Alice Springs, Northern Territory - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Alice Springs is the second largest town in the Northern Territory

Northern Territory

The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...

of Australia. Popularly known as "the Alice" or simply "Alice", Alice Springs is situated in the geographic centre of Australia near the southern border of the Northern Territory. The site is known as Mparntwe to its original inhabitants

Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....

, the Arrernte

Arrernte people

The Arrernte people , known in English as the Aranda or Arunta, are those Indigenous Australians who are the original custodians of Arrernte lands in the central area of Australia around Mparntwe or Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. The Arrernte tribe has lived there for more than 20,000 years...

, who have lived in the Central Australian desert in and around what is now Alice Springs for thousands of years. Alice Springs has a population of 27,481 people, which makes up 12 percent of the territory's population. Alice averages 576 metres (1,889.8 ft) above sea level; the town is nearly equidistant from Adelaide

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

and Darwin

Darwin, Northern Territory

Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...

.

The town of Alice Springs straddles the usually dry Todd River

Todd River

The Todd River is an ephemeral river in the southern Northern Territory, central Australia. The origins of the Todd River begin in the MacDonnell Ranges, where it flows past the Telegraph Station, almost through the center of Alice Springs, through Heavitree Gap at the southern end of Alice Springs...

on the northern side of the MacDonnell Ranges

MacDonnell Ranges

The MacDonnell Ranges of the Northern Territory, are a long series of mountain ranges located in the centre of Australia , and consist of parallel ridges running to the east and west of Alice Springs...

. The region where Alice Springs is located is known as Central Australia

Central Australia

Central Australia/Alice Springs Region is one of the five regions in the Northern Territory. The term Central Australia is used to describe an area centred on Alice Springs in Australia. It is sometimes referred to as Centralia; likewise the people of the area are sometimes called Centralians...

, or the Red Centre, and is an arid environment consisting of several different deserts. In Alice Springs, temperatures can vary dramatically with an average maximum temperature in summer of 35.6 °C (96.1 °F), and an average minimum temperature in winter of 5.1 °C (41.2 °F).

Traditional Custodians

The Arrernte

Arrernte people

Aboriginal people have made their home

Arrernte (area)

The Arrernte land is aboriginal land in central Australia. It is controlled by Arrernte Council which in turn is controlled by Central Land Council from Alice Springs. Arrernte is the traditional language of Alice Springs, which is the centre of Arrernte land....

in the Central Australian desert in and around the site of the future Alice Springs for thousands of years, with evidence suggesting Indigenous occupation of the region dating back at least 30,000 years. The Aboriginal name for Alice Springs is Mparntwe. Many Arrernte people also live in communities outside of Alice Springs and on outstation

Outstation

Historically, an outstation was a subsidiary homestead or other dwelling, on Australian sheep or cattle stations which were large enough to have more than a day's travel between different parts of the property....

s.

Three major groups: the Western, Eastern and Central Arrernte people live in Central Australia, their traditional land including the area of Alice Springs and MacDonnell Ranges

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.

There are roughly 1,800 speakers of Eastern and Central Arrernte, making it the largest spoken language in the Arandic family. This is one of the largest populations to speak any Australian language. It is taught in schools, and heard in local media and local government.

Arrernte country is rich with mountain ranges, waterholes, and gorges, which create a variety of natural habitats. The Arrernte people have set aside conservation areas in which various animal and other 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

Eastern Wallaroo

The Eastern Wallaroo also known as the Common Wallaroo or the Hill Wallaroo is part of the Wallaroo family . It is a large, variable species of macropod ....

, and other ancestral figures.
The numerous sites of traditional importance in and around Alice Springs include Anthwerrke (Emily Gap), Akeyulerre (Billy Goat Hill), Ntaripe (Heavitree Gap

Heavitree Gap

The Heavitree Gap, or Ntaripe in the Arrernte language, is a gap in the MacDonnell Ranges of Central Australia. It is the southern entrance to the city of Alice Springs and in addition to the Todd River it carries the main road and rail access to the South....

), Atnelkentyarliweke (Anzac Hill), and Alhekulyele (Mt Gillen).

Early settlement

In 1861–62, John McDouall Stuart

John McDouall Stuart

John McDouall Stuart was one of the most accomplished and famous of all Australia's inland explorers. Stuart led the first successful expedition to traverse the Australian mainland from south to north and return, and the first to do so from a starting point in South Australia, achieving this...

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.

A European settlement was started ten years later with the construction of a repeater station on the Overland Telegraph Line, which linked Adelaide

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

to Darwin

Darwin, Northern Territory

and Great Britain. The OTL was completed in 1872. It traced Stuart's route and opened up the interior for permanent settlement. It was not until alluvial gold was discovered at Arltunga, 100 kilometres (62.1 mi) east of the present Alice Springs, in 1887 that any significant European settlement occurred. Until 31 August 1933, the town was known as Stuart.

The telegraph station was sited near what was thought to be a permanent waterhole in the normally dry Todd River

Todd River

. The settlement 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.

The original mode of British-Australian transportation in the outback were camel

Camel

A camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...

trains, operated by immigrants from Pathan

Pashtun people

Pashtuns or Pathans , also known as ethnic Afghans , are an Eastern Iranic ethnic group with populations primarily between the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan and the Indus River in Pakistan...

tribes in the North-West frontier of then British India (present-day Pakistan); they were misnamed Afghan
Afghan (Australia)
The Afghans or Ghans were camel drivers who worked in outback Australia from the 1860s to the 1930s. While called Afghans, not all of them were from Afghanistan; some came from the northern regions of British India, areas that now constitute modern-day Pakistan...

