Where is Alice Springs?
Alice Springs is a town in the middle of Australia, in the southern part of the Northern Territory. It lies beside the MacDonnell Ranges, about 1,500 kilometres south of Darwin.
About 25,000 people live in Alice Springs, making it the largest town in central Australia. The Arrernte people are its Traditional Owners, and the town is called Mparntwe in Arrernte. It grew around a telegraph station built in 1872 on the Overland Telegraph Line.
The town is a base for visiting the West MacDonnell Ranges and, further away, Uluru and Kings Canyon. The Ghan passenger train stops there on its journey between Adelaide and Darwin.
Outback services
Alice Springs is home to a Royal Flying Doctor Service base and the School of the Air, which once taught remote children by radio. The dry Todd River in town hosts the light-hearted Henley-on-Todd boat race, where people run in bottomless boats.
Did You Know?
The springs that gave the town its name are a waterhole named after Alice Todd, wife of telegraph pioneer Charles Todd.