Alice Springs

After we left Melbourne we flew to the outback for a visit to Alice Springs, a remote town in the middle of the Northern Territory.

Our first visit was to the Royal Flying Doctor Service.  Because the outback is so incredibly vast, sheep stations can be hundreds of kilometers from the nearest doctor.  This service was established by the Reverend John Flynn in 1928 to provide emergency and primary health care services to rural areas of Australia.  Nurses and doctors were dispatched by plane to areas all over rural Australia and the service is still used today.

We also visited the School of the Air which is how children in these rural areas get their schooling.  It began with lessons broadcast over the wireless radio with students sending their work to the teachers through the Royal Flying Doctor Service but now it relies heavily on the internet.  Prince Charles and Princess Diana visited the School of the Air and their pictures and signatures are framed on the wall.

Our final stop was to the Alice Springs Telegraph Station.  This was a repeater station on the Overland Telegraph Line which linked Adelaide to Darwin and Great Britain.  This site was chosen because of a waterhole on the normally dry Todd River.  It was, erroneously, thought to be a permanent spring and was named after the wife of the Postmaster General of South Australia.  This telegraph station opened Alice Springs for European settlement.  I thought it was very interesting.