Great Victoria Desert

The Great Victoria Desert occupies the dry country north of the Nullarbor, with sand dunes, stony plains and salt lakes extending across southern Australia's interior. Permanent surface water is absent over much of this country; rockholes, soaks and claypans hold supplies according to rainfall. For Aboriginal inhabitants, the distribution of these waters helped determine journeys and the places where families could remain through changing seasons.

In the southern desert, historical accounts identify Ngalea, Kokata and Pindini communities as part of the Western Desert cultural world. They maintained close relationships with the Pitjantjatjara farther north and with the peoples of the Nullarbor and coast. Ooldea's water was particularly important: groups shared its supplies during drought, making it a meeting place between otherwise dispersed territories. The desert's history before colonial expansion therefore includes connections running both north toward the ranges and south toward the coastal fringe. Its water places sustained more than immediate subsistence, bringing households into contact and supporting movement through a country whose resources were widely separated and changed with the rains.