[1][3] The locality’s name is derived from the Sandover River whose course passes through the locality and which is considered to be named in 1878 after William Sandover, a South Australian politician.
It fully surrounds the community of Ampilatwatja, which lies within the Aboriginal homelands area of Utopia, Northern Territory.
[9][1] The Sandover Highway passes through the locality from the south-west to the north-east.
[9] Sandover includes the following places that have been listed on the Northern Territory Heritage Register – the Eldo Rocket Shelters Ooratippra and the Old MacDonald Downs Homestead.
[11][12] The 2016 Australian census which was conducted in August 2016 reports that Sandover had 634 people living within its boundaries, of whom 45.2% were male, 54.8% were female and 91.6% (577) identified as “Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people.”[2] Sandover is located within the federal division of Lingiari, the territory electoral division of Barkly and the local government areas of the Barkly Region and the Central Desert Region.