Alice Springs Town Heritage Walk
Walk the heritage sites of Alice Springs — the original telegraph station, the Ghan railway, and the frontier history of the town that grew as the crossroads of Australia at the geographic centre of the continent.
- 1
Alice Springs Telegraph Station
The Alice Springs Telegraph Station (1872) is the founding site of the town — built to relay messages on the Overland Telegraph Line connecting Adelaide to Darwin, the station's water supply from the Alice Spring (a water hole) gave the town its name.
- 2
The Old Ghan Heritage Railway
The Ghan train was the famous narrow-gauge railway that connected Adelaide to Alice Springs — the original route followed flood-prone creek beds and was chronically disrupted by floods, earning a reputation as the world's most unreliable railway.
- 3
Alice Springs Town Centre
Alice Springs town centre retains its frontier character — the grid of streets is small, the buildings low, and the surrounding MacDonnell Ranges are visible from every street corner, a constant reminder of the desert landscape.
- 4
Araluen Cultural Precinct
The Araluen Arts Centre and the Museum of Central Australia are the cultural heart of Alice Springs — the museum's natural history collection and the gallery's Aboriginal art holdings represent the best introduction to Central Australia.
- 5
Flynn's Grave
The grave of John Flynn, founder of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, is marked by a boulder brought from the Devil's Marbles — Flynn's vision of a 'mantle of safety' for remote Australia transformed life in the outback.
- 6
Alice Springs Desert Park
The Desert Park at the base of the Tjoritja/West MacDonnell Ranges presents Central Australian ecosystems in native habitats — the nocturnal house reveals desert wildlife invisible to daytime visitors in their natural environment.
Walk this route with audio
Stories play automatically as you reach each stop — no tapping needed.
