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Simpson Desert Conservation Park
Overview
Located within the driest region of the Australian continent, the Simpson Desert is one of the world's best examples of dunal desert, a sea of parallel red sand ridges some 300 - 500 kilometres long covering a total area of 170,000 square kilometres. Although it receives slightly more rainfall than the Sahara Desert, the mean annual rainfall of 130 millimetres is very variable and unpredictable. Summer temperatures can exceed 50°C.
The Simpson Desert lies across the corners of 3 States, South Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory, with the South Australian section divided into 3 protected areas, Simpson Desert Conservation Park, Simpson Desert Regional Reserve and Witjira National Park.
History
In the nineteenth century, the Simpson Desert was inhabited by 7 Aboriginal tribes, concentrated mainly around the watercourses on the desert boundaries. In good seasons, they moved into or through the desert itself, digging permanent wells along their route for survival.
European settlement and a rapid expansion of pastoralism on the margins of the desert, from 1860 to 1900, resulted in the displacement of tribes, either by direct occupation of tribal lands or the attraction of tribe members to pastoral properties. The worst impact, however, was the Europeans' introduction of influenza which decimated the tribes and depopulated extensive areas of north and north-eastern South Australia, including the Simpson Desert, at about the time of the First World War. Finally a severe drought drove the last desert inhabitants away.
The first European to see the grandeur of the Simpson Desert was the explorer Charles Sturt in 1845, but the desert was not fully recognised and named until the 1930s when another Australian explorer and geologist, Cecil Thomas Madigan, named it after Allen Simpson, the sponsor of his subsequent expedition. The explorers who came after Sturt, mainly government surveyors, named a number of the familiar landmarks in the area.
Notable among the early surveyors was Augustus Poeppel who located the junction of the borders of Northern Territory, Queensland and South Australia. The original peg marking Poeppel Corner, as it is still known, was removed to Adelaide for preservation in 1962 and replaced by a replica. Some of Poeppel's original mile posts and other historic markers can still be seen in the Park.
The first successful crossing of the desert is credited to E A Colson who, with an Aboriginal companion (P. Ains) and 5 camels, travelled from Mount Etingambra eastwards to Birdsville in 1936. The first motorised crossing, by geologist Reg Sprigg and his family, was completed in 1962.
The idea of a Simpson Desert National Park across South Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory originated with Keith Jarrott of the Queensland National Parks Association in 1966. Queensland's section was established first with South Australia's 6,927 square kilometre area officially proclaimed on 14 December 1967 following a proposal from Warren Bonython. Northern Territory park authorities declined to act in the matter.
The Park's name was changed in 1972 to Simpson Desert Conservation Park, and the Simpson Desert Regional Reserve was established in 1988 with the support of the then Director of the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Bruce Leaver.
Aboriginal Culture and History
Although most Simpson Desert Aboriginal tribes in the nineteenth century were concentrated around the watercourses on the desert boundaries (see History), Aboriginal wells and stone arrangements in the central desert, and the names of many topographic features, suggest that Aborigines travelled throughout the area, particularly in favourable years.
Some of the wells Aborigines dug to enable them to survive in the desert were quite extensive, comprising tunnels up to 10 metres long, dug at an angle through sand to water-bearing layers. Many of these wells can still be seen but are no longer functional as they have filled with sand.
Aboriginal groups living in this area were hunters and gatherers, but they also traded extensively with tribes to the north and south. Ground-edge axes from quarries in Queensland were traded, as were sandstone grinding stones and ochre from the North Flinders Ranges. Some stone implements and workings can be found in the park, but they are not common.
Contact
Information on the Simpson Desert Regional Reserve and the Simpson Desert Conservation Park, is available from the Desert Parks Information Line at Port Augusta phone 1800 816 078 (within Australia only) and commercial outlets at Mount Dare, Oodnadatta and Birdsville.
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