DISCOVER ALICE SPRINGS, Australia
Alice Springs is a town and the second largest centre in the Northern Territory of Australia. Popularly known as "the Alice" or simply "Alice", it has a population of just over 25,000. Averaging 576 metres above sea level, the town is nearly equidistant from Adelaide and Darwin, close to the geographic centre of Australia.
The site is known as Mparntwe to its traditional inhabitants, the Arrernte, who have lived in the Central Australian desert in and around what is now Alice Springs for more than 50,000 years.
Alice Springs is the town in the title of the Nevil Shute novel A Town Like Alice, even though little of the story takes place in Alice Springs.
Alice Springs has many historic buildings, such as the Overland Telegraph Station, the Old Courthouse and Residency and the Hartley Street School. 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.
The modern town of Alice Springs has both western 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 and interesting events such as the Camel Cup, the Henley-on-Todd Regatta and the Beanie Festival.
 PARKS AND GARDENS
The Alice Springs Desert Park was created to educate visitors on 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 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. She was a great Australian character who added history and colour to the local community.
The MacDonnell Ranges run east and west of Alice Springs and contain a number of hiking trails and swimming holes such as Ormiston Gorge, Ormiston Gorge Creek, Red Bank Gorge and Glen Helen Gorge. The 223 km long Larapinta Trail follows the West MacDonnell Ranges and is considered among the world's great walking experiences.
The Simpson Desert, southeast of Alice Springs is one of Australia's great wilderness areas containing giant red sand dunes and interesting rock formations such as Chambers Pillar and Rainbow Valley.
LIESURE AND ENTERTAINMENT
There are many festivals and events for entertainment such as the Alice Springs Beanie Festival, Camel Cup, Henley-on-Todd Regatta and the Finke Desert Race. It should be noted though that Finke is some 400 kilometres south of Alice Springs in the Simpson Desert. Other leisure and entertainment activities include hiking in the nearby MacDonnell Ranges, driving the four-wheel drive tracks at Finke Gorge National Park and visiting the many art galleries in Todd Mall.
SPORT IN ALICE SPRINGS
Australian rules football is a popular sport in Alice Springs. The Central Australian Football League has several teams and a high participation rate. The sport is particularly popular in Indigenous communities. The local stadium, Traeger Park, has a 10,000 seat capacity and was designed to host national AFL and cricket matches. Cricket is also a popular sport in Alice Springs. The Imparja Cup Cricket Carnival first was played in 1994 and attracts Indigenous teams from all across Australia.
In 2004, an AFL pre-season Regional Challenge match between Collingwood Football Club and Port Adelaide Football Club attracted a capacity sell-out crowd. Cricket is also popular in Alice Springs.
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. This is also held annually at the local racetrack, Blatherskite Park. It is a full day event featuring a series of races using camels instead of horses.
HISTORY OF ALICE SPRINGS
In 1862, John McDouall Stuart led an expedition into Central Australia and the area where Alice Springs is located. Until the 1930s, however, the town was known as Stuart. The Overland Telegraph Line linking Adelaide to Darwin and Great Britain was completed in 1872. It traced Stuart's route and opened up the interior for permanent settlement. It wasn't until alluvial gold was discovered at Arltunga, 100 km east of Alice Springs, in 1887 that any significant settlement occurred.
The telegraph station was sited near what was thought to be a permanent waterhole in the normally dry Todd River and was optimistically named Alice Springs after the wife of the former Postmaster General of South Australia, Sir Charles Todd. The Todd River was named after Sir Charles himself. The original mode of transportation in the outback were camel trains, operated by immigrants from Pathan tribes in the North-West frontier of the then British India and Pakistan who were misnamed 'Afghan' Camellers.
In 1929 the Palmerston and Pine Creek Railway was completed from Darwin as far as Birdum, while the Great Northern Railway had been completed in 1891 from Port Augusta as far as Oodnadatta, South Australia, 700 km south of Alice Springs. The lines wouldn't meet until 2003. On February 4, 2004, the first passenger train arrived in Darwin.
During the 1960s it became an important defence location with the development of the U.S/Australian Pine Gap joint defence satellite monitoring base, home to about 700 workers from both countries, but by far the major industry in recent times is tourism. Almost in the exact center of the continent, Alice Springs is some 1200 km from the nearest ocean and 1500 km from the nearest major cities, Darwin and Adelaide. Alice Springs is now the midpoint of the Adelaide-Darwin Railway.
INDIGENOUS HISTORY OF ALICE SPRINGS
The Arrernte Aboriginal people have made their home in the Central Australian desert in and around Alice Springs for more than 50,000 years. The Aboriginal name for Alice Springs is Mparntwe.
Three major groups Western, Eastern and Central Arrernte people live in Central Australia, their traditional land including the area of Alice Springs and East/West MacDonnell Ranges. They are also referred to as Aranda, Arrarnta, Arunta, and other similar spellings. Their neighbours are the Southern Arrernte, Luritja, Anmatyerr, Alyawarr and Western Arrernte peoples. There are five dialects of the Arrernte language: South-eastern, Central, Northern, Eastern and North-eastern.
Arrernte country is rich with mountain ranges, waterholes, and gorges; as a result the Arrernte people set aside 'conservation areas' in which various species are protected.
According to the Arrernte traditional stories, in the desert surrounding Alice Springs, the landscape was shaped by caterpillars, wild dogs, travelling boys, two sisters, euros, and other ancestral figures. There are many sites of traditional importance in and around Alice Springs, such as Anthwerrke (Emily Gap), Akeyulerre (Billy Goat Hill), Ntaripe (Heavitree Gap), Atnelkentyarliweke (Anzac Hill), and Alhekulyele (Mt. Gillen).
AMERICAN INFLUENCE IN ALICE SPRINGS
The American influence in Alice Springs comes primarily from the proximity to Pine Gap, a joint Australian and US satellite tracking station, located 19 km south-west of Alice Springs. While Pine Gap employs 700 American and Australians, there are currently 2,000 people in the Alice Springs district who carry citizenship of the United States.
American influence can be seen throughout Alice Springs, with large left-hand-drive 4WDs (sports utility vehicles) and the American population still celebrating all major festivals, including Halloween, Independence Day and Thanksgiving, a portion of the Australian citizens engage in the festivities from time to time. There is also a large influence of American culture in sport, including baseball, basketball, and American football competitions, alongside more Australian sports of cricket, Australian rules football and rugby.
From Wikipedia
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