What is Lake Mackay?
[[File:Lake mackay.jpg|thumb|300px|alt=|Photograph of Lake Mackay. Taken from space in November 1989.]] '''Lake Mackay''' ([[Pintupi]]: ''Wilkinkarra'') is a large [[salt lake]] in central [[Australia]]. It stretches across the border between [[Western Australia]] and the [[Northern Territory]]. All around it is [[desert]]. The [[Great Sandy Desert]] is to the northwest, the [[Tanami Desert]] is to the northeast, and the [[Gibson Desert]] is to the south. There are hundreds of salt lakes along this border area, and Lake Mackay is the largest. It has a [[surface area]] of {{convert|3494|km2|sqmi|0}},<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ga.gov.au/education/geoscience-basics/landforms/largest-waterbodies.jsp|title=Australian Geoscience - Largest Waterbodies|year=2009|accessdate=2009-03-07|archive-date=2009-02-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226061106/http://www.ga.gov.au/education/geoscience-basics/landforms/largest-waterbodies.jsp|url-status=dead}}</ref> and is about {{convert|100|km|abbr=on}} long from east to west and north to south. It is the second-largest lake in Australia. The lake was named after the first European to visit it, [[Donald George Mackay]]. The lake is most often dry, because of quick [[evaporation]]. [[Salt]] and other [[mineral]]s float on the surface. Lake Mackay is a central place in [[dreamtime]] stories for several [[Australian Aboriginal|Aboriginal]] groups, especially the [[Pintupi]]. The lake forms the centre of the Pintupi [[Ancestor|ancestral]] lands. Many sacred paths and tracks come together at the shores of the lake. According to [[Australian Aboriginal mythology|mythology]], the lake was formed after a fierce [[bushfire]] that ruined the land around it.<ref>Graham, L.D. (2003) The Creation of Wilkinkarra (Lake Mackay) in Pintupi/Kukatja Dreamings, Australian Aboriginal Studies 2003/1, 30-38. [http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/research_program/publications/australian_aboriginal_studies/2003/abstracts_2003#Graham Abstract] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/2007083106