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 [...]
Did that dingo really bark?
By Meg Mooney We were camped at the beginning of a little gorge, up Birthday Creek from Stuarts Pass, our way blocked for the night by a deep pool. I looked upstream into the darkness between walls of rock and thought I saw eyes at the height of a human reflect from my torch. My [...]
Vote one wildflowers
There are numerous distractions from the democratic process available in Alice Springs this weekend. Apart from going mad and taking part in the 49th Henley on Todd Regatta, there is also Fish’s Ride to the Ross River Homestead, in which hundreds plan to have a good weekend, raise money for charity and remember a popular local [...]
Honouring the mongrel
In a post a couple of days ago Craig San Roque described Alice Springs as a “mongrel town”, a description that I suspect holds a mixture of affection and exasperation for him. The term came up again in Craig’s memorable introduction to a congress of the Australian Association of Group Psychotherapists held in Alice Springs [...]
Dog Ear Cafe at Witchetty’s
Don’t forget: Andrew Stojanovski’s Dog Ear Cafe will be launched at Witchetty’s in the Araluen Arts Centre in Alice Springs today (August 5) from 3 to 7pm. Dog Ear Café tells the inspiring story of the community-based Mt Theo Petrol Sniffing Program near Yuendumu. Andrew Stojanovski will be speaking, along with Mt Theo elders Johnny Hooker Creek and [...]
Why this picture makes people happy
“Every year, something goes crazy. Some animal has its moment. In 2005 it was a peak year for W cicadas.’ So Mike Gillam tells the story of his wonderful picture, Cicada Peak, Spencer Hill 2005, which has been on display among others and a fine selection of sculpture at 8Hele, recently opened in Alice Springs, at [...]
Waiting for the wildflowers, part one.
Alice’s wet July has sparked vivid and colourful memories of the Centre’s wettest July on record, back in 1986. As 140 mm fell on the town, my wife Kay and I were living in an old converted bus we called Van Morrison at Wanngardi Caravan Park, 15 km from the centre of town. Apart from [...]
A show of sunshine
Sunshine is usually taken for granted in Alice’s customarily dry winters, but by the night before the Friday public holiday for the Alice Springs Show entrants were having to dodge large, spreading puddles to deliver their fruit and veggies to the stewards. In our family’s case these consisted of a pumpkin, three lemons, six slender [...]
Desert Spring at Watarrka
The photographs of Mike Gillam have found a suitable home at 8Hele Gallery, a former plumbing supply shop in Alice’s industrial area, which Mike and others have transformed into one of the town’s most accommodating art spaces. 8Hele Gallery, in Hele Crescent, opened last month, with 24 of Gillam’s pieces given room to breathe among an [...]
A very merrie beanie festival
Transplanting Christmas to the southern hemisphere was all very well, but it left antipodeans without a good way of celebrating the passing of the Winter Equinox. Central Australians went to work on this cultural deficit. Coping with frosty nights, a group of them eventually came up with the Alice Springs Beanie Festival. It’s now 13 [...]
Where’s Mr Stuart?
By Stuart Traynor Week 17 (22-28 June 1860): The expedition ends at Attack Creek They headed back to Kekwick Ponds at sunrise on 22 June and reached them at 1.30 pm with three of the horses just about done in. While resting at Kekwick Ponds on 23 June the men were approached by some Aboriginal [...]
Baldwin and Spencer
If you’ve ever wanted to know more about the dynamic duo of Baldwin Spencer and Frank Gillen, whose collaboration began at the Alice Springs Telegraph station 114 years ago, here’s your chance to get a good introduction to these two blokes with big droopy moustaches who “shaped the Australian conscience” - but were also its [...]
Alice Springs, AUSTRALIA