Alice Springs has been immortalised in books and movies and her fascinating history is both recent and ancient. The Arrernte people call this area Mparntwe (pronounced mbarn-twa) and maintain their traditional language and customs, and a strong spiritual connection to the land. Their complex creation stories, dating back many thousands of years are still told today. The European history of the area began in 1860 with the arrival of the great explorer John McDouall Stuart and, because of his efforts, a site was chosen just north of todayís CBD for the Alice Springs Telegraph Station. The station was part of the Overland Telegraph line, completed in 1872 under the supervision of Charles Todd. The temporary waterhole next to the site was named after Todd's wife Alice but it turned out not to be a spring at all, and Alice never visited the town! The town eventually became a railway village which led to it being a major military post during World War II. Tourism began in the 1950s and remains a major industry, along with health and Aboriginal administrative services. Today, it hosts about 25,000 residents, a third of which are Indigenous, with an interesting mix of nationalities from all over the world.