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

Port Augusta, South Australia

-Electricity generation:Electricity is generated at the Playford B and Northern power stations from brown coal mined at Leigh Creek, 250 km to the north...

as far as Oodnadatta, South Australia, 700 kilometres (435 mi) south of Alice Springs. The lines were not connected until 2003. On 4 February 2004, the first passenger train arrived in Darwin from Adelaide.

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

brought significant changes to Alice Springs. Prior to the war, Alice Springs was an extremely isolated settlement of less 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 8000 and the number of personnel passing through totaled close to 200,000. Once the war ended, the military camps and the evacuees departed and Alice Springs' population declined rapidly. But Alice would be changed for ever. After being visited by nearly 200,000 people, including the American General Douglas MacArthur

Douglas MacArthur

General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was an American general and field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was a Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the...

, Alice Springs gained considerable fame. The war years also left behind many beneficial material assets. The historically-listed Totem Theatre, created for the entertainment of this camp, still exists today. The Australian Army

Australian Army

The Australian Army is Australia's military land force. It is part of the Australian Defence Force along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. While the Chief of Defence commands the Australian Defence Force , the Army is commanded by the Chief of Army...

set up the 109th Australian General Hospital at Alice Springs. Seven mile aerodrome

Alice Springs Airport

Alice Springs Airport is a small regional airport 14 kilometres south of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia.The airport has two runways, the largest of which can accommodate a Boeing 747 or 777 landing...

was constructed by the Royal Australian Air Force

Royal Australian Air Force

The Royal Australian Air Force is the air force branch of the Australian Defence Force. The RAAF was formed in March 1921. It continues the traditions of the Australian Flying Corps , which was formed on 22 October 1912. The RAAF has taken part in many of the 20th century's major conflicts...

. 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.

Post World War II

During the 1960s Alice Springs became an important defence location with the development of the US/Australian Pine Gap

Pine Gap

Pine Gap is the commonly used name for a satellite tracking station at, some south-west of the town of Alice Springs in the centre of Australia which is operated by both Australia and the United States. The facility has become a key part of the local economy.It consists of a large computer complex...

joint defence satellite

Satellite

In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....

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 1200 kilometres (745.6 mi) from the nearest ocean and 1500 kilometres (932.1 mi) from the nearest major cities, Darwin and Adelaide. Alice Springs is at the midpoint of the Adelaide–Darwin Railway.

Modern town

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

Henley-on-Todd Regatta

The Henley-on-Todd Regatta is a "boat" race held annually in the typically dry sandy bed of the Todd River in Alice Springs, Australia...

and the Beanie Festival.

Built environment

Alice Springs has many historic buildings, such as the Overland Telegraph Station, Adelaide House, 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.

Geography

The region around Alice Springs is part of the Central Ranges xeric scrub

Central Ranges xeric scrub

The Central Ranges xeric scrub is a deserts and xeric shrublands ecoregion of Australia. -Location and description:The region consists of sandy plains with some areas of rocky highland. These plains have a dry climate but do get some rain in both summer and winter...

area of dry scrubby grassland and includes the MacDonnell Ranges

MacDonnell Ranges

which run east and west of the city 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 kilometres (138.6 mi) long Larapinta Trail

Larapinta Trail

The Larapinta Trail is an extended walking track in the Northern Territory, Australia. Its total length covers from East to West, with one end at Alice Springs and the other at Mount Sonder, one of the territory's highest mountains...

follows the West MacDonnell Ranges and is considered among the world's great walking experiences.

The Simpson Desert

Simpson Desert

The Simpson Desert is a large area of dry, red sandy plain and dunes in Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland in central Australia. It is the fourth largest Australian desert, with an area of 176,500 km² ....

, south-east of Alice Springs is one of Australia's great wilderness areas containing giant red sand dunes and interesting rock formations such as Chambers Pillar

Chambers pillar

Chambers Pillar is a sandstone formation some 160 km south of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia...

and Rainbow Valley.

Climate

The town of Alice Springs straddles the usually dry Todd River

Todd River

on the northern side of the MacDonnell Ranges

MacDonnell Ranges

. Alice Springs is located in Central Australia, also called the Red Centre, an arid environment consisting of several different deserts.

In Alice Springs, temperatures can vary by up to 28 °C (50 °F) and rainfall can vary quite dramatically from year to year. In summer, the average maximum temperature is in the high 30s, whereas in winter the average minimum temperature can be 7.5 °C (45.5 °F), with an average of 12.4 nights below freezing every annum. While hot, this climate is not as severe as places such as Phoenix

Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...

, Arizona or much of the Middle East. The elevation of the town is about 545 metres (1791 feet).

Under the Köppen climate classification

Köppen climate classification

The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by Crimea German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself, notably in 1918 and 1936...

, Alice Springs has a desert climate

Desert climate

A desert climate , also known as an arid climate, is a climate that does not meet the criteria to be classified as a polar climate, and in which precipitation is too low to sustain any vegetation at all, or at most a very scanty scrub.An area that features this climate usually experiences less than...

