File:Diamantina National Park (MODIS 2018-09-26).jpg

English: On September 25, 2018, NASA’s Terra satellite flew over the rolling red grasslands and hills of Queensland’s “outback” – a term that designates the remote open spaces of Australia’s interior, where skies are large, the rocks are red, and summers are hot and dry. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard that satellite acquired a stunning true-color image centered on Diamantina National Park on that same day.

The outback of South West Queensland, the home of Diamantina National Park, is particularly remote and rugged. Located roughly 250 miles (400 km) southeast of the town of Winton, the road to Diamantina, according to the Queensland Parks and Forests website, include at least 124 mi (200 km) of unsealed roads. They specify, “Road conditions vary but you will experience deep wheel ruts and areas of bulldust. Small amounts of rain can make the roads impassable.” And, “Not all roads and tracks shown on commercially-available maps, including GPS maps, actually exist and those that do may not be open to the public.”

The braided Diamantina River is the heart of the park and rises in the Swords Range (mountains) southwest of Winton. Although an ephemeral river – one that dries up in places in hot, dry summers – the Diamantina has been an important river for indigenous people, who used its shallow channels as a trading route, and a source for subsistence in the surrounding grasslands, sand dunes, and sandstone mountains. More recently the Diamantina’s grassland have been used for pastureland for livestock. Almost all of the land in the region outside of Diamantina National Park is currently being used for pasturage.