The bark is smooth and satiny, ranging from grey to red-brown or a bright coppery colour.

[3][4][5][6] Eucalyptus steedmanii was first formally described by the botanist Charles Gardner in 1933 in the Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia from a specimen collected by Henry Steedman south of Southern Cross in 1928.

[3] Steedman's gum is found on low hills and undulating plains between Ravensthorpe in the Goldfields-Esperance and Kondinin in the Wheatbelt region where it grows in gravelly loamy soils over ironstone.

It is estimated that there is a total population of 24 500 mature plants that are spread over an area of 83.6 square kilometres (32 sq mi) and tend to occur in pure stands.

[2][4] The main threat to the tree is fire which kills adult plants, but regeneration by seed has been observed.