(BWh).
The annual average rainfall is 279.2 millimetres (11 in) which would make it a semi-arid climate except that its high evapotranspiration

Evapotranspiration

Evapotranspiration is a term used to describe the sum of evaporation and plant transpiration from the Earth's land surface to atmosphere. Evaporation accounts for the movement of water to the air from sources such as the soil, canopy interception, and waterbodies...

, or its aridity, makes it a desert climate

Desert climate

. 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. The highest daily rainfall is 204.8 millimetres (8.06 in), recorded on 31 March 1998.

Demographics

In June 2006, approximately 27,481 people lived in Alice Springs with a total of 39,888 in the region.
In 2006, the largest ancestry groups in the Alice Springs were, Australian (9,814 or 31.4%), English (6,970 or 22.3%), Irish (2,217 or 7.1%), Scottish (1,825 or 7.1%), Australian Aboriginal (1,790 or 5.7%, although note that a far greater proportion of the town's residents identify as Aboriginal), German (1,502 or 4.8%), and Italian (529 or 1.7%). Although 74.7% of Alice Springs' population was born in Australia, the most common places of birth for immigrants in 2006 Census were the United Kingdom (3.4%), United States of America (3%), New Zealand (1.9%), and Philippines (0.8%).

The most common non-English languages spoken in Alice Springs are: Arrernte, Warlpiri

Warlpiri language

The Warlpiri language is spoken by about 3000 of the Warlpiri people in Australia's Northern Territory. It is one of the Ngarrkic languages of the large Southwest branch of the Pama–Nyungan family, and is one of the largest aboriginal languages in Australia in terms of number of speakers.-...

, Luritja

Luritja

Luritja is a name used to refer to several dialects of the Indigenous Australian Western Desert Language, and thereby also to the people who speak these varieties, and their traditional lands.-Origin and meaning of Luritja:...

, Pitjantjatjara, and Italian.

Aboriginal population

According to the 2006 census, Aboriginal Australians make up approximately 18.8% of the population of Alice Springs and 27.8% of the Northern Territory

Northern Territory

The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...

, although the census figure for Alice Springs is likely to be an underestimate. 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

Central Arrernte

The term Central Arrernte can refer to the Arrernte people who traditionally live in Alice Springs, the centre of the Arrernte country in Australia.It can also refer to a dialect of the Arrernte language that is spoken in this area...

people. As it is the largest town in central Australia, there are also speakers of Warlpiri

Warlpiri

The Warlpiri are a group of Indigenous Australians, many of whom speak the Warlpiri language. There are 5,000–6,000 Warlpiri, living mostly in a few towns and settlements scattered through their traditional land in Australia's Northern Territory, north and west of Alice Springs...

, Warumungu

Warumungu

The Warumungu are a group of Indigenous Australians, many of whom speak Kriol or the Pama–Nyungan language of Warumungu. They inhabit the region of Tennant Creek and Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia as well as small towns to the South.- History :In the 1870s, early white...

, Kaytetye

Kaytetye

Kaytetye is the name of the Indigenous Australians who live around Barrow Creek and Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory. Their neighbours to the east are the Alyawarre, to the south the Anmatyerre, to the west the Warlpiri, and to the north the Warumungu....

, Alyawarre

Alyawarre

Alyawarre are an Indigenous Australian people, or language group, from the Northern Territory.In 1980 they lodged a land claim with the Wakaya people, which was handed back to them on 22 October 1992. The size of the land was 2065 km²....

, Luritja

Luritja

, Pintupi

Pintupi

Pintupi refers to an Australian Aboriginal group who are part of the Western Desert cultural group and whose homeland is in the area west of Lake MacDonald and Lake Mackay in Western Australia. These people moved into the Aboriginal communities of Papunya and Haasts Bluff in the west of the...

, Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara

Yankunytjatjara language

Yankunytjatjara is an Australian Aboriginal language. It is one of the Wati languages, belonging to the large Southwest branch of the Pama–Nyungan family...

, Ngaanyatjarra

Ngaanyatjarra

Ngaanyatjarra is an Indigenous Australian cultural group in the Western Desert, Central Australia.-Meaning and origin of the name:Ngaanya literally means 'this' and -tjarra means 'with/having' ; the compound term means 'those that use "ngaanya" to say "this"'...

, Pertame, Eastern

Eastern Arrernte

Eastern Arrernte refers to Arrernte people, Indigenous Australians, who traditionally live in the Arrernte lands East of Alice Springs, including Wallace Rock Hole. It also refers to a dialect of the Arrernte language that is spoken in this area...

, and Western Arrernte

Western Arrernte

Western Arrernte refers to Arrernte people who traditionally live in Arrernte lands west of Alice Springs. It also refers to a dialect of the Arrernte language that is spoken in this area. Some people argue that Western Arrernte is an entirely different language and group of people to Central...

among others.

United States population

United States citizens have resided in Alice Springs constantly since the establishment of the United States Air Force Detachment 421, in 1954. Currently located on Schwarz Crescent, it is part of a joint United States-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 Freedom of Entry to the Town of Alice Springs.

Since the early 1970's, the majority of the American population in Alice Springs has been associated with the proximity to Pine Gap

Pine Gap

, a joint Australian and US satellite tracking station, located 19 kilometres (11.8 mi) south-west of Alice Springs. While Pine Gap employs 700 Americans and Australians, there are currently 2,000 people in the Alice Springs district who carry citizenship of the United States.

