Alice Springs Attractions

The Arrernte Aborigines' Culture Centre is must for every visitor to Northern Territory. It presents a tribe which lives in a homeland about 100km south of Alice Springs. As well as a museum and an art gallery there are shops selling Aboriginal craftwork. Those who are interested can also attend courses on such subjects as Aboriginal history and playing the didgeridoo, and go on excursions to the Arrernte homeland.

In Todd Mall (pedestrian zone) is Adelaide House, built in 1920-6 under the direction of John Flynn, which since 1980 has been a museum displaying early radio equipment.

The School of the Air was established in 1951 to provide teaching by radio for children in the remote outback. Visitors can listen to children being taught.

From Anzac Hill, to the north of Alice Springs, there are good views of the town with its rectangular grid of streets, the carefully tended gardens and rows of trees, supplied with water by irrigation, and the MacDonnell Ranges to the south, with the Todd River, the Stuart Highway and the railroad line finding their way through the narrow Heavitree Gap.

The river is normally dry, but after heavy rain it can turn into a raging torrent, making the roads impassable for days.

The Araluen Arts Centre is a modern cultural center that features art exhibitions, theatrical performances and film shows.

The late 19th C cemetery, with weathered tombstones, is in George Crescent, near the railroad station. In Memorial Avenue, which goes off Larapinta Drive to the west of the railroad, is a cemetery containing the graves of the painter Albert Namatjira (1902-59) and the prospector Harold Lasseter, who died in the desert in 1931 while looking for a fabled seam of gold.

On the site of the old airstrip, is a display of old aircraft from the pioneering days of desert flying, as well as exhibits concerned with the Flying Doctors Service.

The camel races at the end of April and beginning of May are an important annual event. The Bangtail Muster in May, with a street parade and sports carnival, commemorates the herding together and counting of the cattle which took place in earlier days. The greatest event of the year, however, is the Henley on Todd Regatta at the beginning of October, in which the boats are either carried or trundled along the dry river bed and the day ends with a festival.

The Gillen and Spencer Museum is devoted to the natural history of the outback, the culture of the Aborigines and white settlement in the Red Centre.

In Hartley Street, which runs parallel to Todd Street, and Parsons Street, which runs between the two, are relics of the past, the old courthouse and the residency, both built for Alice Springs' short period as a seat of government in 1926-31, now a museum on the development of the Northern Territory. Hartley Street School (1929, with later extensions) was the first school established by the government. It now houses the regional tourist office and the National Trust.

Near the Old Telegraph Station Historical Reserve you can bathe in the springs that give Alice Springs its name.

The Olive Pink Botanic Garden is an arid botanic garden displaying the vegetation of central Australia.

The garden features an eclectic collection of trees and shrubs native to the central Australian region as well as various cacti, and garden flowers.

In a hut behind the hospital Flynn and Traeger installed the pedal-powered radio transmitter which made possible the development of the Royal Flying Doctor Service (established 1929). Adjoining the former hospital, in Todd Mall, is the Flynn Memorial Church (1956). John Flynn's grave is under a large boulder on the fringes of the hills west of the town (Flynn's Grave Historical Reserve).

On Hartley Street is a panoramic view by the Dutch artist Henk Guth of the landscape of the Red Centre.

In Stuart Terrace is the regional base of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, with displays illustrating its beginnings and development as well as its technical equipment.

Strehlow Research Centre features a very informative exhibition on Aboriginal culture. The exhibits were collected by the anthropologist Strehlow, who lived for many years with the Aborigines.

Stuart Town Gaol (Jail; 1907-9) in Parsons Street, a solid stone structure, is the oldest building in Alice Springs. The prison was closed down in 1938 and now belongs to the National Trust.