Editing Alice Springs (section)

===European settlement ===
In 1861–62, [[John McDouall Stuart]] led an expedition through Central Australia to the west of what later became Alice Springs, thereby establishing a route from the south of the continent to the north.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks/e00040.html|title=Explorations in Australia|last=Stuart|first=John McDouall|publisher=Saunders, Otley, and Co.|year=1865|location=London|pages=1|access-date=25 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190317064614/http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks/e00040.html|archive-date=17 March 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Alice Springs Telegraph Station, 2015 (02).JPG|thumb|The original [[Alice Springs Telegraph Station]] was built in 1872 to relay messages between [[Darwin, Northern Territory|Darwin]] and [[Adelaide]].|left]]
A settlement named after Stuart was necessitated ten years later with the construction of a repeater station on the [[Australian Overland Telegraph Line]] (OTL), which linked [[Adelaide]] to [[Darwin, Northern Territory|Darwin]] and [[Great Britain]]. The OTL was completed in 1872. It traced Stuart's route and opened up the interior for permanent settlement. The [[Alice Springs Telegraph Station]] was sited near what was thought to be a permanent waterhole in the normally dry [[Todd River]],<ref name="ausgeorc" /> named Alice Springs<ref>[https://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/placenames/view.jsp?id=23882 Alice Springs (waterhole)] Northern Territory Government Place Names Register Retrieved 9 June 2020.</ref> by W.W. Mills after the wife of the Superintendent of Telegraphs and Postmaster General of South Australia, Sir [[Charles Todd (pioneer)|Charles Todd]], who was the driving force for constructing the OTL. The nearby settlement of Stuart was renamed Alice Springs on 31 August 1933.<ref>[https://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/placenames/view.jsp?id=10219 Alice Springs (town)] Northern Territory Government Place Names Register Retrieved 9 June 2020.</ref> The Todd River<ref>[https://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/placenames/view.jsp?id=19020 Todd River] Northern Territory Government Place Names Register Retrieved 9 June 2020.</ref> and its tributary the Charles River,<ref>[https://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/placenames/view.jsp?id=11704 Charles River] Northern Territory Government Place Names Register Retrieved 9 June 2020.</ref> which meet near the telegraph station, were named after Sir Charles.
[[File:Adelaide House, Alice Springs, 2015.JPG|thumb|The historic [[Adelaide House (Alice Springs)|Adelaide House]], built 1926, the town's first hospital]]
It was not until [[Alluvium|alluvial]] gold was discovered at Arltunga, {{convert|100|km|mi}} east of the present Alice Springs, in 1887 that any significant European settlement occurred.<ref>Kelham, Megg "Discovering Local History Through Museums in Central Australia" published by the National Pioneer Women's Hall of Fame as educational resources [http://www.pioneerwomen.com.au/content/view/87/62/educational_resources available on-line] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029193408/http://www.pioneerwomen.com.au/content/view/87/62/educational_resources |date=29 October 2013 }}</ref> The town's first substantial building was the [[Stuart Town Gaol]] in Parson's Street; this was built in 1909, when the town had a European population of fewer than 20 people. Many of the gaol's first prisoners were first-contact Aboriginal men imprisoned for killing cattle.<ref>{{cite web |author=Kelham, Megg |hdl=10070/233508|title=A Very Short History of the Stuart Town Gaol |url=https://territorystories.nt.gov.au/10070/656925/0/0 |website=Territory Stories}}</ref> The first aircraft, piloted by [[Francis Stewart Briggs]], landed in 1921.<ref>State Library of South Australia, [https://web.archive.org/web/20151017024334/http://images.slsa.sa.gov.au/searcy/35/PRG280_1_35_262.htm "De Havilland D.H.4 flown by Francis Briggs after landing in Central Australia"], ''State Library of South Australia''. Retrieved 16 June 2014.</ref> Central Australia's first hospital, Adelaide House, was built in 1926 when the European population of the town was about 40. It was not until 1929, when the train line to Alice was built, that the town's European population began to grow. Aboriginal Centralians outnumbered European Centralians until the mid-1930s.