Alice Springs, Northern Territory
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Alice Springs is a town in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is 200 kilometers below the very centre of Australia, and nearly the same distance from Darwin in the north and Adelaide in the south. Alice Springs has a population of 26,486 (in 2005[1]), making it the second largest town in the Northern Territory.
Many people call Alice Springs "the Alice" or "Alice.” It is called Mparntwe by the Arrernte, who are the first people to have lived in the area. The Arrernte have lived in the Central Australian desert in and around Alice Springs for more than 50,000 years.
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[change] History
[change] Early city
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.
[change] Indigenous History
The Arrernte have made their home in the Central Australian desert in and around Alice Springs for more than 50,000 years.
According to the Arrernte traditional stories, the landscape surrounding Alice Springs 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).
[change] Geography and climate
[change] Topography and climate
The town of Alice Springs straddles the usually dry Todd River on the northern side of MacDonnell Ranges. The region where Alice Springs is located is known as Central Australia, or the Red Centre, and is an arid environment consisting of several different deserts.
Temperatures can vary by up to 28°C and rainfall can vary quite dramatically from year to year. In summer, the average maximum temperature is in the high 30s, where as in winter the average minimum temperature can be -7.5C.
The annual average rainfall is 286 mm, but in 2001 741 mm fell and in 2002 only 198 mm fell.[2]
[change] Economy
Alice Springs began as a service town to the pastoral industry that first came to the region. The introduction of the rail line increased its economy and productivity. Today the town services a region of 546,046 square kilometres and a regional population of 38,749. The region includes a number of mining and pastoral communities, the Joint Defence Facility at Pine Gap and tourist attractions at Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Watarrka National Park and the MacDonnell Ranges.
[change] Demographics
In June 2004, approximately 26,058 people lived in Alice Springs with a total of 38,749 in the region. Aboriginal people represented more than 37% of the Alice Springs region in 2001.
[change] Aboriginal population
According to the 2001 census, Australian Aborigines make up approximately 17% of the population of Alice Springs, and 29% of the Northern Territory.[3] As Alice Springs is the regional hub of Central Australia it attracts Aboriginal people from all over that region and well beyond. Many Aborigines 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. As it is the largest town in central Australia, there are also speakers of at least thirteen other languages.[4]
[change] American influence
The American influence in Alice Springs comes primarily from the proximity to Pine Gap, a 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 of America.
American influence can be seen throughout Alice Springs, 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.[5]
[change] Itinerant population
Alice Springs has a large itinerant population made up of:
- Tourists
- Residents of Pine Gap
- Australian Aborigines visiting from nearby Central Australian communities
- Australian or international workers on short-term contracts (colloquially referred to as "blow-ins")
[change] Education
Alice Springs has nineteen public and private schools/colleges, including two dedicated to Indigenous students, seven pre-schools and the Alice Springs School of the Air which 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 on remote communities.
[change] Sport
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 international 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.
[change] References
- ↑ Australian Bureau of Statistics Retrieved on 25 September 2006
- ↑ Alice Springs' Climate
- ↑ About Alice Springs
- ↑ Alice Springs - Aboriginal Culture. Alice Springs Town Council (2006-06-08). Retrieved on 25 November 2006.
- ↑ The American Connection
