Sturt enters the Simpson Desert in central…

Sturt enters the Simpson Desert in central Australia on July 20, 1845.

A large area of dry, red sandy plain and dunes, it is the fourth largest Australian desert, with an area of 176,500 square kilometers (sixty-eight thousand one hundred square miles) and is the world's largest sand dune desert.

The desert is underlain by the Great Artesian Basin, one of the largest inland drainage areas in the world.

It is also part of the Lake Eyre basin.