Alice Springs (aboriginal Mparntwe) is a city in the Red Centre
region of Northern Territory. It has a population of 23,384
people. The town is probably best known for it's proximity to
Uluru (Ayer's Rock) approximately 300km to the south-west. A
repeater station was built for theOverland Telegraph Line in
1871 at a waterhole named "Alice Springs" after the wife of the
prime mover for the enterprise, the South Australian Postmaster-
General, Charles Todd. The town of Stuart - named after the
first white man to explore the area, James McDouall Stuart - was
founded nearby in 1889 and renamed Alice Springs in 1933. A rail
line from Adelaide, ("The Ghan"; named after the Afghan camel
drivers associated with the Telegraph Line,) arrived in 1929 and
was finally connected with Darwin, 1500-odd km to the north, in
1993. For many years it was near the southern end of the sealed
road - the Stuart Highway ("The Track", as it is known) - built
during ((World War II]]. It became a major centre for the Royal
Flying Doctor S