The Great Sandy Desert is an interim Australian bioregion,[1][2] located in the northeast of Western Australia straddling the Pilbara and southern Kimberley regions and extending east into the Northern Territory.

[citation needed] "Fairy circles", which are circular patches of land barren of plants, varying between 22 and 12 metres (7 and 39 ft) in diameter and often encircled by a ring of stimulated growth of grass, are found in the western part of the desert, in the Pilbara region.

Many of these Indigenous people were forcibly removed from their lands during the late 18th, 19th, and the early 20th centuries, to be relocated to other settlements, such as Papunya in the Northern Territory.

Young adults, from the Great Sandy Desert region, travel to and work in the Wilurarra Creative programs to maintain and develop their culture, and a greater sense of community.

The heat of Australia’s ground surface, in turn, creates a massive evaporation cycle, which partially explains the higher-than-normal desert rainfall.

Conversely, a few travellers have had their vehicles malfunction during the hottest times of the year, with dehydration, sun exposure and heatstroke being the predominant causes of death.

Other mammalian inhabitants include bilbies, mulgara, marsupial moles, rufous hare-wallabies, and red kangaroos.

Varied types of lizards occur here, such as goannas (including the large perentie), thorny devils, and bearded dragons.