Information on The Pedirka Desert

The Pedirka Desert is Australia's smallest desert, a longitudinal dunefield to the north east of Oodnadatta. It is bordered to the north by the Hamilton Creek, where the dunes end abruptly. North of the creek are stony tablelands. The dunefield runs east almost to the border with Witjira National Park, the deep red dunes trend north east to south westThere are several bores within the desert for pastoral use. The dunes trend north east to south west, and the interdunal corridors are up to one kilometre wide.. The dunes are deep red sand, and the interdunes are made of deep red sandy loam. A large proportion of the desert lies within the Hamilton Station Pastoral Lease,operated by the Williams Pastoral Company. The land use is rangeland cattle grazing.

The Hamilton Creek is lined with River Red Gums coolibah, mulga, dead finish and prickly wattle. Grasses include silky brown top and native millet. Species such as verbine grow thickly after flooding.

A dense scrub of shrub and grasses is found in the interdune areas. The shrubs include satiny bluebush, Giles emubush, weeping emubush, and spiny saltbush. Woollybutt, broad-leaf wanderrie, mulga grass and bandicoot grass are the most common grasses with annuals like mulga grass growing after rains. The dunes support an open mulga woodland, with an understorey which includes tall kerosene grass and woollybutt.

The Pedirka Desert is accessed by the public road that connects the Oodnadatta Track with Dalhousie Springs and Witjira National Park.