Alice On the Line

The town that is Alice was a telegraph station when Doris Bradshaw Blackwell went there as a young girl in 1989. Mrs. Blackwell's father, Thomas Bradshaw, was officer in charge of Alice Springs telegraph station from 1899 to 1908. He took his young family from Oodnadatta, the railhead, on a buggy ride of more than 300 miles. In this book, with the collaboration of Territory author Douglas Lockwood, she has recaptured the atmosphere of those early days -- only thirty years after the construction of the O.T. Line and forty years after John McDouall Stuart first crossed the continent from South to North. This personal story of life at The Alice at the turn of the century is not only a book of great historical interest; it reflects a deep love for the country and its people.