The American citizens celebrate most of the major US public festivals, including Independence Day

Independence Day (United States)

Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain...

and Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving (United States)

Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a holiday celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November. It has officially been an annual tradition since 1863, when, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving to be celebrated on Thursday,...

. A portion of the Australian citizens engage in the festivities as well. Americans in Alice Springs are known to participate in a variety of associations and sporting teams, including baseball, basketball, and soccer competitions.

Other cultures

Several small immigrant communities of other foreign cultures have found a home in Alice Springs, including Vietnamese, Chinese, Thai, and Indian ethnic groups

Indian people

Indian people or Indisians constitute the Asian nation and pan-ethnic group native to India, which forms the south of Asia, containing 17.31% of the world's population. The Indian nationality is in essence made up of regional nationalities, reflecting the rich and complex history of India...

. 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.

Itinerant population

Alice Springs has a large itinerant

Itinerant

An itinerant is a person who travels from place to place with no fixed home. The term comes from the late 16th century: from late Latin itinerant , from the verb itinerari, from Latin iter, itiner ....

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 and mines. Foreign tourists usually pass through on their way to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park

Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park

Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park is UNESCO World Heritage-listed in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located 1431 kilometres south of Darwin by road and 440 kilometres south-west of Alice Springs along the Stuart and Lasseter Highways...

, whilst Australian tourists usually come through as a part of an event such as the Masters Games and the Finke Desert Race

Finke Desert Race

The Tattersall’s Finke Desert Race is an off road, multi-terrain two-day race in Northern Territory, Australia through desert country from Alice Springs to Aputula Community. The race crosses the Finke River, believed to be the oldest river in the world...

. These events can cause the population of the town to fluctuate by several thousand within a matter of days.

Government

The Alice Springs Town Council

Alice Springs Town Council

The Town of Alice Springs is a Local Government Area in the Northern Territory. On 1 July 1971, Alice Springs was gazetted as a Municipality with the town council elected on 25 July 1971. It is situated south of the Darwin...

governs the Alice Springs area, which takes in the town centre, its suburbs and some rural area. The Alice Springs Town Council has governed Alice Springs since 1971. The Alice Springs council consists of 9 members, the Mayor and 8 aldermen. The town is not divided up into wards. The current mayor of Alice Springs is Damien Ryan. Council Meetings are held on the last Monday of each month. The Alice Springs Region

Central Australia

is governed by the newly created shire MacDonnell Shire

MacDonnell Shire

The MacDonnell Shire is a Local Government Area of the Northern Territory, Australia. The shire covers an area of 268,784.20 km² and has a estimated population of 7,142 people.-Geography:...

, for which Alice Springs serves as council seat.

Alice Springs and the surrounding region have five elected members to the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly

Northern Territory Legislative Assembly

The Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory is the unicameral parliament of the Northern Territory in Australia. It sits in Parliament House, located on State Square, close to the centre of the city of Darwin.-History:...

. There is one elected member of the Federal Parliament in the Australian House of Representatives

Australian House of Representatives

The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....

for the area outside of Darwin, the Electoral Division of Lingiari

Division of Lingiari

The Division of Lingiari is an Australian Electoral Division in the Northern Territory. It was created in 2000, out of the former Division of Northern Territory. It covers almost the entire Territory , an area of , making it the second largest electorate in terms of area in Australia...

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 546046 square kilometres (210,829.5 sq mi) and a regional population of 38,749. The region includes a number of mining and pastoral communities, the Joint Defence Space Research Facility at Pine Gap

Pine Gap

and tourist attractions at Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park

Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park

, Watarrka National Park

Watarrka National Park

Watarrka is a national park in the Northern Territory , 1316 km south of Darwin and 323 km southwest of Alice Springs. It contains the much visited Kings Canyon at the western end of the George Gill Range and Kathleen Springs ....

and the MacDonnell Ranges

MacDonnell Ranges

.

The largest employer in Alice Springs is the Northern Territory Government, with 7.5% of employed people working in government administration, 6.6% in school education, and 3.7% in the Alice Springs Hospital. The economy of Alice is somewhat reliant on domestic and international tourism, with 3.8% of its workforce employed providing accommodation. It is home to the Northern Territory's largest dedicated travel organiser, Territory Discoveries, which employs over 50 full time local staff members.

As well as Territory Discoveries, all major tour companies have a base in Alice Springs, including AAT Kings & APT, as well as numerous local operators, including Emu Run Tours, Anganu Waai! tours, Alice Wanderer and Wayoutback Desert Safaris, the only locally based Advanced Ecotourism

Ecotourism

Ecotourism is a form of tourism visiting fragile, pristine, and usually protected areas, intended as a low impact and often small scale alternative to standard commercial tourism...

Accredited operator.

Alice is home to numerous hotels, from the 5-star Lasseters Hotel Casino

Lasseters Hotel Casino

Lasseters Hotel Casino is a casino located in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia. It is the only casino in Alice Springs, holding an exclusive casino license for NT's Southern Division until 2018....

, to the backpacker standard Toddies Resort. Also, there are several caravan parks for the driving visitor.

A dispatch centre for the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia

Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia

The Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia is an emergency and primary health care service for those living in rural, remote and regional areas of Australia...

operates here.

Education

Education is overseen territory-wide by the Department of Education and Training (DET). It works to continually improve education outcomes for all students, with a focus on Indigenous students.

