Strzelecki Desert

Strzelecki Desert – Australia’s Quiet Red Dune Sea

At first light in the Strzelecki Desert, the dunes glow a deep brick red and the air is cold enough to nip your fingers. By midday, the same sand can be too hot to touch. This is one of the least known deserts of central Australia – a vast dunefield stretching over about 80,000 square kilometres, yet often overshadowed by the famous Simpson Desert next door.

Standing on a dune crest here, you see what looks like an endless comb: long parallel ridges running to the horizon, cut by the faint lines of old stock routes and exploration tracks. There are no big cities, no sealed highways, just the occasional 4×4 dust plume and the whisper of wind reshaping sand that has been on the move for tens of thousands of years.

Where Exactly Is the Strzelecki Desert?

The Strzelecki Desert lies in the far interior of Australia, where three states meet: the far north of South Australia, the far west of New South Wales and the south-west corner of Queensland. It occupies the north-eastern part of the Lake Eyre Basin, a huge internal drainage system where rivers like Cooper Creek and the Diamantina flow not to the sea, but into salt lakes and ephemeral wetlands.

The desert also forms the southern portion of the Simpson–Strzelecki Dunefields bioregion, an officially recognised ecological region that stretches across central Australia and contains some of the driest landscapes on the continent.:

Key Outback Routes

• Strzelecki Track: A historic stock route now used by modern travellers and service vehicles, linking Lyndhurst in South Australia with Innamincka on Cooper Creek.
• Birdsville Track: Running to the northwest of the main dunefield, historically used to move cattle and sheep from Queensland to South Australian railheads.
• Dingo Fence: One of the world’s longest structures, built to keep dingoes away from sheep country, crossing the desert in long, straight lines.

Look at the region on a satellite map and you’ll notice how human features are tiny scratches laid over the huge red geometry of dunes and salt lakes.

Climate: Heat, Drought and Rare Floods

The Strzelecki sits in a very arid, hot desert climate. It is part of a bioregion described by Australian government studies as having an arid, subtropical climate that includes some of the driest country in the nation, with median annual rainfall around 125 mm.

Rain usually falls in unpredictable bursts – summer thunderstorms driven by tropical moisture, or the tail of a distant low-pressure system. Some years see only a few light showers; other years, a single deep low can turn dry creeks into brown torrents and fill far-flung desert lakes.

Strzelecki Desert Climate at a Glance

Wind is a constant sculptor. Long-term wind regimes, combined with rare wet phases, have driven the growth of the long linear dunes that make the Strzelecki look like a giant’s fingerprint pressed into central Australia.

Landforms: Linear Dunes, Salt Lakes and Cobbler Sandhills

What makes the Strzelecki visually striking is the orderly chaos of its dunes. Most are straight to gently curving “linear dunes” trending roughly north to NNE, several kilometres long, often less than a kilometre apart. From ground level they feel like low red walls; from the air they look like a comb of sand marching across the continent.

Between the dunes lie:

Related articles: Simpson Desert

• Inter-dune swales: Lower areas with clay soils, occasional shrubs and ephemeral grasses after rain.
• Saltpans and clay pans: Hard, pale surfaces that can become sticky mud when they briefly hold water.
• Desert lakes: Shallow basins on Cooper and Strzelecki Creeks that form the Strzelecki Desert Lakes, internationally recognised as important for birds when flooded.

Near Lake Blanche lies the famous Cobbler Sandhills, where the smooth dune pattern breaks down into knobbly, vegetated hills. Early motorists cursed this section of the track; even today, the terrain feels rough and unpredictable compared with the flowing lines of the main dunes.

Plants: Spinifex Grasslands and Desert Woodlands

At a glance the Strzelecki can look barren, but the landscape is stitched together by tough plants that have mastered thirst. Across most dunes you’ll find spinifex hummock grasslands – prickly, dome-shaped clumps that anchor the sand and provide shelter for reptiles and small mammals.

In the swales and on more clay-rich soils grow:

• Saltbush and bluebush shrubs – salt-tolerant plants that colour the plains grey-green and feed kangaroos and stock.
• Mulga and other acacias – hardy wattles forming open woodlands or scattered trees on dunes and rises.
• Gidgee woodland patches – slow-growing acacia trees with dark, dense wood and a distinctive smell after rain.

Along Cooper Creek and Strzelecki Creek, where groundwater or floodwater lingers, you step into a different world of river red gum and coolibah trees, their roots tapping into subsurface moisture linked to the Great Artesian Basin, one of the world’s largest underground water reservoirs.

Wildlife: From Dingoes to the Dusky Hopping Mouse

Most animals of the Strzelecki keep a low profile. Many are nocturnal, and a lot of the action happens in the cool hours just before sunrise – exactly when field teams and desert travellers are checking traps, scanning for tracks or just listening to the soft rustle of life in the spinifex.

