Alice Springs

The Arrernte people are the traditional owners of the Alice Springs area and surrounding MacDonnell Ranges.[7] They have lived in the area for at least 30,000 years.[8] The traditional name for the township area is Mparntwe.[9]

Their name has been spelt in various forms, including Aranda, Arrarnta, and Arunta. There are five dialects of the Arrernte language: South-eastern, Central, Northern, Eastern and North-eastern.[10]

Arrernte country is rich with mountain ranges, waterholes and gorges, which create a variety of natural habitats. According to Arrernte traditional histories, the landscape was shaped by the Yeperenye, Ntyarlke, Utnerrengatye caterpillars[11][12] and Akngwelye or wild dogs.[13]

Alice Springs Desert Park, Aboriginal sand drawing

The numerous sites of traditional importance in and around Alice Springs include Anthwerrke (Emily Gap), Akeyulerre (Billy Goat Hill), Ntaripe (Heavitree Gap), Atnelkentyarliweke (Anzac Hill) and Alhekulyele (Mt Gillen).[9]

In 1861–62, John McDouall Stuart led an expedition through Central Australia, to the west of what later became Alice Springs, thereby establishing a route from the south of the continent to the north.[14]

A settlement named after Stuart was necessitated ten years later with the construction of a repeater station on the Australian Overland Telegraph Line (OTL), which linked Adelaide to Darwin and Great Britain. The OTL was completed in 1872. It traced Stuart's route and opened up the interior for permanent settlement. The Alice Springs Telegraph Station was sited near what was thought to be a permanent waterhole in the normally dry Todd River,[15] named Alice Springs[16] by W.W. Mills after the wife of the Superintendent of Telegraphs and Postmaster General of South Australia, Sir Charles Todd, who was the driving force for constructing the OTL. The nearby settlement of Stuart was renamed as Alice Springs on 31 August 1933.[17] The Todd River[18] and its tributary the Charles River,[19] which meet near the telegraph station, were named after Sir Charles.

It was not until alluvial gold was discovered at Arltunga, 100 kilometres (62 mi) east of the present Alice Springs, in 1887 that any significant European settlement occurred.[20] The town's first substantial building was the Stuart Town Gaol in Parson's Street; this was built in 1909, when the town had a European population of fewer than 20 people. Many of the gaol's first prisoners were first-contact aboriginal men incarcerated for killing cattle.[21] The first aircraft, piloted by Francis Stewart Briggs landed in 1921.[22] Central Australia's first hospital, Adelaide House, was built in 1926 when the European population of the town was about 40. It was not until 1929, when the train line to Alice was built, that the town's European population began to grow. Aboriginal Centralians outnumbered European Centralians until the mid-1930s.[23] From 1926 to 1931, Alice Springs was the seat of government for the now-defunct Territory of Central Australia.[24][25] Until 31 August 1933, the town was officially known as Stuart.[26]

Telegraph station

The original mode of British-Australian transportation in the outback were camel trains, operated by immigrants from Pathan tribes in the North-West Frontier of then-British India (present-day Pakistan), known locally as Afghan cameleers based at Hergott Springs, or Marree as it is now known. Many cameleers moved to Alice Springs in 1929 when the railway finally reached the town. They lived on the block where the town council is now, transporting goods from the rail head to stations and settlements to the north. A gold rush in Tennant Creek in 1932 kept the wheels of the Alice Springs economy turning until the outbreak of World War II.[23]

Alice Springs was connected to Darwin by rail on 4 February 2004, when the first passenger train arrived in Darwin from Adelaide.

World War II brought significant changes to Alice Springs. Prior to the war, Alice Springs was an extremely isolated settlement of fewer than 500 people. During the war, however, the town was an extremely active staging base, known as No. 9 Australian Staging Camp, and a depot base for the long four-day trip to Darwin. The railway hub in Alice Springs was taken over by military operations and the number of soldiers posted in Alice Springs grew rapidly, as did the number of personnel passing through on their way to and from Darwin. When Darwin was threatened by Japanese forces, the sea routes—the Northern Territory capital's primary means of transportation and resupply—were cut off. The evacuation of Darwin first brought a large number of civilians including elected officials and many of the territory government's records. Alice Springs became the war-time civilian capital of the Northern Territory. When Darwin was bombed by Japanese air forces, a large number of military personnel and their heavy equipment were rapidly moved south to Alice Springs.

