Alice Springs was the name of a waterhole not far from the old Telegraph Station which saw the start of European settlement in the area. The Telegraph Station was built in 1872 to relay messages between Darwin and Adelaide, and once it came, the lives of the local indigenous population changed forever.
Alice Springs is a sad town. Bands of local indigenous people move around the town during the day, and at night camp in the dry Todd River bed. Unlike other Aboriginal settlements that we'd come across, alcohol is not banned in Alice Springs, and neither is gambling. Suburban Alice Springs is characterised by semi-gated communities and high fences. It's not a pretty town.
We stayed in Lasseters hotel and casino and observed large numbers of the town's poor pouring whatever was left of their pensions into the hotel's poker machines.
We couldn't help but be reminded of Redgum's lyrics in their 1981 song, "The Last Frontier": A stark and blistered Alice Springs and a river runs with shame. And you wipe the sheets of bull dust from your eyes....Signs and high wire fences hold the land where I belong.* These lines were written by John Schumann a while ago but still seem current. It might take another 30 years, but let's hope that Alice's time will come and we'll see a change for the better.
*www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzni4ioSWrM
F
