Cecil Madigan conducted aerial surveys of Central Australia in 1929. The view of the Mulligan River, west of Birdsville is taken from 4000 feet, and reveals earlier channels of the river. The lower photograph shows the south-east margin of the Simpson Desert from 5000 feet. Goyder Lagoon is the dark mark at the top of the photograph. Madigan considered that this view was as near as it was possible to show Charles Sturt's route into the desert. This view shows the typical straggly sand dunes at the edge of the Simpson Desert.

Madigan made a series of nine flights in Central Australia in 1929 with the loan of two Westland Wapiti aircraft and their crew from the Defence Department. During the flights two cameras made exposures every five minutes. The first flights were made over known territory to enable results of later flights to be assessed more accurately. Madigan's work revealed the uncompromising nature of the regions covered, where rivers petered out into the desert, however no new landforms were discovered. However, the aerial survey provided Madigan with the information he needed to undertake a scientific survey of the Simpson Desert from the ground in 1939.