Note: pictures curtesy of NT Tourism
I had no idea what to expect when arriving to Alice Springs. All I knew is that it was “Outback”. It was also a heaven for those who prefer a more “alternative lifestyle”, and that it was surrounded by sections of land that had been returned to the Aboriginal people. I also knew that it is a popular tourist destination, as it is the nearest city to Uluru.
Already excited about the holiday, and the whole mystery surrounding Alice Springs, my excitement was further heighted by the anticipated of expecting someone to be waiting at the baggage claim, holding a sign with MY name on it. Yes, my name. I was bursting with pride, how important I would feel! My pulse began to quicken as I neared the baggage claim area. My head swivelled from left to right, right to left, in search of the sign, the sign with my name on it. I even had plans to take the sigh home, frame it and put it on the wall in remembrance of such a monumentous occasion. But, No special sign. Ah, no need to worry yet. Perhaps they were waiting outside. I grabbed my suitcase and headed outside. Still no special sign. I asked the man at the tourist booth and he pointed to a shuttle bus. I then explained to him that there was suppose to be someone, holding a sign, a special sign with my name on it. He responded with “Oh, in that case, if you are waiting for someone with a special sign, with your name on it, then I suggest you sit down and wait. I am sure they will be along shortly.”
I sat down, my head still on a swivel. Even as more time passed, I refused to give up hope. The person with the sign would arrive, I was sure of it! I called the motel, and asked them if they knew where the man with the special sign was and she said that she would call them, find out and then call me back. As I anxiously awaited her call, I watched forlornly as the shuttle bus headed off to the city, leaving me behind. I kept staring at the phone, willing it to ring. After what seems to be an eternity, I called her back and she said “well, honey, I guess they aren’t coming”. Gee, thanks for letting me know. I could of got on the shuttle. Welcome to Alice Springs.
I stomped outside, the thrill of being important a fading dream. After waiting for another shuttle, which eventually showed up and eventually got filled up, I finally made it into Alice Springs…..
Alice Springs is the heart and the centre of the Australian Outback, both geographically and a metaphorically. It is also the closest city to all the Australian beaches! Even though this is said jokingly, as there aren’t any beaches there, it is actually true! Being the heart of the outback and the closes city to the Australian icon – Uluru, I was taken aback when I discovered how small the town is! I discovered this, as I got the grand tour of the town, because, as usual, I was the last one to be dropped off. After checking into my spartian, little hotel room, I headed out to do some shopping and site seeing…and experience Alice Springs!
During this trip, I also hoped to learn more about the Aboriginal people and I will be posted some information in the blog as I learn. Let’s start with a timeline:
Timeline
120,000 B.C. Analysis of pollen and charcoal suggest that people were using fire to clear land in southern Australia as early as 120,000 years ago.
60,000 B.C. Archaeological evidence appears to indicate a Aboriginal made rock shelter.
45,000 B.C. The world's earliest dated rock engravings, or petroglyphs, found in Australia, date back to this age.
23,000 B.C. Aborigines were using ground-edge grooved axes.
1788 Captain Phillip raises the Union Jack at Sydney Cove. Estimates put the indigenous population at that time bewteen 300,000 and 750,000. Within weeks of the first colonists' arrival, a wave of European epidemic diseases such as chickenpox, smallpox, influenza and measles, spread through frontier Anoriginal communities, decimating the population.
1824 Lieutenant-Governor George Arthur offerd bounties for the capture of Aborigines - adults and children.
1828 The governor of Tasmania, Governor Arthur, declared martial law against the Aboriginal people. It was considered a declaration of war.
1837 The forced detention of Aboriginal women by white men was outlawed.
1870 All the fertile areas of Australia had been appropriated by the colonists. Indigenous communities were reduced to living either on the fringes of European communities or on lands considered unsuitable for settlement.
1876 TRUGANINI, the last surviving Tasmanian Aborigine, died.
1910 Government bodies and church groups work together to remove Aboriginal children from their homes, a practice which continues for almost 60 years. These children have become known as 'THE STOLEN GENERATION'.
1930 Estimates put the Aboriginal population as low as 50,000 to 90,000
1963 Indigenous Australians were given the right to vote in Commonwealth elections.
1967 Indigenous Australians are counted in the national Census for the first time.
1969 The practice of forcibly removing Aboriginal children from their families was finally officially halted.
1971 In a landmark case, Justice Blackburn ruled that Australia had been terra nullius before European settlement, and that no concept of Native title existed in Australian law. Although the Aboriginal plaintiffs lost that case, the effect was to bring public attention to the matter, which eventually led to the Aboriginal Land Rights Act.
1972 An Aboriginal 'Tent Embassy' was established on the steps of Parliament House in Canberra, in response to the sentiment among indigenous Australians that they were "strangers in their own country". A Tent Embassy still exists on the same site today.
1976 The Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act is passed by the Federal Parliament, providing recognition of Aboriginal land ownership to about 11,000 people
1992 The Australian High Court handed down its decision in the Mabo Case, declaring the previous legal concept of terra nullius to be invalid. Legislation was subsequently enacted and later amended to recognise Native Title claims over land in Australia.
1999 The Prime Minister released a public expression of regret for the ill-treatment of Aboriginies in the past, but stopped short of an 'apology', for fear that it could encourage claims for compensation.
2001 The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimated the total resident indigenous population to be 458,520 (2.4% of Australia's total). The life expectancy of an Indigenous Australian was 59.4 years for males and 64.8 years for females, approximately 17 years lower than the Australian average. Unemployment is almost three times higher among Aborigines (20.0% unemployment) than among non-Indigenous Australians (7.6%).
2003 Twenty percent of prisoners in Australian jails were Indigenous, although making up only 2.4% of the country's population.
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