginal people have lived in the area for thousands of years. In 1873, the British military officer and explorer Peter Egerton Warburton led the first European expedition across the Great Sandy Desert.
See also Australian Desert ; Kimberley ; Gibson Desert ; Pilbara .
