Much of the Simpson Desert flora has had to adapt itself, as has the fauna to survive in such a harsh, dry, sandy, soiled, low rainfall environment that the Simpson Desert has. For example: many leaves have become pointed and needle like to reduce water loss from the leaf surface. Gum trees have evolved to have the edges of their flat leaves facing the sun reducing the leaf surface exposed to heating.

Down below are some images of plants that grow in the Simpson Desert:

Image 1- Mulga Tree, 2-Spinefex grass , 3 Eragrotis , 4 Acacia (one species)

Although there were other mobs of indigenous people (eg the Anterkarinya people), I am choosing to focus on one group, the Wangkangurru. These people lived in the Simpson Desert ranging over the Southern desert in the more favourable seasons, falling back on a complex series of native built or natural found wells/waterholes called Minkiri when the water dried up. The Wangkangurru left the desert in 1901 and walked south to the Bethesda Lutheran Mission at Killapaninna..

Travellers to Wangkangurru waterholes these days are only allowed to go 200 metres off the main tracks across the Simpson Desert without specific permission from the National Parks and Wildlife Service, one of the reasons being out of respect for aboriginal culture and tradition. The Wangkangurru were experts at surviving in such an inhospitable environment. They lived quite successfully in the area for thousands of years. There has been a myth for centuries that no-one lived in this area. The myth still survives today that the Simpson Desert had always been uninhabited and uninhabitable by man. This has been disproven by archeology and cave paintings etc. Indigenous Australians lived and still live in this region. How did they survive in an area with limited rainfall and temperatures exceeding at times 50 degrees celcius? They survived by treating their water sources with absolute respect, their 'Minkiri' being the only permanent sources of water. When food became scarce they moved on to where it was more plentiful. They would never wash in their most precious resource, using sand and dirt rubbed over their bodies to wash. They were adept at making animal skin bags to carry water while travelling between Minkiri. The people would use a vast and varied number of food sources, animal, vegetable, insect and bird. Bread and small falafel-like seed patties made from the region's plentiful grasses were a staple diet of the Simpson Desert's indigenous people.