Tanami Desert

The Tanami Desert is a desert in northern Australia situated in the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

It has a rocky terrain with small hills. The Tanami was the Northern Territory's final frontier and was not fully explored by Australians of European descent until well into the twentieth century. It is traversed by the Tanami Track.

The name Tanami is thought to be a corruption of the Walpiri name for the area, "Chanamee", meaning "never die". This referred to certain rock holes in the desert which were said to never run dry.

Under the name Tanami, the desert is classified as an interim Australian bioregion, comprising 25,997,277 hectares (64,240,670 acres).

Biological resources

According to government commissions, the Tanami desert is uniquely "one of the most important biological areas to be found in Australia particularly as it provides refuge for several of Australia's rare and endangered species."

The species that are found include:

Tanami Road

The Tanami Road, also known as the Tanami Track and the McGuire Track, is a road in northern Australia. It follows a cattle droving route northwest from the MacDonnell Ranges area of central Australia just north of Alice Springs to Halls Creek in the Kimberley.

The Tanami Road is the most direct route from Alice Springs to the Kimberley, passing through the Tanami Desert. Along its route are Yuendumu and the Granites Mine owned by Newmont Mining. In the Northern Territory it passes through land owned by the Aboriginal Warlpiri people, and in Western Australia it passes through pastoral land.

About 20% of the road is bitumen, the remainder is dirt and gravel and, although it is navigable by two-wheel drive vehicles, a four-wheel drive is recommended. Some parts of the road are prone to severe corrugations, making for an uncomfortable and slow drive at times.

The mid-way point, Rabbit Flat, formerly a public roadhouse, was closed indefinitely at the end of 2010, so planning for this journey must take the lack of fuel and supplies into account. Another roadhouse, Tilmouth Well, located 186 km (116 mi) from Alice Springs between Alice Springs and Rabbit Flat, provides fuel service 7 days a week. Carrying adequate fuel and water supplies is essential.

Northern Territory

The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT) is a federal Australian territory in the centre and central northern regions. It shares borders with Western Australia to the west (129th meridian east), South Australia to the south (26th parallel south), and Queensland to the east (138th meridian east). To the north, the territory is bordered by the Timor Sea, the Arafura Sea and the Gulf of Carpentaria. Despite its large area—over 1,349,129 square kilometres (520,902 sq mi), making it the third largest Australian federal division—it is sparsely populated. The Northern Territory's population of 243,700 (2014) makes it is the least populous of Australia's eight major states and territories, having fewer than half as many people as Tasmania.

The archaeological history of the Northern Territory begins over 40,000 years ago when Indigenous Australians settled the region. Makassan traders began trading with the indigenous people of the Northern Territory for trepang from at least the 18th century onwards, and very likely for 300 years prior to that. The coast of the territory was first seen by Europeans in the 17th century. The British were the first Europeans to attempt to settle the coastal regions. After three failed attempts to establish a settlement (1824–1828, 1838–1849, and 1864–66), success was achieved in 1869 with the establishment of a settlement at Port Darwin. Today the economy is based on tourism, especially Kakadu National Park in the Top End and the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park (Ayers Rock) in central Australia, and mining.

Alice Springs

Alice Springs /ˌælᵻs ˈsprɪŋz/ (Arrernte: Mparntwe) is the third largest town in the Northern Territory, Australia. Popularly known as "the Alice" or simply "Alice", Alice Springs is situated in the geographic centre of Australia.

The site is known as Mparntwe to its original inhabitants, the Arrernte, who have lived in the Central Australian desert in and around what is now Alice Springs for thousands of years. "Alice" in the English language was named by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Lady Alice Todd (née Alice Gillam Bell), wife of the telegraph pioneer Sir Charles Todd. Alice Springs has a population of 28,605, which makes up 12.2 percent of the territory's population. Alice Springs is nearly equidistant from Adelaide and Darwin.

The town straddles the usually dry Todd River on the northern side of the MacDonnell Ranges. The surrounding region is known as Central Australia, or the Red Centre, an arid environment consisting of several different deserts. In Alice Springs temperatures can vary dramatically, with an average maximum temperature in summer of 35.6 °C (96.1 °F) and an average minimum temperature in winter of 5.1 °C (41.2 °F). Alice Springs has faced many issues in recent years, largely stemming from an increase in crime and a strong racial divide that has existed for years in the town.

Mount Hughes

Mount Hughes (79°31′S 157°23′E / 79.517°S 157.383°E / -79.517; 157.383Coordinates: 79°31′S 157°23′E / 79.517°S 157.383°E / -79.517; 157.383) is a mountain, 2,250 metres (7,380 ft) high, midway between Mount Longhurst and Tentacle Ridge in the Cook Mountains of Antarctica. It was discovered by the British National Antarctic Expedition (1901–04) and named for J.F. Hughes, an Honorary Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society, who helped in the preparation for the expedition.

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Geological Survey document "Hughes, Mount" (content from the Geographic Names Information System).