A visit to the Alice Springs Telegraph Station was a must do.
The Bradshaw family had lived there from 1899 to 1908 when Thomas Bradshaw was the station master. His eldest daughter Doris later wrote ‘Alice on the Line’, about their time at the station which I had just finished reading. To get to Alice (which was called Stuart at that time, after the explorer) from Adelaide, the family could only travel by train as far as Oodnadatta. The rest of the journey took two weeks by horse and buggy.
Travellers complain today about corrugations in the road when they’re in their 4 wheel drives but the Bradshaws would have had a body jarring journey in the heat across the gibber (stony) plains. Thomas and his wife went on to have three more children while living at Alice Springs which must have been a frightening experience so far from any medical help.
The supplies for the station came once a year by camel. Imagine the size of that shopping list.
