The town of Alice Springs, viewed from Anzac Hill at sunset, Northern Territory, NT, Australia
Alice Springs (Arrernte: Mparntwe) is the third largest town in the Northern Territory. Popularly known as "the Alice" or simply "Alice", Alice Springs is situated in the geographic centre of Australia near the southern border of the Northern Territory.
Alice Springs lies in the physical and spiritual heart of Australia’s arid zone, about halfway between Darwin to the north and Adelaide to the south.
The site is known as Mparntwe to its original inhabitants, the Arrernte, who have lived in the Central Australian desert in and around what is now Alice Springs for thousands of years. "Alice" in the English language was named by surveyor W. W. Mills after Lady Alice Todd (née Alice Gillam Bell), wife of Sir Charles Todd.
The Alice, as it's often known, sprang from humble beginnings as a lonely telegraph station on the continent-spanning Overland Telegraph Line more than 140 years ago. Although still famous for its far-flung location, Alice Springs is no longer the frontier settlement of legend. Yet the vast surroundings of red desert and burnished ranges still underscore its remoteness.
The town straddles the usually dry Todd River on the northern side of the MacDonnell Ranges. The surrounding region is known as Central Australia, or the Red Centre, an arid environment consisting of several different deserts.
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