Which desert is the largest in Australia?

The Great Victoria Desert is the largest desert in Australia.

It stretches across more than 700 kilometres of Western Australia and South Australia, covering roughly 348,750 square kilometres. Its landscape is not one endless sea of dunes: it includes small sandhills, grass-covered plains, stony desert pavement called gibber plains, and salt lakes.

British-born explorer Ernest Giles became the first European to cross the desert in 1875 and named it after Queen Victoria, who was then the reigning British monarch. Indigenous Australians, including Pitjantjatjara, Mirning, and Kogara peoples, have long lived in and travelled through the region.

A common mix-up is confusing the Great Victoria Desert with the Great Sandy Desert, Gibson Desert, or Tanami Desert. All are major Australian deserts, but the Great Victoria is the largest by area. It is also a biologically important region, recognized as a World Wildlife Fund ecoregion.