The number of soldiers posted in Alice Springs peaked at around 8,000 and the number of personnel passing through totalled close to 200,000.[27] Once the war ended, the military camps and the evacuees departed, and Alice Springs' population declined rapidly. After being visited by nearly 200,000 people, including the American General Douglas MacArthur, Alice Springs gained considerable fame. The war years also left behind many structures. The historically listed Totem Theatre, created for the entertainment of this camp, still exists today. The Australian Army set up the 109th Australian General Hospital at Alice Springs. Seven Mile Aerodrome was constructed by the Royal Australian Air Force. War-related operations necessitated the first sealing of the road between Alice Springs and Larrimah, expansion and improvement of Alice Springs' water supply, and improving the rail head. The war-related operations left behind thousands of pieces of excess military equipment and vehicles, and a marked increase in Alice Springs' population.[27][28]

During World War II, Alice Springs was the location of RAAF No. 24 Inland Aircraft Fuel Depot (IAFD), completed on 20 May 1942 and closed in November 1944. Each usually consisting of four tanks, 31 fuel depots were built across Australia for the storage and supply of aircraft fuel for the RAAF and the US Army Air Forces, at a total cost of £900,000 ($1,800,000).[29]

During the 1960s Alice Springs became an important defence location with the development of the US/Australian Pine Gap joint defence satellite monitoring base, home to about 700 workers from both countries.

By far the major industry in recent times is tourism. Almost in the exact centre of the continent, Alice Springs is some 1,200 kilometres (750 mi) from the nearest ocean and 1,500 kilometres (930 mi) from the nearest major cities, Darwin and Adelaide. Alice Springs is at the midpoint of the Adelaide–Darwin Railway. [30]

The modern town of Alice Springs has both European and Aboriginal influences. The town's focal point, the Todd Mall, hosts a number of Aboriginal art galleries and community events. Alice Springs' desert lifestyle has inspired several unique events, such as the Camel Cup, the Henley-on-Todd Regatta, Beanie Festival and the Tatts Finke Desert Race.

Alice Springs has many historic buildings, including the Overland Telegraph Station, the Old Courthouse and Residency and the Hartley Street School. Adelaide House, a beautiful stone building in the middle of the Mall, Central Australia's first hospital, was designed and built by the Rev. John Flynn, founder of the world's first flying doctor service, in 1926. It was also the site of the world's first successful portable wireless radio experiment conducted by Alf Traeger. Today it is a museum, one of several significant tourist attractions which form part of 'The Flynn Trail' a self-guided urban heritage trail.[31]

Today, the town is an important tourist hub and service centre for the surrounding area. It is a well-appointed town for its size, with several large hotels, a world-class convention centre, and a good range of visitor attractions, restaurants, and other services.

Under the Köppen climate classification, Alice Springs has a subtropical hot desert climate (BWh), featuring extremely hot, dry summers and short, mild winters.[33][34] Located just south of the Tropic of Capricorn, the town of Alice Springs straddles the usually dry Todd River on the northern side of the MacDonnell Ranges. Alice Springs is located in Central Australia, also called the Red Centre, an arid environment consisting of several different deserts. The annual average rainfall is 285.9 millimetres (11.3 in) which would make it a semi-arid climate except that its high evapotranspiration, or its aridity, makes it a desert climate.[35]

Annual precipitation is erratic, varying year to year in Alice Springs. In 2001 741 millimetres (29.2 in) fell and in 2002 only 198 millimetres (7.8 in) fell.[36] The highest daily rainfall is 204.8 millimetres (8.06 in), recorded on 31 March 1988.

Temperatures in Alice Springs vary widely, and rainfall can vary quite dramatically from year to year. In summer, the average maximum temperature is in the mid-30s, whereas in winter the average minimum temperature can be 5.5 °C (41.9 °F), with an average of 12.4 nights below freezing every year, providing frost. The elevation of the town is about 545 metres (1,788 feet), which contributes to the cool nights in winter.[37] The highest temperature on record is 47.5 °C (117.5 °F) first recorded on 24 December 1891, whilst the record low is −7.5 °C (18.5 °F), recorded on 17 July 1976. This is also the lowest temperature recorded in the Northern Territory.

