The first party to successfully cross the Blue Mountains just outside Sydney was led by Gregory Blaxland in 1813, 25 years after the colony was established.

From 1858 onwards, the so-called "Afghan" cameleers and their beasts played an instrumental role in opening up the Outback and helping to build infrastructure.

This contrasts with the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition in 1860–61 which was much better funded, but resulted in the deaths of three of the members of the transcontinental party.

In 1865, the surveyor George Goyder, using changes in vegetation patterns, mapped a line in South Australia, north of which he considered rainfall to be too unreliable to support agriculture.

The paucity of industrial land use has led to the Outback being recognised globally as one of the largest remaining intact natural areas on Earth.

[12] Reflecting the wide climatic and geological variation, the Outback contains a wealth of distinctive and ecologically rich ecosystems.

Major land types include: The Outback is full of very important well-adapted wildlife, although much of it may not be immediately visible to the casual observer.

On bare ground or roads during the winter, various species of snakes and lizards bask in the sun, but they are rarely seen during the summer months.

Feral pigs, foxes, cats, goats and rabbits and other imported animals are also degrading the environment, so time and money is spent eradicating them in an attempt to help protect fragile rangelands.

[15] The 100 km2 (39 sq mi) area contains fossil remains of ancient mammals, birds and reptiles of Oligocene and Miocene age.

[16] The largest industry across the Outback, in terms of the area occupied, is pastoralism, in which cattle, sheep, and sometimes goats are grazed in mostly intact, natural ecosystems.

Capitalising on the lack of pasture improvement and absence of fertiliser and pesticide use, many Outback pastoral properties are certified as organic livestock producers.

Some of the well known destinations include Devils Marbles, Kakadu National Park, Kata Tjuta (The Olgas), MacDonnell Ranges and Uluru (Ayers Rock).

The largest decline was in the Outback Northern Territory, while the Kimberley and Pilbara showed population increases during the same period.

Previously, serious injuries or illnesses often meant death owing to the lack of proper medical facilities and trained personnel.

The term "outback" derives from the adverbial phrase referring to the back yard of a house[citation needed], and came to be used meiotically in the late 1800s to describe the vast sparsely settled regions of Australia behind the cities and towns.

It has been suggested that the term comes from the Black Stump Wine Saloon that once stood about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) out of Coolah, New South Wales on the Gunnedah Road.

Air transport is relied on for mail delivery in some areas, owing to sparse settlement and wet-season road closures.