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Published: July 11th 2023
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As a result of recent adverse publicity, we were a little wary of visiting Alice Springs. The Alice, however, was the logical place to stay after a long drive from Kings Canyon. We had been recommended a caravan park around ten klms out of town, in the shadow of the West MacDonnell Range, which proved to be a safe and ideal location to stay. To say we were pleasantly surprised with Alice Springs and its surrounds is an understatement. We loved our stay in Alice. The only downside was the unseasonal cold weather, which saw lows of 3 degrees overnight with a top of 8 degrees during the day. Alice itself offers a full range of shops and services, which was welcome after the remote locations we have recently visited.
Our first venture was to deck out in our snow jackets and beanies, and drive along the West MacDonnell Range and visit as many gorges and chasms as we could fit into one day. We walked into Simpsons Gap, Standley Chasm, Ellery Creek Big Hole and Serpentine Gorge, climbing a steep lookout at the latter.
The following day again required our best winter gear, and we headed out to
visit historical Hermannsburg, where the historic buildings have been preserved in a precinct. Established as a Lutheran Aboriginal mission in 1877, linguist and anthropologist Carl Strehlow documented the local Western Arrernte language during his time there. The Lutherans worked at keeping the local languages alive, and the Strehlows greatly increased the knowledge of local indigenous culture. According to musician Warren H Williams, who was born at Hermannsburg, "If the missionaries had not come to Hermannsburg, there would be no blackfellas in Central Australia" – this observation was based on the attitude of the English-speaking administrators and other settlers in the region. Hermannsburg became a safe place for indigenous families from having their children stolen by the “Aboriginal Protection Board”.
Albert Namatjira, Australia’s best known indigenous artist, was born and lived in Hermannsburg. Albert was a supremely talented watercolour landscape artist, who featured the West MacDonnell Ranges and River Red Gums in his paintings. His painting legacy has been carried on by the Namatjira family, and there were numerous examples of their artworks in the museum. We visited Albert’s house. It was encouraging to see the local indigenous women making pottery at Hermannsburg Pottery, which is sought after around the
world, as well as creating dot paintings for commercial sale.
We continued driving in a large loop to visit some more West MacDonnell Range features, including Mt Sonder Lookout, Glen Helen Gorge and Ormiston Gorge, all of which were spectacular.
Alice Springs lies in the centre of the MacDonnell Ranges, and the nest day we set out to explore the East MacDonnell Range, once again in snow gear. We visited Emily Gorge, Jessie Gorge, Corroboree Rock and Ewaninga Rock Carvings, before driving past Alice Springs Airport and noticing the “boneyard” of large passenger planes which have yet to be placed back into service following the pandemic.
On the outskirts of Alice Springs lies the grave of the Rev John Flynn, who founded the Australian Inland Mission, which later separated into Frontier Services and the Presbyterian Inland Mission. He also founded what became the Royal Flying Doctor Service, the world's first air ambulance. There is a large stone over his resting place, which was formerly one of the Devils Marbles, however, the indigenous custodians of the Marbles objected, and the stone was replaced by one from around Alice.
Despite the freezing unseasonal weather, we really enjoyed our
stay in Alice Springs, and highly recommend this surprise package to prospective tourists.
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