As Alice Springs is the regional hub of Central Australia, it attracts Aboriginal people from all over that region and well beyond. Many Aboriginal people visit regularly to use the town's services. Aboriginal residents usually live in the suburbs, on special purpose leases (or town camps), or further out at Amoonguna to the south and on the small family outstation communities on Aboriginal lands in surrounding areas.

The traditional owners of the Alice Springs area are the Central Arrernte people.[40] As it is the largest town in central Australia, there are also speakers of Warlpiri, Warumungu, Kaytetye, Alyawarre, Luritja, Pintupi, Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara, Ngaanyatjarra, Pertame, Eastern, and Western Arrernte among others.[41]

Prohibited Area sign on the road to Pine Gap

Americans have lived in Alice Springs continuously since the establishment of the United States Air Force Detachment 421, in 1954. Currently located on Schwarz Crescent, it is part of a joint American–Australian project called the Joint Geological and Geographical Research Station (JGGRS). The unit is locally known as "Det 421" or "The Det" and has sponsored as many as 25 American families to live as temporary residents of the Alice Springs district.

To mark the longstanding friendship with the community, on 1 July 1995, the Alice Springs Town Council granted Detachment 421 honorary Freedom of Entry to Alice Springs.[42] Since the early 1970s, the majority of the American population in Alice Springs has been associated with proximity to Pine Gap, a joint Australian-US satellite tracking station, located 19 kilometres (12 mi) south-west of Alice Springs, that employs about 700 Americans and Australians.

Currently, 2,000 residents of the Alice Springs district hold American citizenship. Many of these, joined by some Australians, celebrate major American public holidays, including the 4th of July and Thanksgiving. Americans in Alice Springs are also known to participate in a variety of associations and sporting teams, including baseball, basketball and soccer competitions.[43]

Several small immigrant communities of other foreign cultures have found a home in Alice Springs, including Vietnamese, Chinese, Thai, Sudanese and Indian ethnic groups. The most obvious impact of their presence in such a small and isolated town has been the opening of various restaurants serving their traditional cuisines.

Alice Springs has a large itinerant population. This population is generally composed of foreign and Australian tourists, Aboriginal Australians visiting from nearby Central Australian communities, and Australian or international workers on short-term contracts (colloquially referred to as "blow-ins"). The major sources of work that recruit workers into town are the stations, mines, healthcare and law enforcement. Foreign tourists usually pass through on their way to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, whilst Australian tourists usually come through as a part of an event such as the Masters Games and the Finke Desert Race. These events can cause the population of the town to fluctuate by several thousand within a matter of days.

Alice Springs is served by nineteen public and private schools that cater to local and overseas students. Over 3,843 primary and secondary students are enrolled in schools in Alice Springs, with 2,187 students attending primary education, and 1,656 students attending secondary education.[47] There are over 1,932 students enrolled in government schools and 1,055 students enrolled in independent schools.[47]

Alice Springs School of the Air delivers education to students in remote areas.

The Alice Springs Campus of Charles Darwin University offers courses in TAFE and higher education. The Centre for Appropriate Technology was established in 1980 and provides a range of services to encourage and help Aboriginal people enhance their quality of life in remote communities.

Camel Cup, Alice Springs

The town's focal point, the Todd Mall, hosts a number of Aboriginal art galleries and community events. Alice Springs' desert lifestyle has inspired several unique events, such as the Alice Desert Festival, the Red Centre NATS, Blacken Open Air music festival, Parrtjima, the Camel Cup, the Henley-on-Todd Regatta, the Beanie Festival and the Finke Desert Race. The Finke Desert Race is a 'there and back' challenge from Alice Springs to Aputula (Finke) Community, covering a 460-kilometre round trip.[48]

Alice Springs is known as the Aboriginal Art capital of Central Australia, home to many local and Aboriginal art galleries.[49] Indigenous Australian art is the more dominant, and galleries showcase the rich culture and native traditions that abound in Central Australia. Trade in Aboriginal art soared after the painting movement began at Papunya, a Central Australian Aboriginal settlement, and swept other indigenous communities. Central Australia is the home of some of the most prominent names in Aboriginal art, including Emily Kngwarreye, Minnie Pwerle, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Albert Namatjira and Wenten Rubuntja.

