Editor’s Picks
A selection of articles of enduring interest from the archives of Alice Online, collected since the site began in February 2009.
Buckley’s chance
As you stock up on your holiday feast supplies this year, imagine a Christmas of such abundance that wherever you walked you were surrounded by fresh fruits from all over the planet, and all in season. The dream is not happening in the crowded aisles of your local supermarket, courtesy of big oil and diesel. It’s right in your own back yard, where ripe or ripening cherries, peaches, apricots, two kinds of apples, grapes, mangoes, bananas, avocadoes and figs are hanging from trees and vines, ju...Read more
Better lives for kids: start earlier?
Argument continues over Jenny Macklin’s plan to withhold welfare benefits from parents who don’t send their kids to school – but could the debate be missing the point as far as the most vulnerable children are concerned? There’s strong evidence that for many Territory children, especially those in remote communities, school age – or even preschool age – is already too late to give them the best help to avoid entering a short life of poverty, bad health, crime and violence...Read more
D.I.Y. utopias
Residents of some cash-strapped communities in remote Central Australia are investigating a space-age solution to their housing dilemmas – but mum’s the word. The concept of Earthbag building is as practical and “down-to-earth”as it sounds, but was refined by an Iranian engineer brainstorming a prospective way of building colonies on the moon (using moon-dust). Although the colony is yet to eventuate (as far as we know), this literally dirt-cheap construction technique ha...Read more
Little Well
By Rod Moss Again the Healing Centre has scheduled a trip into the heart of the country. Again there have been difficulties in securing men to join the group. There’s twenty-two of us in three vehicles. And though three senior men had indicated their enthusiasm for the event, they all withdraw, for various reasons. But we’re still packing the troupies to the seams. We’re not looking for ochres or herbal plants this time. The focus is on sitting at Little Well, and for the older folk...Read more
Fairy Wren
More magnificent bird photos from Dave Price. Dave found these splendid wrens –male and female – a few kilometres from his doorstep. But perhaps they found him; it could be his reputation for portraiture is spreading in the bird world Bird writer Chris Watson had this to say: This first picture of the male Splendid Fairy-wren is a rare (and difficult to get) shot of the flaring of the contour plumes around the cheek and throat. This is textbook breeding season territoriality from a fiercely ...Read more
Kutja Australia!
A project to translate Advance Australia Fair into Aboriginal languages, kick-started by Ted Egan and Alison Anderson, has been sadly under-reported, despite funding by the Federal government to distribute a DVD promoting the anthem in Luritja to 10,000 schools. I had a chat with Ted about the project last month and agree that it has the potential to not only rejuvenate ailing Aboriginal languages but make the anthem itself a lot more exciting. It could help to close the cultural divide betwee...Read more
Couture In Motion
Fashion came to life in Alice Springs when designers from the Sustainable Couture group showcased garments made from recycled and repurposed materials. Pre-loved clothing, blankets, and any other versatile textile was transformed into standout couture at a unique catwalk show. Locals and visitors alike were treated to the Sustainable Couture style, featuring works by seven designers including Philomena Hali, Kathryn Frank, Nicky Schonkala, Sarah Hill, Julie Millerick, Carmel Ryan and Franca Fred...Read more
Biodynamics: stirring stuff
The first time I heard about biodynamic farming was from a TV program set on a dairy farm in Victoria and broadcast on the ABC’s now defunct Countrywide series. Amazed, I watched a farmer bury two cowhorns filled with manure – the first step in the creation of a substance called “500″. This month, nearly three decades later, I stood among biodynamic gardeners as they did the same thing, this time in the arid, infertile heart of Australia. In the years between these two ev...Read more
Rolling back reality
Rebuilding the Chaos, from the Ground Up: anti-Intervention groups call for a return to year zero in remote Aboriginal communities. (A version of this article also appears on The Drum.) By Bob Durnan Winter is icumen in, here in central Australia; the car windows are filling with frost. The solstice is nigh. With the winter solstice, as in the three years just past, comes the anniversary (1 ) of the announcement of the Northern Territory Emergency Response (2), and thus also the ritual gatheri...Read more
Is anything sacred?
Alison Anderson has been dipping into Pandora’s box again, this time with a campaign against dot painting sessions for whitefellas at the Alice Springs Desert Park. But, for better or worse, the box appears to well and truly open. Ms Anderson’s concerns were reported by Ashleigh Wilson in The Australian on the weekend, and she also spoke to Tatjana Clancy on ABC radio this morning. “We degrade our art and our culture by just giving it away and saying you can put a dot: and you can...Read more
The gardener and the bowerbird
Stories of Olive Pink and her stormy relationships with plants and people are legion. But after hearing Paul Rilstone’s story, I can’t help wondering if she encountered any western bowerbirds in the decades she was living and creating her beautiful garden. How would they have got on? It seems appropriate that these talented ecccentrics have colonised Miss Pink’s space so emphatically — even though their differences from the anti-social and hermit-like anthroplogist are many. Paul is...Read more
Recent Features
- The hospital they didn't want
- The secret life of white-plumed honeyeaters
- Crime levels not new: police commissioner
- Mandatory treatment plan would cost hundreds of millions
- Misbehavers "not welcome": police commissioner
- That famous Whitegate mob again
- CASA and the zen of tourism
- Return of the man from Oodnadatta
- The memories are always there
- More truancy officers
Tags
alice desert festival alice springs alice springs desert festival alison anderson angela-pamela arid lands environment centre bess price budgies Bush Christmas Cake bush food recipes bush foods bush foods recipe bush law bush law documentary bush tomatoes bush tucker central australia central australian history Dick Kimber environment explorers fiction heritage alice springs high rise History housing indigenous indigenous affairs john mcdouall stuart justice Nelen race relations rain riots Todd River town planning traditional law traditional punishment Udjerlah's Song uluru violence water wildflowers wild foods yuendumu
Alice Springs Weather
 16°C |
| Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | Mon | ||
 |  | | | | |  | |
| 20° | 21° | 23° | 24° | 24° | 24° | ||
| 6° | 8° | 9° | 10° | 10° | 10° | ||
| Data powered by |  |