Alice Springs
It was during the building of the Overland Telegraph Line that W.W. Mills discovered the dry riverbed and, following it down, found pool after pool of clear water. Alice Spring was named in the honour of Mrs Todd'.
The Alice Springs Telegraph Office was opened on 22 August 1872 on the very day that Patterson connected the wires between Adelaide and Darwin, In 1878 a Post Office was opened, followed on 28 April 1879 by a Police Station.
In 1929 the railway line linking Alice Springs with Adelaide was completed and mechanised trains replaced camel trains. Motor and air transport to the Centre grew more frequent and reliable, as Alice Springs overcame its isolation. It was not till February 2004 that the train line was extended right through to Darwin.
Mparntwe (pronounced mbarn-twa) is the Arrernte word for Alice Springs and was created by the actions of several ancestral figures including the caterpillar beings Ayepe-arenye, Ntyarlke and Utnerrengatye, the MacDonnell Ranges being but one of their creations.
