Sunset at Longreach.

Photo from Desert Channels: the impulse to conserve from CSIRO publishing.

Channel Country, 2009

Photo from Desert Channels: the impulse to conserve from CSIRO publishing.

Sand dunes near Poeppel’s Corner, 2009, where the Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland borders meet.

Photo from Desert Channels: the impulse to conserve from CSIRO publishing.

Lily Lagoon, an ephemeral lake near Longreach, Queensland.

Photo from Desert Channels: the impulse to conserve from CSIRO publishing.

A huge flock of budgerigars near Bedourie, Queensland, 2006.

Photo from Desert Channels: the impulse to conserve from CSIRO publishing.

Lake Constance in the Diamantina National Park, west of Longreach, Queensland.

Photo from Desert Channels: the impulse to conserve from CSIRO publishing.

Dust storm at Christmas, 2005, Moothandella Station, Queensland.

Photo from Desert Channels: the impulse to conserve from CSIRO publishing.

Cooper Creek short-neck turtle (Emydura macquarii emmottii)

Photo from Desert Channels: the impulse to conserve from CSIRO publishing.

An old bike is left to rust in the Simpson Desert.

Photo from Desert Channels: the impulse to conserve from CSIRO publishing.

Aboriginal stencil art, Stratford Station. Permission: David Thompson and Iningai people

Photo from Desert Channels: the impulse to conserve from CSIRO publishing.

An outback fence in need of repair at Cravens Peak Reserve, 2008.

Photo from Desert Channels: the impulse to conserve from CSIRO publishing.

A painting of Ethabuka Spring, Ethabuka Reserve, 2009 by artist Mandy Martin.

“As an artist, I help the viewer read my landscapes by providing textural information,” Mandy says. “I use and incorporate pigments and sand from the place I am paintingl along with other natural pigments.”

Photo from Desert Channels: the impulse to conserve from CSIRO publishing.