Darwin to Uluru - Central Australia: Adelaide to Darwin - page 405

There's also a display on the work of Professor TGH Strehlow, a linguist and anthro-
pologist born at the Hermannsburg Mission among the Arrernte people. During his life-
time he gathered one of the world's most documented collections of Australian Aborigin-
al artefacts, songs, genealogies, film and sound recordings. It's upstairs in the Strehlow
Research Centre which has a library open to the public.
Central Australia Aviation Museum MUSEUM
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(Memorial Ave; 9am-5pm Mon-Fri, 10am-5pm Sat & Sun) F Housed in the Connellan
Airways Hangar, Alice's original aerodrome, there are displays on pioneer aviation in the
Territory including Royal Flying Doctor (RFDS) planes.
Easily the most interesting exhibit is the wreck of the Kookaburra , a tiny plane that
crashed in the Tanami Desert in 1929 while searching for Charles Kingsford Smith and
his co-pilot Charles Ulm, who had gone down in their plane, the Southern Cross . The
Kookaburra pilots, Keith Anderson and Bob Hitchcock, perished in the desert, while
Kingsford Smith and Ulm were rescued.
Alice Springs Memorial Cemetery CEMETERY
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The cemetery is adjacent to the aviation museum and contains the graves of some prom-
inent locals including Albert Namatjira (1902-59) and Harold Lasseter (1880-1931), the
eccentric prospector whose fervent search for a folkloric reef of gold (Lasseter's Reef)
claimed his life. Anthropologist Olive Pink (1884-1975), who campaigned for Aborigin-
al rights, is buried facing the opposite direction to the others - a rebel to the end.
Telegraph Station Historical Reserve HISTORIC PARK
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( adult/child $9/4.50; 8am-9pm, museum 9am-5pm) The old Telegraph Station, which
used to relay messages between Darwin and Adelaide, offers a fascinating glimpse of the
town's European beginnings. Built along the Overland Telegraph Line in the 1870s, the
station continued to operate until 1932. It later served as a welfare home for Aboriginal
children of mixed ancestry until 1963. The building has been faithfully restored and
guided tours operate roughly on the hour between 9am and 4.30pm (April to October).
Nearby is the original 'Alice' spring (Thereyurre to the Arrernte Aboriginal people), a
semipermanent waterhole in the Todd River after which the town is named.