The Museum of Central Australia / Stehlow Research Centre[50] features some of the most important natural history and archival materials tied to the history and culture of the region. The Strehlow Archives also contain materials linked to the Arrernte people of Central Australia. The Araluen Centre for Arts and Entertainment presents world-class ballets and orchestras, as well as local performances. The Women's Museum of Australia (formerly National Pioneer Women's Hall of Fame) is located in the grounds of Old Alice Springs Gaol in the Heritage Precinct. Here women's stories from across Australia are presented with the lives of outback women as well as stories from the Old Gaol and Labour Prison. Objects include a large "Signature" quilt[51] with signatures of over 300 women first in their field and a 4.2 m long Aviatrix tapestry[52] celebrating the high flying lives of Australia's aviatrixes.

The town has some excellent small museums. The extensive collection at the Old Timer's Traeger Museum on the North Stuart Highway includes artefacts from the town's early Afghan and German residents, traditional Aboriginal artefacts and objects which show the early fusion of European and Aboriginal cultures, such as a spinifex-handled glass-bladed knife. Included in the collection are soapstone carvings by Arrernte artist Erlikilyika.[53]

Alice Springs is home to the Alice Springs Public Library, also known as the Nevil Shute Memorial Library.[54] The library, in addition to its general borrowable collections (including e-resources), is also home to two special, not-for-loan, collections. These are the Alice Springs Collection and the Akaltye Atheme Collection, both of which specifically collect Central Australian content, including Aboriginal language resources (from around 16 local languages) and cultural heritage information.[55][56][57] The Alice Springs Collection also holds a significant digital collection, including PDF copies of the Centralian Advocate from 1947  to  2015, and over 6000 images, primarily from the Central Australian Historical Images Collection.[55][58]

Library & Archives NT also has offices in Alice Springs, located at Minerals House on Hartley Street, which holds archival collections relating to Central Australia, including Tennant Creek.[59] Collections held here include community collections and government archives.[60]

Other collecting institutions, excluding schools, include:

• Arid Zone Research Institute (AZRI) Library[61]
• Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education Library, Desert Peoples Centre Campus Library[62]
• Central Land Council Library[63]
• Charles Darwin University Library, Alice Springs[64]
• NT Department of Health Library, Alice Springs[65]
• Strehlow Research Centre Library[66]

Leisure and entertainment activities include hiking in the nearby MacDonnell Ranges and driving the four-wheel-drive tracks at Finke Gorge National Park.

The Alice Springs Desert Park was created to educate visitors about the many facets of the surrounding desert environment. The arid climate botanic garden, Olive Pink Botanic Garden, is a short distance from the town centre. They were named after anthropologist, naturalist and artist Olive Pink, who lived in the town for almost 30 years and died in 1975. She was well known locally and referred to by all as Miss Pink. The Alice Springs Reptile Centre is located in the town centre.

Traeger Park, Alice Springs

Alice Springs has a high rate of participation in many different sports, including tennis, hockey, Australian rules football, basketball, baseball, golf, soccer, cricket, rugby and boxing.

Australian rules football is a particularly popular sport in Alice Springs in terms of both participation and as a spectator sport. The Central Australian Football League formed in 1947 has several teams. The sport is particularly popular in Indigenous communities. The local stadium, Traeger Park, has a 10,000 seat capacity and was designed to host (pre-season) AFL and was the home to the Northern Territory Thunder until 2019. In 2004, an AFL pre-season Regional Challenge match between Collingwood Football Club and Port Adelaide Football Club attracted a capacity sell-out crowd.

Both codes of Rugby are played in Alice Springs. Rugby Union, managed by the Central Australian Rugby Union Association (CARU) is played in conjunction with the Northern Territory Rugby Union calendar which runs during Darwins dry season. The Central Australian Rugby Union administers a four team competition based in Alice Springs with matches played between October and March at ANZAC Oval. The First Central Australian Club Competition commenced in 1986. There are four senior teams; Dingo Cubs Rugby Union, Kiwi Warriors Rugby Union, Eagles Rugby Union and Devils Rugby Union.

