[7] The Tirari Desert region has a number of large cattle stations which are stopping points on the Channel Country aviation mail run.

[10] The otherwise sparsely vegetated dunefields become covered by a carpet of grasses, herbs and colourful flowering plants following rains.

In drier areas, species including Old Man Saltbush (Atriplex nummularia), Cottonbush (Maireana aphylla) and Queensland Bluebush (Chenopodium auricomum) form a sparse, open shrubland, whereas swamps and depressions are frequently associated with Swamp Cane-grass (Eragrostis australasica) and Lignum (Muehlenbeckia florulenta).

They were located at the eastern shore of Lake Eyre from Muloorina north to Warburton River; east to Killalapaninna.

Since Tindale's work was published, much of the data relating to Aboriginal language group distribution and definition has undergone revision since 1974.

[18][19] Bethesda Mission was established by German Lutherans at nearby Lake Killalpaninna around the same period and, after also being abandoned for a short time, was re-established and by the 1880s it resembled a small town with more than 20 dwellings including a church.

[18] Primarily financed by sheep grazing, the mission closed in 1917 due to the effects of drought and rabbit plagues.

[21] In 1874 another expedition, led by James William Lewis, again followed the river upstream to the Queensland border, retracing the route on the return journey and then headed south to the Kopperamanna mission.

[21] Lewis, in a later account of his expedition, said of the lake "I sincerely trust I may never see it again; it is useless in every respect, and the very sight of it creates thirst in man and beast.