Wonder how long that took?

We, as a family of five, visited Tasmania in Jan/Feb 2002 (yes, airport security was pretty horrendous!). The cloth in the blip photograph today is much older and was brought back by F.M.i.L. and F.F.i.L, on one of their many trips to Australia over the years. They mostly went to visit their daughter, Fiffi (real name Yvonne), but while there they also covered Australia coast to coast, East to West.
The cloth is very interesting and I have often used it to find the location of various places.
One of the things I've often wondered though is just how long it took for the cartographers to come up with such an obscure name as "Great Sandy Desert". I think if they didn't call it that I'd have had great trouble thinking about what the desert consisted of! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA (see extra)
However, to be fair to them, having spent many years in the Middle East I know not all deserts are sandy, many consist of rocky plains with sand and dust thrown in. I did love the red sand dunes of central Saudi Arabia, it was so quiet in those towering cliffs of sand, an amazing sight, and experience.
Masirah, on the other hand, is mostly of the rocky desert variety but in between Muscat and Sha'ana (where you get the ferry to Maisrah) there are wonderful sandy dunes, it's right on the edge of the Rub Al Khali (The Empty Quarter).