Preschool, primary and secondary

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. There are over 1,932 students enrolled in government schools and 1,055 students enrolled in independent schools.

Alice Springs has an Alice Springs School of the Air

School of the Air

School of the Air is a generic term for correspondence schools catering for the primary and early secondary education of children in remote and outback Australia.-History:...

which delivers education to students in remote areas.

Tertiary and vocational

The Alice Springs Campus of Charles Darwin University

Charles Darwin University

Charles Darwin University is an Australian public university with about 20,000 students in 2007.The University offers a wide range of Higher Education degrees and Vocational Education and Training courses with flexible study options, including part-time, external and online.CDU has campuses in the...

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.

Social characteristics

Alice Springs has occasionally been referred to as the lesbian capital of Australia owing to an unsubstantiated perception that there is a large percentage of lesbians in the population.

Events and festivals

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 Camel Cup

Camel Cup

The Camel Cup is an annual camel racing festival held in Australia. The race usually takes place at Blatherskite Park in the town Alice Springs, Northern Territory...

, the Henley-on-Todd Regatta

Henley-on-Todd Regatta

The Henley-on-Todd Regatta is a "boat" race held annually in the typically dry sandy bed of the Todd River in Alice Springs, Australia...

, Beanie Festival and the Finke Desert Race

Finke Desert Race

. The Finke Desert Race is some 400 kilometres (248.5 mi) south of Alice Springs in the Simpson Desert

Simpson Desert

.

The American population celebrates most of the major American festivals, including Halloween

Halloween

Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...

, Independence Day

Independence Day (United States)

and Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...

. A portion of the Australian citizens engage in the festivities as well.

Arts and entertainment

Alice Springs is renowned as the Aboriginal Art capital of Central Australia, home to many local and Aboriginal art galleries. 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

Emily Kngwarreye

Emily Kame Kngwarreye was an Australian Aboriginal artist from the Utopia community in the Northern Territory. She is one of the most prominent and successful artists in the history of contemporary Indigenous Australian art.-Life:Born in 1910, Kngwarreye did not take up painting seriously until...

, Minnie Pwerle

Minnie Pwerle

Minnie Pwerle was an Australian Aboriginal artist...

, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri

Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri

Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri was an Australian painter, considered to be one of the most collected and renowned Australian Aboriginal artists...

, Albert Namatjira

Albert Namatjira

Albert Namatjira , born Elea Namatjira, was an Australian artist. He was a Western Arrernte man, an Indigenous Australian of the Western MacDonnell Ranges area...

and Wenten Rubuntja

Wenten Rubuntja

W. Rubuntja was an Australian artist and Aboriginal rights activist. He belonged to the Arrernte indigenous people of Central Australia. His works were painted in acrylic or watercolours and influenced by themes from Dreamtime myths. His paintings are to be found in Australia's Parliament House,...

.

The Araluen Centre for Arts and Entertainment

Araluen Centre for Arts and Entertainment

The Araluen Centre for Arts & Entertainment in Alice Springs, in the Northern Territory, Australia, is a cultural centre incorporating museums and a theatre....

presents world-class ballets and orchestras, as well as local performances.

Locals also enjoy meeting up in Konjo Park for BBQ's every Sunday at 11am. This is an excellent time to meet and greet the locals who can quite often undertake games of Football and Frisbee.

The annual Desert Mob Art Show sees art collectors and art lovers from all over the world travel to Alice Springs to see works from Aboriginal art centres in Central Australia, with works by artists from remote areas of the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia. This show is in conjunction with the Artist Association Desart and usually runs in September of each year at the Araluen Art Centre.

In popular culture

Liz Phair
Liz Phair
Phair's entry into the music industry began when she met guitarist Chris Brokaw, a member of the band Come. Brokaw and Phair moved to San Francisco together, and Phair tried to become an artist there...

included a song called "Alice Springs" on her 1994 album Whip Smart.
The group Midnight Oil
Midnight Oil
Midnight Oil , were an Australian rock band from Sydney originally performing as Farm from 1972 with drummer Rob Hirst, bass guitarist Andrew James and keyboard player/lead guitarist Jim Moginie...

mention Alice Springs in their songs "Kosciusko
Mount Kosciuszko
Mount Kosciuszko is a mountain located in the Snowy Mountains in Kosciuszko National Park. With a height of 2,228 metres above sea level, it is the highest mountain in Australia...

" and "Warakurna" ('There is enough in Redfern as there is in Alice'); and they mention Pine Gap in "Power and the Passion
Power and the Passion (song)
"Power and the Passion" is the first single by Midnight Oil from their widely-acclaimed 1982 studio album 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The song is one of the band's most famous, and it appeared on every Midnight Oil tour since the issue of 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 as well as at the WaveAid...

".
The well-known Australian song My Island Home
My Island Home
"My Island Home" is popularly believed to be a song about Australia. However, it was written by Neil Murray and originally performed by his Warumpi Band in reference to their lead singer's home up at Elcho Island off the coast of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory as said by...

was originally written about the experience of an islander living 'west of Alice Springs', and this is mentioned in the lyrics of the original Warumpi Band
Warumpi Band
The Warumpi Band is an Australian band from the bush, coming from Papunya, Northern Territory, Australia.The band was formed in 1980 by Neil Murray, a Victorian "whitefella" working in the region as a schoolteacher and labourer, George Burarrwanga, from Elcho Island, and local boys Gordon and...

version of the song.
Nevil Shute
Nevil Shute
Nevil Shute Norway was a popular British-Australian novelist and a successful aeronautical engineer. He used his full name in his engineering career, and 'Nevil Shute' as his pen name, in order to protect his engineering career from any potential negative publicity in connection with his novels.-...