Iconic and Threatened Species

• Dusky hopping mouse (Notomys fuscus): A small rodent that moves more like a tiny kangaroo than a typical mouse, using long hind legs to hop across sand. Once widespread, it is now largely restricted to parts of the Strzelecki Desert and nearby dunefields, and is listed as a threatened species in Australia.
• Red kangaroo: Australia’s largest marsupial, common on open plains and along watercourses, often seen grazing in the cool of early morning and late afternoon.
• Dingo: The apex predator of this enviroment, hunting kangaroos and smaller mammals. Research suggests that healthy dingo populations can indirectly help hopping mice by suppressing feral cats.
• Small mammals & reptiles: Mulgara, small dasyurids, geckos, skinks and dragons use burrows and vegetation as daytime refuges.
• Waterbirds in boom years: When Cooper Creek and nearby lakes fill, pelicans, banded stilts, black swans, freckled ducks and many other species arrive to feed and breed on the newly abundant fish and invertebrates.

Life here runs on a boom-and-bust rhythm: long quiet years of scarcity, broken by short, chaotic periods when rain triggers explosions of plants, insects and breeding wildlife.

Human History, Exploration and Traditional Connections

Long before roads, fences and exploration parties, the Strzelecki Desert formed part of a web of Aboriginal trade and travel routes. Tracks followed the rare waterholes of Cooper Creek and the Diamantina, linking central Australian groups with those of the Flinders Ranges and beyond. Ochre, stone, songs and stories moved along these routes for thousands of years.

In the 1840s, the British explorer Charles Sturt travelled through this region during his search for an inland sea. He later named the desert after the Polish explorer Paweł Edmund Strzelecki, honouring his scientific work in eastern Australia. A few decades later, the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition passed nearby on its dramatic crossing of the continent.

By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, routes like the Birdsville Track and Strzelecki Track became vital stock corridors, moving cattle and sheep from inland stations to railheads on the South Australian coast. Drovers walked mobs of hundreds or thousands of animals across the desert, camping at traditional waterholes and semi-permanent soaks.

Protected Areas and Modern Land Use

Much of the South Australian part of the desert is included in the Strzelecki Regional Reserve, an IUCN Category VI protected area established in 1991. The reserve combines conservation with controlled land uses such as petroleum production, tourism and pastoralism, and includes parts of the internationally significant Coongie Lakes wetlands.

In New South Wales, sections of the eastern Strzelecki dunes fall within Sturt National Park, helping protect habitats for species such as the dusky hopping mouse and a suite of desert birds and reptiles.

Key Conservation Themes

• Maintaining intact dune vegetation to prevent erosion and protect small vertebrates and invertebrates.
• Managing feral predators (cats and foxes), while recognising the ecological role of dingoes.
• Protecting wetland pulses along Cooper and Strzelecki Creeks, crucial for large waterbird breeding events.
• Balancing resource extraction and tourism with fragile desert soils and cultural heritage sites.

Visiting the Strzelecki Desert Safely

Travelling through the Strzelecki is more expedition than casual road trip. Distances are long, services are few, and conditions can change quickly after rain. But with good preparation, it becomes one of the most memorable desert journeys on Earth.

Practical Tips for Travellers

• Vehicle: High-clearance 4×4 with all-terrain tyres. Many sections are unsealed, sandy, and can become boggy after rain.
• Supplies: Carry ample water (at least several days’ reserve), food, fuel and a well-stocked first aid kit.
• Navigation: Use both reliable maps and GPS. Mobile coverage is patchy to non-existent.
• Weather checks: Always confirm track conditions with local authorities or roadhouses before departure – flooded creeks can close tracks for days or weeks.
• Respect closures: If conservation or cultural sites are closed, stay out. The landscape is tough but the topsoil and vegetation are surprisingly delicate.

Best Time to Go

Cooler months (April–September) usually offer the safest travel conditions, with mild days and cold nights. Summer trips are possible only for highly experienced, well-equipped travellers who understand extreme heat risk.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Strzelecki Desert the same as the Simpson Desert?
No. The Strzelecki and Simpson are neighbouring dunefields within the same broad bioregion, but they are recognised as distinct deserts with different protected areas, access routes and local histories.

Can you see wildlife easily?
In the heat of the day, most animals hide. At dawn, dusk and night, you are more likely to see kangaroos, dingoes, small mammals, owls and a range of reptiles. After big rains, birdlife along the creeks and lakes can be spectacular.

Is it safe to travel alone?
Many experienced outback travellers drive these routes independently, but it is always safer to go with at least one other vehicle, to carry emergency communication equipment, and to leave a clear trip plan with someone you trust.

Why the Strzelecki Desert Matters

The Strzelecki might not have the fame of the Sahara or the Atacama, yet it is a key piece of Australia’s desert puzzle. It protects intact dune systems, stores groundwater deep below its sands, shelters threatened species like the dusky hopping mouse, and carries stories that stretch from ancient Aboriginal trade to modern conservation science.

For anyone fascinated by the world’s deserts, the Strzelecki is a place where geology, ecology and human history weave together in subtle ways. It is quiet, remote and demanding – and that, perhaps, is exactly what keeps its sense of wildness alive.