It is positioned in the northeast of the Lake Eyre Basin, and north of the Flinders Ranges.

[1] Sturt was the first non-indigenous explorer in the area in late 1845, followed by the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition in 1861.

[3] Parts of the eastern sections of the desert are protected by the Sturt National Park in New South Wales.

The Cobbler Sandhills near Lake Blanche is a section of the Strzelecki Desert where the dunes are replaced by small eroded knolls, mostly with vegetation on the top.

This area provided great difficulty for early attempts to cross the desert by car, and the name relates to the sheep which were the most difficult to shear, known as the "cobblers".