Rugby league has been a part of the local sporting scene since 1963. The Australian Rugby League has held a number of pre-season games in Alice Springs, at ANZAC Oval. The local competition is the Central Australian Rugby Football League, and sanctions both Junior and Senior Rugby League matches. The season usually kicks off around March/April and runs through to Late August. There are four senior teams in Alice Springs: Wests, Memo, United and Vikings. Matches are held during the winter months at ANZAC oval on Saturday afternoons.

Organized baseball has been played in Alice Springs since the mid-1950s. Currently under the national organisation of the Australian Baseball Federation, the Alice Springs Baseball Association organises baseball competitions for youth players aged 5 to 18 and an adult competition played at Jim McConville Park and on Lyel Kempster Field at Traeger Park. As part of the worldwide Little League network, Alice Springs players and compete in the Australian National Little League competitions.

The Alice Springs Golf Course, an 18-hole championship layout golf course designed by the architects Thomson Wolveridge, was opened in 1985 by a challenge match between top professionals Greg Norman and Johnny Miller. The course record of 64 is held jointly by, amateur members, Leigh Shacklady and Kerryn Heaver, beating professional Stuart Appleby's 65. Adam Scott won the Australian Boys Amateur Championship held there in 1997.

Cricket is a popular sport in Alice Springs and is primarily played at Traeger Park. The Imparja Cup Cricket Carnival first was played in 1994 and attracts Indigenous teams from all across Australia. The four main clubs are Federal Demons CC, Rovers CC, RSL Works CC and Wests CC.

Soccer is popular among the younger community. A high number of children play it. Soccer is also played frequently by amateur adults in different divisions. There is also an all-African league for soccer in Alice Springs. The most successful Club in the town is Alice Springs Celtic.

The Traeger Park sporting complex also hosts tennis, baseball, boxing, swimming, canoe polo, hockey, basketball, squash, badminton, gymnastics and skateboarding.

A unique sporting event, held annually, is the Henley-on-Todd Regatta, also known as the Todd River Race. It is a sand river race with bottomless boats and it remains the only dry river regatta in the world. Another unusual sporting event is the Camel Cup. The annual Camel Cup is held in July at Blatherskite Park, part of the Central Australian Show Society grounds. It is a full day event featuring a series of races using camels instead of horses.

Every year, on the Queen's Birthday long weekend, the annual Finke Desert Race is held. It is a gruelling off-road race that runs from Alice Springs to the Finke community, then back again the next day. The total length of the race is roughly 500 kilometres (310 mi). It attracts spectators, who camp along the whole length of the track, and roughly 500 competitors, buggies and bikes, every year, making it the biggest sporting event in the Alice Springs calendar.

Drag racing is held at the Alice Springs Inland Dragway which in June 2013 hosted a round of the national Aeroflow Sportsman Drag Racing Championship.[67] In September 2017 12 people were injured when burning fuel sprayed from a drag-racing car onto a crowd of spectators at the Red CentreNATS competition.[68]

Alice Springs is also home to the Arunga Park Speedway, a 402-metre dirt oval speedway. The speedway runs from August to March and caters to cars, solos and sidecars. Located just off the Stuart Highway on the northern edge of the town, Arunga Park hosted the Australian Sidecar Championship in 1985 and the Australian Solo Championship in 1991.[69]

The Ghan at Alice Springs Station

Located on the Adelaide-Darwin railway, Alice Springs is accessible by train. Alice Springs railway station is visited by The Ghan, operated by Journey Beyond, on its journey between Adelaide and Darwin. The train arrives twice weekly in each direction.[72]

The line first opened to Alice Springs in 1929, as the narrow gauge Central Australia Railway. It was not until 1980 that the current standard gauge line was opened, which was extended to Darwin in 2004.

There are daily express coach services to and from Adelaide and Darwin servicing Alice Springs. The Stuart Highway, running north from Adelaide to Darwin via Alice Springs, is Northern Territory's most important road. The distance from Alice Springs to Adelaide is 1,530 kilometres (950 mi) and to Darwin is 1,498 kilometres (931 mi).

There are daily flights from Alice Springs Airport to Adelaide, Ayers Rock (Uluru), Cairns, Darwin, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. There are also nonstop flights a few times a week to Brisbane. Two airlines serve Alice Springs: Qantas and Virgin Australia.[73]

Alice Springs is a base for the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia.