Editing Simpson Desert (section)

==History==
===Aboriginal history===
{{Expand section|date=June 2018}}
Aboriginal people have lived in the Simpson Desert for at least 5000 years and continue to do so today.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Amanda |date=2012-12-03 |title=Simpson Desert Aboriginal Culture |url=https://traveloutbackaustralia.com/simpson-desert-aboriginal-culture.html/ |access-date=2023-02-02 |website=Travel Outback Australia |language=en-AU}}</ref> The Lower Southern Arrernte and Eastern Arrernte communities inhabited the western regions, while the [[Karangura]] and [[Wanggamala]] resided in the east.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Munga-Thirri–Simpson Desert National Park |url=https://ehq-production-australia.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/47df2a603322d7817911d6452b39ecbfabf042f3/original/1633667266/d10fd4ab8e1c99d5265d991daaf6fddc_Draft_Munga-ThirriSimpson_Desert_National_Park_Management_Plan.pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIA4KKNQAKIOR7VAOP4%2F20240717%2Fap-southeast-2%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20240717T084355Z&X-Amz-Expires=300&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=a22bf46cfffd92878fa8c6352df21aeb3ee0480f7b86dfc3d84c1f2b8f48cc10}}</ref> The [[Wangkangurru]] people lived in the Simpson Desert using hand-dug wells called ''mikiri'' from long [[History of Indigenous Australians|before European colonization]] until the [[Federation Drought]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Deacon |first1=Ben |title=An oasis rediscovered – finding the lost wells of the Simpson Desert |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-14/oasis-in-the-simpson-desert-rediscovered/11287328 |access-date=13 July 2019 |work=ABC News |date=14 July 2019 }}</ref>

===Post-colonisation===
[[Image:B9113 22 simpson desert.jpg|thumb|left|Ted Colson's expedition across the Simpson Desert in 1936]]
[[Image:BigRed.JPG|thumb|right|Big Red, Simpson Desert, 2007]]
[[File:SimpsonDesert.jpg|thumb|left|Track through the Simpson Desert]]
[[Image:Poeppel Corner Marker, South Australia, Northern Territories, Queensland.jpg|thumb|[[Poeppel Corner]] marker, South Australia, Northern Territories, Queensland]]
[[File:SimpsonsDesert.JPG|thumb|Edge of Simpson Desert from [[Chambers Pillar]]]]
Explorer [[Charles Sturt]], who visited the region from 1844 to 1846, was the first European to see the desert.<ref>Sturt, C. 1848-49. Narrative of an expedition into central Australia, performed under the authority of Her Majesty's Government, during the years 1844, 5, and 6: together with a notice of the province of South Australia, in 1847. London: T. and W. Boone, 2 vols, 416 pp. and 392 pp.</ref> In 1880, [[Augustus Poeppel]], a surveyor with the South Australian Survey Department, determined the border between Queensland and South Australia to the west of [[Haddon Corner]], and in doing so, marked the corner point where the States of Queensland and South Australia meet the Northern Territory. After he returned to Adelaide,  the links in his surveyor's chain were found to have been stretched. Poeppel's border post was too far west by 300 m. In 1884, surveyor Larry Wells moved the post to its proper position on the eastern bank of Lake Poeppel. The tristate border is now known as [[Poeppel Corner]]. In January 1886, surveyor [[David Lindsay (explorer)|David Lindsay]] ventured into the desert from the western edge, in the process discovering and documenting, with the help of a Wangkangurru Aboriginal man, 9 native wells, and travelling as far east as the Queensland/Northern Territory border.

In 1936, [[Ted Colson]] became the first nonindigenous person to cross the desert in its entirety, riding camels. The name Simpson Desert was coined by [[Cecil Madigan]], after [[Alfred Allen Simpson]], an Australian industrialist, philanthropist, and geographer, and president of the South Australian branch of the [[Royal Geographical Society of Australasia]].<ref>Madigan, C.T. 1930. An aerial reconnaissance into the southeastern portion of central Australia. Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, South Australian Branch 30:83-108.</ref> Mr Simpson was the owner of the Simpson washing machine company.
 
In September 1962, geologist [[Reg Sprigg]], his wife Griselda, and their two children completed the first vehicular crossing of the desert.<ref name=audb-bio-sprigg>{{cite AuDB |last=Harris |first=Colin |title=Sprigg, Reginald Claude (Reg) (1919–1994) |id2=sprigg-reginald-claude-reg-19112 |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University |year=2008 |access-date=7 January 2021}}</ref><ref name="drive-sprigg-crossing">{{cite web |last1=Newton |first1=Bruce |title=Simpson Desert crossing remembered |url=https://www.drive.com.au/motor-news/simpson-desert-crossing-remembered-20120812-243hi |website=drive.com.au |access-date=7 January 2021 |date=7 October 2016}}</ref>

In 1980, [[Bob Beer]] became the first person to run across the Simpson. Beer ran 420&nbsp;km across the desert in 6.5 days, starting at Alka Seltzer Bore, South Australia and finishing at [[Birdsville]], Queensland. A documentary was made about this trip called “The Runner”.<ref>{{Cite news|date=24 July 1980|title=Cross-desert jog ends with a pop|page=1|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rQxiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6-YDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5537%2C7805645|access-date=23 December 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=2 August 1981|title=Running Beer beats the arid inland|page=67|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6ahWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_eYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2696%2C1105903|access-date=23 December 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=18 July 1980|title=Last seen heading into the sunrise|page=8|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pwxiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6-YDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2365%2C5650605|access-date=23 December 2021}}</ref>

In 1984, [[Dennis Bartel]] was the first white man to successfully walk solo and unsupported west-to-east across the Simpson,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.whichcar.com.au/explore/history-simpson-desert-adventurer|title=History: Outback Adventurer Denis Bartell|website=WhichCar}}</ref> 390&nbsp;km in 24 days, relying on old Aboriginal wells for water. In 2006, Lucas Trihey was the first nonindigenous person to walk across the desert through the geographical centre away from vehicle tracks and unsupported. He carried all his equipment in a two-wheeled cart, and crossed from East Bore on the western edge of the desert to Birdsville in the east. In 2008, Michael Giacometti completed the first, and only, east-to-west walk across the Simpson Desert. Starting at [[Bedourie]] in Queensland, he walked solo and unsupported, towing all his equipment, food, and water in a two-wheeled cart to Old [[Andado]] homestead.<ref>AdventurePro, [https://www.adventurepro.com.au/news/?action=details&id=1216953370adventureremergesfrom#.Vfdkl5UVjIU "Adventurer emerges from the Simpson Desert to complete the first east-to-west foot crossing"], 25 July 2008</ref><ref>Giacometti, M. 2009. Traversing Sturt's Hell. ''Wild 112'':18-23</ref> Also in 2008, Belgian [[Louis-Philippe Loncke]] became the first non-indigenous person to complete a north–south crossing of the desert on foot, unsupported, and through the geographical centre.<ref>Herald Sun, [http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/simpson-desert-walk-marches-on/story-e6frf7l6-11111172766463 "If the desert doesn't get you, the camels might"], 23 August 2008</ref><ref>The Monitor, p7, [http://issuu.com/themonitornewspaper/docs/aug28-08 "36 days alone in the desert"], 28 August 2008</ref><ref>Sudpresse Archive, [http://archives.sudpresse.be/%26%238220-800-km-en-35-jours-%26%238221-_t-20081116-H1H4UM.html "800km en 35 jours"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720161033/http://archives.sudpresse.be/%26%238220-800-km-en-35-jours-%26%238221-_t-20081116-H1H4UM.html |date=20 July 2011 }}, 17 November July 2008</ref>

In 2016, explorer [[Sebastian Copeland]] and partner Mark George completed the longest unsupported latitudinal crossing (west-to-east across the dunes) of the Simpson<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.mensjournal.com/adventure/articles/sebastian-copelands-record-404-mile-trek-across-australias-simpson-desert-w439658 |title=Sebastian Copeland's Record 404-Mile Trek Across Australia's Simpson Desert |first=Jayme |last=Moye |journal=[[Men's Journal]] |access-date=19 September 2016}}</ref> They linked the [[Madigan Line]], [[Colson Track]] and [[French Line (Simpson Desert)|French Line]] for the first time, walking from [[Old Andado]] homestead to [[Birdsville]], a distance of {{convert|404|mile|order=flip|abbr=on}} in 26 days.

In 1967, the Queensland government established the [[Munga-Thirri National Park]], formerly known as the Simpson Desert National Park.