Great Artesian Basin

The Great Artesian Basin is the world's largest basin, taking about one fifth of the land area of Australia. Once a large inland sea, now all that water is underground, and the only source to why many outback towns exist in NSW, Queensland, SA and the NT.

Understand
The Great Artesian Basin in Australia is the largest and deepest aquifer (artesian basin) in the world. It stretches over 1,711,000 square kilometres, which is 22% of the surface area of Australia. This includes most of Queensland, the south-east corner of the Northern Territory, the north-east part of South Australia, and northern New South Wales. The basin is 3,000 metres deep in places. It may contain 64,900 cubic kilometres of groundwater. Its temperature ranges from 30°C to 100°C.

The basin is the only reliable source of freshwater through much of inland Australia. The Great Artesian Basin Coordinating Committee (GABCC) coordinates activity between the various levels of government and community organisations.

Sites
Most of the water in the Bore Baths are approximately about two million years old, and often reach a temperature of about 40°.