's novel A Town Like Alice
A Town Like Alice
A Town Like Alice is a novel by the British author Nevil Shute about a young Englishwoman in Malaya during World War II and in outback Australia post-war....

, and the resulting film and television mini-series, take their name from Alice Springs, although little of the action takes place there; because part of the story is set in Willstown (possibly modelled on Burketown) situated north of Alice Springs, near the Gulf of Carpentaria. The heroine, Jean, wants to change Willstown into a town "like" Alice. The local library in Alice Springs is named after Nevil Shute: the Nevil Shute Memorial Library
Alice Springs Public Library
The Alice Springs Public Library is a free public library service in Australia. While the library provides traditional library services to the community of Alice Springs, it also supplies a unique distance service to the remote people of Central Australia...

.
A casino in Alice Springs is the destination for the drag queen protagonists in the Australian road movie
Road movie
A road movie is a film genre in which the main character or characters leave home to travel from place to place. They usually leave home to escape their current lives.-History:...

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is a 1994 Australian comedy-drama film written and directed by Stephan Elliott. The plot is based on the journey of three drag queens who travel across the Australian Outback from Sydney to Alice Springs in a tour bus that they have named...

.

Recreation

Leisure and entertainment activities include hiking in the nearby MacDonnell Ranges

MacDonnell Ranges

, driving the four-wheel drive tracks at Finke Gorge National Park

Finke Gorge National Park

Finke Gorge is a national park in the Northern Territory of Australia, 1318 km south of Darwin.The Park covers an area of 458 square kilometres, and includes the impressive desert oasis Palm Valley, home to a diverse range of plant species, many of which are rare and unique to the area...

and visiting the many art galleries in Todd Mall.

Parks and gardens

The Alice Springs Desert Park

Alice Springs Desert Park

The Alice Springs Desert Park is an environmental education facility in Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia.It is sited on , with a core area of...

was created to educate visitors about the many facets of the surrounding desert environment. The arid climate botanic garden, Olive Pink Botanic Garden

Olive Pink Botanic Garden

Olive Pink Botanic Garden is a botanic garden in Alice Springs in Australia's Northern Territory, specialising in plants native to the arid central Australian region.-History:...

, is a short distance from the town centre. They were named after anthropologist, naturalist and artist Olive Pink

Olive Pink

Olive Muriel Pink was an Australian botanical illustrator, anthropologist, gardener, and activist for aboriginal rights....

, 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

Alice Springs Reptile Centre

The Alice Springs Reptile Centre is a privately operated reptile centre and environmental education facility in Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia. It has the largest collection of reptiles in the Northern Territory...

is located in the town centre.

Sport

Alice Springs has a high rate of participation in many different sports, including tennis, hockey

Field hockey

Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...

, Australian rules football

Australian rules football

Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

, basketball, soccer, cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

and rugby football

Rugby football

Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...

and boxing.

Rugby League

Rugby league

Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

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 4 senior teams in Alice Springs; Wests, Memo, United and Vikings. Matches are held during the winter months at ANZAC oval on Saturday afternoons.

Australian rules football is a particularly popular sport in Alice Springs in terms of both participation and as a spectator sport

Spectator sport

A spectator sport is a sport that is characterized by the presence of spectators, or watchers, at its matches. For instance, Tennis, Rugby, F-1, baseball, basketball, cricket, football , and ice hockey are spectator sports, while hunting or underwater hockey typically are not...

. The Central Australian Football League

Central Australian Football League

The Central Australian Football League is an Australian rules football competition operating out of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, Australia.The CAFL organises the annual Ngurratjuta Town Vs Country Challenge event and local Rec Footy competitions....

has several teams. The sport is particularly popular in Indigenous communities. The local stadium, Traeger Park

Traeger Park

Traeger Park is a small stadium located in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia.The stadium hosts Australian rules football and cricket matches and has a capacity of 10,000....

, has a 10,000 seat capacity and was designed to host (pre-season) AFL

Australian Football League

The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

and is currently home to the Northern Territory Thunder. In 2004, an AFL pre-season Regional Challenge match between Collingwood Football Club

Collingwood Football Club

The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...

and Port Adelaide Football Club

Port Adelaide Football Club

The Port Adelaide Football Club is an Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia, which plays in the Australian Football League and the South Australian National Football League...

attracted a capacity sell-out crowd.

Organized baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

has been played in Alice Springs since the mid-1950s. Currently under the national organization of the Australian Baseball Federation

Australian Baseball Federation

The Australian Baseball Federation is the national governing body of Baseball in Australia. Baseball is played in all the mainland states and territories, but it struggles for popularity due to the popularity of many other sports, including the comparable sport of cricket, in which Australia has...

, the Alice Springs Baseball Association organizes baseball competitions for youth players ages 5 - 18 and an adult competition played at Jim McConville Park and on Lyel Kempster Field at Traeger Park. As part of the world-wide Little League

Little League

Little League Baseball and Softball is a non-profit organization in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania, United States which organizes local youth baseball and softball leagues throughout the U.S...

network, Alice Springs players and compete in the Australian National Little League competitions.

