To reach the Red Center we flew from Sydney to Alice Springs - about the distance from New York to Omaha, NB. Before I discuss the Spiritual and Geological sites of Uluru and Kata Juta, I want to mention Alice Springs.
Alice Springs, at the center of Australia, has been drifting in my consciousness since 1983. Masterpiece Theater then aired one of the first mini series, A Town Like Alice, while I was in graduate school in Milwaukee, WI. For over a week, Amy and I tuned in each night to watch the next episode in our small kitchen; the TV proped up on a stool, while we sat on our yellow painted wooden chairs.
A Town Like Alice, written by Nevil Shute, takes place during and post WWII in Malaysia, London, and Australia. A romantic story; but not a romance limited to people. A romance of place - Alice Springs and the Outback. I won't ruin the the story with more explaination, but it is well worth the read or viewing.
Alice Springs was originally established as a repeater station for the 2000 mile telegraph line from Adelaide to Darwin, which then connected across the Timor Sea to Asia and eventually mother England. The completion of this line in the late 1800s reduce communication from 6 months to seconds. (Trivia: the slang for an english person was POME - pronounced "pommy" - which stands for Person Of Mother England" - I didn't know that!).
Alice Springs Repeater Station
It turned out not to be a spring at all, just a seasonal water hole. But soon a town built up south of the spring called Stuart, for the indomitable John McDouall Stuart who first successfully crossed the desert south to north after three previous attempts and considerable hardship. Later the town voted to change their name to Alice Springs in honor of their founding.
Route of John M Stuart
Alice Springs was and is the commercial center for the stations (cattle ranches) of central Australia. It would take days by 4-wheel auto or horse to travel the outback just to reach a station from Alice. Medical services to the outback were provided by Air Doctor, a plane with full intensive care facilities on it. Based on photos, the movie pretty accurately portrays Alice in th 1950s like one of our western towns in the 1800s - dusty streets, baking heat, and a cobbled together general store. Despite the desperateness of the place, I longed to see it. Today, like most romances, reality does not reflect our desires. Alice has grown to 25,000 people as a tourist hub, commercial center, and access to government services for the Aboriginal People of the region. A culture noticably absent from the book.
The streets and buildings have no charm. The mall, an open air pedestrian street with restaurants, curio shops, and signs hawking tours and adventures for the tourist, was the only lively place.
Pedestrian Mall in Alice Springs
Away from the strip are the ugly commercial facilities for the locals, and the town's adminstrative center. Here for the first time we encounter aboriginal people. Dark skinned, heavy set on stick legs, and deep set eyes with a far away stare. They were either lined up at the the Services office or scattered on the public lawns with their legs crossed; their indiginous art debased for the tourists and lost of its spiritual meaning in front of them. Later on the trip we learned more about this lost culture, its sustainable ties to the land, and the revival in certain locations. However, in Alice Springs it was depressing.
Next Post: Red Center Part 2 - Uluru
Sad to see a place that has such a strong presence in one's mind as Alice Springs be seen in the harsh reality of the present day. I have the same impression from the Masterpiece Theater mini-series, and even more from the book. Shute did something marvelous with that book--create a gentle character in mind and spirit and a loving locale that she wanted to help -- interwoven with romance. It all has left an impression more than a memory--and I'd like to revisit the book. Like indigenous people everywhere, the Aborigines suffered from misunderstanding and basic racism at the hands of Europeans -- and it must be sad to see them in such a reduced state today. I was most horrified by the history I read in Bryson's book -- about taking all the Aborigine children away from their parents, leaving them in a no man's land of white upbringing and sensibilities among whites who would never accept them and torn from their own culture into which they no longer fit.
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