<ref name="flynntrail.org.au">Kelham, Megg 'Flynn's Alice' – a pictorial history of Alice Springs with documents available on line at {{cite web |url=http://www.flynntrail.org.au/discovery_resources/Reading/Flynn's_Alice.pdf |title=Following in Flynn's footsteps|access-date=26 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160316124723/http://flynntrail.org.au/discovery_resources/Reading/Flynn%27s_Alice.pdf |archive-date=16 March 2016 }}</ref> From 1926 to 1931, Alice Springs was the seat of government for the now-defunct [[Central Australia (territory)|Territory of Central Australia]].<ref name="act1926">{{cite web |title=North Australia Act, No. 16 of 1926 |url=http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdb/au/legis/cth/num_act/naa192616o1926264/ |publisher=Commonwealth of Australia |access-date=2 October 2018 |date=4 June 1926 |quote=Clause 51; Seat of government of Central Australia |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002090210/http://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdb/au/legis/cth/num_act/naa192616o1926264/ |archive-date=2 October 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C1931A00005|title=Northern Territory (Administration) Act 1931|publisher=Commonwealth of Australia|access-date=22 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181203202747/https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C1931A00005|archive-date=3 December 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Until 31 August 1933, the town was officially known as Stuart.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.alicesprings.nt.gov.au/alice-springs/history |title=About Alice Springs – History |publisher=Alicesprings.nt.gov.au |date=31 August 1933 |access-date=30 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524153936/http://www.alicesprings.nt.gov.au/alice-springs/history |archive-date=24 May 2011 }}</ref>
[[File:The Flying Doctor Service, Alice Springs, Australia.jpg|thumb|Main dispatch centre of the [[Royal Flying Doctor Service]]]]
[[File:Alice Springs Panoramic View(GN05767).jpg|thumb|The township in 1935]]
The original mode of British-Australian transportation in the outback were [[camel]] trains, operated by immigrants from [[Pashtun people|Pathan]] tribes in the [[Military history of the North-West Frontier|North-West Frontier]] of then-[[British India]] (present-day Pakistan), known locally as [[Afghan (Australia)|Afghan]] cameleers based at Hergott Springs, or Marree as it is now known. Many cameleers moved to Alice Springs in 1929 when the railway finally reached the town. They lived on the block where the town council is now, transporting goods from the rail head to stations and settlements to the north. A gold rush in Tennant Creek in 1932 kept the wheels of the Alice Springs economy turning until the outbreak of [[World War II]].<ref name="flynntrail.org.au"/>

In 1941 Father [[Percy Smith (Australian priest)|Percy Smith]], an Anglican minister, founded St John's Hostel in Bath Street.<ref name=cofehostel>{{cite web | title=Church of England Hostel for Inland Children| website=Find & Connect | publisher=Commonwealth of Australia | date=5 December 2017 | url=https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/sa/biogs/SE01190b.htm | access-date=30 January 2024| first1=Karen |last1=George | first2= Gary |last2=George}}</ref> The hostel provided accommodation for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children from remote areas who were attending school in Alice Springs. He had been concerned at the lack of opportunities for children housed in the government facility for Aboriginal children in Alice Springs, called [[The Bungalow]]. Smith went on to found and run [[St Francis House]] in [[Adelaide]] in 1945, but St John's continued to operate. Children under the care of the Welfare Branch were also placed there, and the building had to be expanded. During World War II, the hostel served as a recreation centre for troops. The new two-storey building was designed to accommodate up to 50 children, with separate dormitories for boys and girls, each with separate study area and library. Several of the children were transferred to St Francis House over time, and St John's Hostel continued to operate until the 1970s.<ref name=stj>{{cite web | title=St John's Hostel | website=Find & Connect |date=20 May 2021 | url=https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/guide/nt/YE00263 | access-date=30 January 2024}}</ref>