Cricket is a popular sport in Alice Springs and is primarily played at Traeger Park. The Imparja Cup

Imparja Cup

The Imparja Cup is an Australian cricket tournament based in Alice Springs, Northern Territory. The tournament is contested annually by teams of Indigenous Australian cricketers.-History:...

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 very 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 Traeger Park sporting complex also hosts tennis, baseball, boxing, swimming, canoe polo

Canoe polo

Canoe Polo is a competitive ball sport played on water, in a defined "field", between two teams of 5 players, each in a kayak...

, hockey, basketball, squash, badminton, gymnastics and skateboarding.

A unique sporting event, held annually, is the Henley-on-Todd Regatta

Henley-on-Todd Regatta

The Henley-on-Todd Regatta is a "boat" race held annually in the typically dry sandy bed of the Todd River in Alice Springs, Australia...

, also known as the Todd River

Todd River

Race. It is a sand river race with bottomless boats and it remains the only dry river regatta

Regatta

A regatta is a series of boat races. The term typically describes racing events of rowed or sailed water craft, although some powerboat race series are also called regattas...

in the world. Another unusual sporting event is the Camel Cup

Camel Cup

The Camel Cup is an annual camel racing festival held in Australia. The race usually takes place at Blatherskite Park in the town Alice Springs, Northern Territory...

. This is also held annually at the local racetrack, Blatherskite Park. It is a full day event featuring a series of races using camel

Camel

s instead of horses.

The annual Camel Cup

Camel Cup

The Camel Cup is an annual camel racing festival held in Australia. The race usually takes place at Blatherskite Park in the town Alice Springs, Northern Territory...

is held in July at Blatherskite Park, part of the Central Australian Show Society grounds.

Every year, on the Queen's Birthday long weekend, the annual Finke Desert Race is held. It is a grueling 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 (310.7 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.

Media

Alice Springs is served by both local and national radio and television services. The government-owned ABC

Australian Broadcasting Corporation

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...

provides four broadcast radio stations – local radio 783 ABC Alice Springs

783 ABC Alice Springs

783 ABC Alice Springs is the ABC Local Radio station in Alice Springs, Northern Territory. It broadcasts on 783 kHz on the AM band.-External links:* ABC Alice Springs Online...

and the national networks ABC Radio National

Radio National

ABC Radio National is an Australia-wide non-commercial radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.Radio National broadcasts national programming in areas that include news and current affairs, the arts, social issues, science, drama and comedy...

, ABC Classic FM

ABC Classic FM

ABC Classic FM is a classical music radio station available in Australia, and internationally online. It is operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation . It was established in 1976 as "ABC-FM", and later for a short time was known as "ABC Fine Music" , before adopting its current name...

and Triple J

Triple J

triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...

.

Commercial radio stations are 8HA

8HA

8HA is a radio station based in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia. It broadcasts on the medium wave radio band, at a frequency of 900 kHz.It also broadcasts on radio channel 42 on the Optus Aurora satellite service on Optus C1....

900 kHz

Hertz

The hertz is the SI unit of frequency defined as the number of cycles per second of a periodic phenomenon. One of its most common uses is the description of the sine wave, particularly those used in radio and audio applications....

and Sun 96.9

Sun 96.9

Sun 96.9 FM is Alice Springs only local commercial radio station on the FM frequency.The station broadcasts from its premises on the Stuart Highway just outside Alice Springs with nightly, syndicated broadcasts from a local pub, Bojangles....

MHz and community radio

Community radio

Community radio is a type of radio service, that offers a third model of radio broadcasting beyond commercial broadcasting and public broadcasting. Community stations can serve geographic communities and communities of interest...

is provided by indigenous

Indigenous Australians

broadcaster 8KIN 100.5 MHz.

Alice Springs is home to Australia's largest Indigenous media company. The Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) consists of a radio station (CAAMA Radio), Music recording label (CAAMA Music), television and film production company (CAAMA Productions) and CAAMA technical. CAAMA serves to record and promote indigenous talent across its own radio network (one of the largest transmission footprints in the world), and through sales of CD's and screening of CAAMA movies and documentaries on national broadcasters.

Four broadcast television services operate in Alice Springs – commercial stations Imparja Television

Imparja Television

Imparja Television is an Australian television network servicing remote eastern and central Australia, that began broadcasting on 2 January 1988. It is based in Alice Springs, where it has a studio and satellite uplink facility. Notably, it is controlled by Australian Aborigines through ownership...

(callsign IMP9) and Southern Cross Central (QQQ31), and the Government-owned ABC (ABAD7) and SBS

Special Broadcasting Service

The Special Broadcasting Service is a hybrid-funded Australian public broadcasting radio and television network. The stated purpose of SBS is "to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect...

(SBS28). Imparja has a commercial agreement with the Nine

Nine Network

The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...

network. Southern Cross Central has programming affillliations with both the Seven Network

Seven Network

The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...

and Network Ten Australia.

Digital Television transmissions have commenced in Alice Springs. New channels provided by the ABC and SBS

Special Broadcasting Service

can be received with a digital set top box or digital television. Additional channels from the commercial broadcasters that are available in most other areas of Australia are expected to commence transmission in 2011–2012. Analogue television transmissions will be switched off by 31 December 2013.

