Alice Springs, Northern Territory

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Alice Springs is a large town in the Northern Territory of Australia located at Template:Coor dm. Its population of 28,178 (2001 Census) makes it the second-largest settlement in the Territory (the only other towns of significant size are Darwin, the capital, and Katherine). It is popularly described as "the Alice" or simply "Alice". Alice Springs is known as Mparntwe to its traditional inhabitants, the Arrernte.

1 History
2 Demography
3 Tourism
4 Economy
5 Climate
6 Crime
7 Transport
8 Sport
9 Media
10 References and further reading
11 See also
12 External links

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History

Alice Springs is best-known outside the region from the title of the Nevil Shute novel A Town Like Alice, even though little of the story takes place in Alice Springs, and because of its proximity to Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, the monolithic rock that is one of Australia's best-known natural landmarks and an important focus of Aboriginal culture.

Image:Alice Springs.jpg Originally named Stuart, the town was established almost as a frontier settlement for north-south travel by camel trains through the desert of the outback. A telegraph station was placed near a permanent waterhole called Alice Springs (see photograph) after the wife of Sir Charles Todd, Postmaster General of South Australia, after whom the Todd River (which is usually dry) was named. The Ghan railway from Adelaide reached Stuart in 1929, and the town moved away from the waterhole, but locals kept the name. In 1933, after much debate, the town of Stuart was officially renamed Alice Springs. The north-south road between Darwin, Alice Springs and Adelaide is still called the Stuart Highway.

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.

During the 1960s it became an important defence location with the development of the U.S/Australian Pine Gap joint defense satellite monitoring base, home to about 700 workers from both countries, but by far the major industry in recent times is tourism.

Image:Alice landsat.JPG

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Demography

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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. [1] 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.

As tribes of the Australian Aborigines often employ strict laws of their own, on rare occasions Australian Aborigines end up banished from their tribe. Since Alice Springs is the only major town in the region, many of these problematic Aboriginies end up there. While they only constitute a minority of Australian Aborigines residing in Alice Springs, locals often warn tourists and visitors not to go near the Todd River after dark.

Image:NTerrMap-doton-Alice Springs.png

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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, which celebrates all major American festivals, including Halloween, Independence Day and Thanksgiving. 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 football and rugby [2].

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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")

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Tourism

The primary reason for tourism to Alice Springs had been its proximity to Uluru, which is 400 km to the west. However, with the creation of Yulara resort in 1984, and an airport allowing tourists to fly directly to Yulara, many tourists no longer visit Alice Springs. Alice Springs had also been used by many Australian tourists as a stopover point between Darwin and Adelaide or Brisbane and Perth, but the airlines now prefer to fly directly to their destinations.

Alice Springs has a large number of tourist resorts, a casino, the Araluen Centre for Arts and Entertainment, nightclubs, clubs, pubs, restaurants and cafes. Visitor attractions include a Desert Park wildlife centre, Open Air Ballooning, Royal Flying Doctor Service, School of the Air, Camel Tours, a Reptile Centre, the Olive Pink Botanic Garden, and a cinema. Also supporting the tourist industry are over a dozen hotels, caravan parks and backpacker lodges, as well as tourist centres that run tours to Hermannsburg, The Olgas, Uluru (Ayers Rock), King's Canyon, Wallace Rock Hole and a number of other places. (ref: [3])

Alice Springs is host to a large number of festivals, including the Finke Desert Race and the Todd River Race that are held annually (ref: [4]).

Much traditional Aboriginal artwork from the neighbouring Central Australian communities, including artefacts and Dreamtime stories is for sale to tourists in Alice Springs. (ref: [5])

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Economy

Image:Alice Springs ridge.jpeg

Alice Springs has a booming economy and is one of Australia's wealthiest towns. Major inputs to the economy include:

Tourism, especially related to Uluru, which gives Alice Springs 500,000 tourists per year (ref: [6])
The significant government funding in relation to the high traditional Aboriginal population
Income derived from Pine Gap adds $12 million per year to the economy (ref: [7])

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Climate

Temperatures vary by an average of 20°C from minimum to maximum on any given day. In summer, the temperature typically reaches the low 40s C maximum (but can be as high as 48), while in winter it can drop to as low as -7°C minimum (and has been reported to be as low as -10). The climate is arid, with little or no rainfall, although the amount of rainfall varies enormously from one year to the next. (ref: [8] Alice Springs: climate)

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Crime

In 1985/1986, 70% of the prison population was Aboriginal. The majority of crimes committed by Aborigines in Alice Springs was against other Aboriginal people, often alcohol-related. Attempts have been made to allow Aborigines in Alice Springs to use customary law as a defence (for example, payback or traditional customs) but thus far this has failed. Alice Springs has been linked with the Azaria Chamberlain disappearance and Peter Falconio disappearance in nearby Uluru and Barrow Creek.

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Transport

The original The Ghan railway from Adelaide reached Stuart in 1929. In the 1980's, there was an attempt at a direct rail service from Sydney by the named train The Alice (Train) however it only lasted four years. Alice Springs is now the midpoint of the Adelaide-Darwin Railway.

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Sport

Australian rules football is popular in the Alice. The Central Australian Football League has several teams with a high participation rate, particularly amongst indigenous communities. The local stadium Traeger Park is designed to host AFL and International Cricket matches and has a capacity of 10,000. 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.

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Media

Alice Springs is served by both local and national radio and television services. The Government-owned ABC provides 4 broadcast radio stations - local radio 783 ABC Alice Springs and local transmitters for national networks Radio National, ABC Classic FM and Triple J.

Commercial radio stations are 8HA 900 kHz and SUN FM 96.9 MHz and community (public access) radio is provided by indigenous broadcaster 8KIN 100.5 MHz.

Four broadcast television services operate in Alice Springs - commercial stations Imparja Television (callsign IMP9) and Seven Central (QQQ31), and Government-owned ABC (ABAD7) and SBS (SBS28). Imparja incorporates programming from the commercial Nine and Ten networks.

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