Alice Springs Telegraph Station

The Anglo history of Alice Springs began in 1871 when the telegraph station was built by a water hole that was misnamed Alice Springs. The township of Stuart changed it's name to Alice Springs in 1933, four years after the arrival of the Ghan railway in 1929.

The telegraph station.


This plaque reads "The waterhole was known to the aboriginal people as TURIARA and it and the general surrounding areas were important camping and ceremonial grounds of the ARUNTA tribe".


After 1932 the telegraph station no longer functioned for communication as there were more modern facilities established. From 1932 through 1942 the telegraph station served as an education center for part aboriginal children. These children became known as 'The Bungalow Children'. According to the link many of the children in this education center were forcibly removed from their homes and lived at the school until they were 16 years old. Another source suggests that some of the children were given by their mothers voluntarily so that these children would avoid the life threatening conditions of drought.

These people paid for the tour.


Nate's cute face slightly distorted because of the camera's panoramic feature.

Nate standing in the middle of the Todd River. To his right is the Alice Springs water hole.

This is a photo of me in the middle of the Todd River. Nate said that there are often kangaroos in this area. We didn't see any on this outing, but I think I may have seen a red hop across this area of the river while I was on my morning run today. It is hard to say since it was far away and I wasn't wearing my glasses.

My face... distorted


Trees