Imparja Television

Imparja Television

is operated from studios in Alice Springs, It has a program affiliation contract with the Nine Network

Nine Network

. The programming schedule on Imparja is the same as Nine Darwin NTD-8

NTD-8

NTD is an Australian television station, licensed to and serving Darwin, Palmerston and surrounds. The station is owned by the Nine Entertainment Co., and is an owned-and-operated station of the Nine Network, under the company name Territory Television Pty...

and Channel 9 Brisbane with variations in Imparja's schedule for local Australian rules football

Australian rules football

Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

, Rugby League

Rugby league

, the children's show Yamba's Playtime, news, regional weather and other programs produced in Alice Springs by the station. Infomercials are shown in place of Home Shopping & other programs overnight and in some daytime timeslots. NITV

National Indigenous Television

National Indigenous Television, commonly referred to as NITV, is an Australian television network broadcasting throughout Australia via satellite.-History:...

is broadcast on the second channel allocated to Imparja by the Federal Government.

There are two local newspapers circulated in Alice Springs. The weekly publication, The Alice Springs News appears each Thursday; and the twice weekly The Centralian Advocate is published on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Transport

Located on the Adelaide-Darwin railway

Adelaide-Darwin railway

The Adelaide–Darwin railway is a north-south transcontinental railway in Australia, between the cities of Adelaide, South Australia and Darwin, Northern Territory...

, Alice Springs is accessible by train. Alice Springs railway station

Alice Springs railway station

Alice Springs Station is a railway station on the Adelaide-Darwin railway transcontinental railway line located in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia. Alice Springs is 1546 kilometres from Adelaide, and 1433 kilometres from Darwin...

is visited by The Ghan, operated by Great Southern Railway

Great Southern Railway (Australia)

Great Southern Railway , owned by Serco Asia Pacific, is a tourism business and rail transport operator in Australia.GSR operates interstate passenger trains aimed at the tourist market:* The Indian Pacific...

, on its journey between Adelaide and Darwin

Darwin, Northern Territory

. The train arrives twice weekly in each direction.

The line first opened to Alice Springs in 1929, as the narrow gauge

Narrow gauge railways in Australia

Rail transport in Australia involves a number of narrow gauge railways. In some states they formed the core state wide network, but in the others they were either a few government branch lines, or privately owned and operated branch lines, often for mining, logging or industrial use.Prior to ...

Central Australia Railway

Adelaide-Darwin railway

The Adelaide–Darwin railway is a north-south transcontinental railway in Australia, between the cities of Adelaide, South Australia and Darwin, Northern Territory...

. It was not until 1980 that the current standard gauge

Standard gauge

The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...

line was opened, which was extended to Darwin in 2004.

The Ghan
Tennant Creek Tennant Creek, Northern Territory Tennant Creek is a town located in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is the fifth largest town in the Northern Territory and it is located on the Stuart Highway, just south of the intersection with the western terminus of the Barkly Highway.... (to Darwin Darwin, Northern Territory Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities... )	↔	Alice Springs	↔	Kulgera Kulgera, Northern Territory Kulgera is a locality in the Northern Territory of Australia.Kulgera is accessible by train. The Ghan, run by Great Southern Railway between Adelaide and Darwin arrives twice weekly in each direction. The post code of Kulgera is 0872.... (to Adelaide)

There are daily express coach services to and from Adelaide and Darwin servicing Alice Springs.
The Stuart Highway

Stuart Highway

The Stuart Highway is one of Australia's major highways. It is a segment of Australia's Highway 1 extending from Darwin, Northern Territory, in the north, via Tennant Creek and Alice Springs, to Port Augusta, South Australia, in the south—a distance of...

, running north from Adelaide to Darwin via Alice Springs, is Northern Territory's most important road. The distance from Alice Springs to Adelaide is 1530 kilometres (950.7 mi) and to Darwin is 1498 kilometres (930.8 mi).

There are daily flights from Alice Springs Airport

Alice Springs Airport

to Adelaide

Adelaide

Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...

, Ayers Rock (Uluru), Cairns, Darwin

Darwin, Northern Territory

, Melbourne, Perth

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

and Sydney. There are also direct flights a few times a week to Brisbane

Brisbane

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

. Two airlines serve Alice Springs: Qantas

Qantas

Qantas Airways Limited is the flag carrier of Australia. The name was originally "QANTAS", an initialism for "Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services". Nicknamed "The Flying Kangaroo", the airline is based in Sydney, with its main hub at Sydney Airport...

and Tiger Airways Australia

Tiger Airways Australia

Tiger Airways Australia Pty Ltd, operating as Tiger Airways Australia, is a low cost airline which commenced services in the Australian domestic airline market on 23 November 2007. It is a subsidiary of Tiger Airways Holdings, a Singapore-based company, which is owned partially by Singapore Airlines...

. Virgin Blue made an appearance in Alice Springs for a short time, before it was undercut by Qantas.

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

Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia

The Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia is an emergency and primary health care service for those living in rural, remote and regional areas of Australia...

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Traditional Custodians

Early settlement

World War II

Post World War II

Modern town

Built environment

Geography

Climate

Demographics

Aboriginal population

United States population

Other cultures

Itinerant population

Government

Economy

Education

Preschool, primary and secondary

Tertiary and vocational

Social characteristics

Events and festivals

Arts and entertainment

In popular culture

Recreation

Parks and gardens

Sport

Media

Transport

See also

External links