Website: http://www.aliceonline.com.au
Dave has been stamping (and treading gently when appropriate) around the Centre since 1978 when he came here because it wasn't Queensland. Since then he's worked for every newspaper in town and some out of town, including The Australian, The National Times, The Age and The Sunday Mail in Brisbane. Dave also had a stint writing feature articles about "cross-cultural chaos" in the now-defunct HQ Magazine. In the nineties Dave got writer's block and branched out into radio, originally working in the newsroom of the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association and then for twelve years as a producer for ABC Local Radio. Somewhere in the middle of that stint, Dave decided a website about Alice Springs was a great idea, and is still harping on it. He left the ABC in 2007.
The Spring of the Independents
Congratulations to Julia Gillard and the Australian Labor Party, but more congratulations to the three independents from regional Australia for their unexpected but timely moment of ascendancy — and the sense of responsibility they have shown to all Australians by their considered actions. I am celebrating the rise of the independents with another walk to [...]
Three charged after riot
Police have charged three men over a riot at an Alice Springs football game at the weekend, reports ABC News.
Leo Abbott: I have never hit a woman
The Country Liberal candidate for the federal seat of Lingiari says he will pursue defamation action over claims made about him in the final days of the Federal Election Campaign. Leo Abbott became the focus of a media storm when it was reported he was in breach of a domestic violence order, and senior CL [...]
The imperative to say No
While yesterday’s awful events at the Under 17 football grand final have predictably attracted national attention, Friday’s march against violence in Alice Springs was disappointingly overlooked by the media. It was indeed “historic” as Alice Springs police commander Anne-Marie Murphy described it. As Sunday’s brawl illustrates, the challenge facing the marchers is huge. While domestic [...]
Four people are in custody after an attack on police and an umpire during a riot at a teenage football match in Alice Springs on Saturday, reports ABC News.
Udjerlah’s Song (continued)
Written and illustrated by Nelen Slava wrote to her in his best English: “I’m thinking of you every day. Sorry to hear you were ill, I thought that in desert it’s always hot. Hope you have some warm things to wear. Take care of yourself please. My dear Wanderer, don’t frighten me by saying that [...]
Men march against violence
More than a hundred men and boys wearing bright yellow T-shirts that said “Stop the violence” brought cross-town traffic in Alice Springs to a standstill today in a public rally against domestic violence. Most of the participants were Aboriginal, but the Alice Springs men’s health service that organised the march had invited all males in [...]
Wildflower poisoning was for “public safety”.
The Alice Springs Town Council has admitted poisoning stretches of brilliantly coloured wildflowers on the verge of a prominent Alice Springs street, claiming the spraying was in the interests of ‘public safety”. Yesterday I contacted the Council after a report from horticulturist Chris Brock that Council workers were spraying swathes of swainsona (a wildflower that [...]
Now go further, says alcohol action group
The Alice Springs-based People’s Alcohol Action Group has backed new NT Government laws which would enable courts to ban “problem drinkers” from buying or drinking alcohol for up to a year. But PAAC called for the Government to take further steps to reduce alcohol related problems in the Territory by introducing a volumetric tax on [...]
Killing wildflowers: is that a joke?
From reader and horticulturalist Chris Brock comes an astonishing report this morning. Noticed the carpets of swainsonia that have suddenly appeared this month to grace our footpaths? In response to a recent post, Chris says: ”If you want to see wildflowers – go no further than Memorial Drive in Gillen next to the School – [...]
“Animal bars” unacceptable
The Northern Territory Chief Minister has indicated the Government may move to stop a number of hotels selling grog in public bars from as early as10 am. Chief Minister Paul Henderson has told a meeting of the Northern Territory Police Association there is no place in the Territory for “animal bars” that target problem drinkers. [...]
Alice Springs: recognising the hybrid reality
By Craig San Roque (This is an extract from a draft in preparation for publication offered as some background on Alice Springs for the Australian Association of Group Therapists conference held on August 14/15 2010) In the space of a remembered lifetime Central Australia has been completely altered. A little more than 100 years ago [...]
Alice Springs, AUSTRALIA