I first travelled to Alice Springs on Sunday 3rd November 1955, arriving on TAA flight TN576 which left Adelaide at 6.40pm on the Saturday, with stops at Leigh Creek and Oodnadatta.
I arrived 12.20am and slept the remainder of the night at the residence of Mrs Jenkins at the corner of Parsons Street and Railway Terrace opposite the Post Office.
I awoke at sunrise and from my window witnessed the wonderful colourful effect that the rays of the sun had on the MacDonnell Ranges including the majestic Mount Gillen.
I was instantly affected by the beauty of the area.
Keith Castle, now aged 93, was one of the most influential figures in The Centre’s budding tourism industry. Editor ERWIN CHLANDA picked some gems from his 164 page memoir that is full of detail, dates, commercial information, but especially about the stories of people who devoted their lives to developing the region’s visitor industry.
They are only a handful of men and women but they all had skin in the game, big time, building accommodation, sometimes with their own hands, starting coach firms and developing tours: Stan Cawood, Bert and Kate Gardiner, Doug and Gil Green, Jack and Jim Cotterill, Bryan Bowman, Ian Conway, Harry and Joy Taylor, Bernie Kilgariff, Daisy and son Ly Underdown, Barry Bucholtz, Geoff Beames, just to mention some.
They turned Ross River, King’s Canyon, Ayers Rock, Simpson’s Gap, Palm Valley, Glen Helen into destinations.
Snippets from Mr Castle’s account illustrate the tenacity and resourcefulness of the industry’s founders.
The word government is hardly ever mentioned in his account, and promotion wasn’t in the hands of Darwin-based bureaucrats who, from current experience, are incapable of keeping the industry from freefall.
Instead, early operators parleyed TAA, one of Australia’s major domestic airlines from its inception in 1946 until its merger with QANTAS in 1992, into giving them a few free seats to take their pitch to the state capitals.
From June 21 into July 1962, [my wife] Shirley and I undertook tours with the Central Australian Tours Association (CATA): Seven days Ayers Rock and Kings Canyon staying at Ayers Rock Chalet and Wallara Ranch. Four days Western MacDonnell Ranges staying at Glen Helen Chalet. Four day Ross River Tour staying at Ross River Homestead. The day tours of Alice Springs town and Standley Chasm / Simpsons Gap.
We experienced what the operators had to deal with in this vast area with poor roads, in chalets where they had to provide their own water supplies, sewer and drainage facilities and electricity.
Late 1950s: Initially it was a group of four tour operators who provided chalet style accommodation “out bush” from Alice Springs and a hotel and a guest house in Alice Springs.
They commenced this enterprise as an unofficial loose group that became an incorporated body in January 1961 as CATA and then a Limited Company in late 1962.
The new company then decided to operate tours to Ayers Rock in the summer of 1957/1958. Several galvanised tin sheds which had been used for staff accommodation at the back of the Hotel Alice Springs were taken to Ayers Rock.
Lance Rust with several workers constructed from those sheds what was to become the Ayers Rock Chalet.
1958: Shortly after the first Rock tours started heavy rains washed away the road through Mount Quinn homestead and the route was changed to travel via Erldunda.
The first tour of each week was by road to Ayers Rock and returning by air and the second tour each week being by air to Ayers Rock and returning by road.
Connellan Airways, the local airline, provided the air travel for both those tours, flying by the “scenic route” along the MacDonnell Ranges over Simpsons Gap, Standley Chasm, Ellery Creek Gorge, Ormiston Gorge, Glen Helen Gorge, Finke River, Hermannsburg Mission, Lake Amadeus then to Ayers Rock.
The first manager of the Ayers Rock Chalet was Howard Rust. In1960 the shareholding in the company changed, when Jack and Elsie Cotterill decided to commence operating a tour to King’s Canyon. They sold their shareholding in Alice Springs Tours to Stanley Walter (Stan) Cawood.
Stan was the owner of Cawood Transport, which carried goods from the rail head at Alice Springs to Tennant Creek, Mt Isa, Katherine and Darwin.
1959: Harry Bloomfield the owner of Loves Creek cattle station invited the two Green brothers to use the abandoned homestead for their base.
Recognising the beauty of the area and its potential as a tourist destination they built timber cabins next to the remains of the Old Loves Creek homestead. They had a timber mill, used earlier for rail sleepers sold to the Commonwealth.
They built the first cabins from red gum timber of the area, and also rebuilt and renovated the old homestead providing a dining room, kitchen, bar and lounge areas.
A swimming pool was to be provided for their guests using a squatter’s tank near the homestead. Initially five cabins were built, including two single beds with en-suite shower and toilet facilities in each.
Standley Chasm
Very soon it was necessary to increase the number of cabins from five to ten in 1960. Members of the cattle industry fraternity were approached to assist with the new tourist venture as the availability of finance from banks and other sources was very limited.
Firstly the Clough family assisted them. When credit tightened in the cattle industry they had to reclaim their investments and Bryan Bowman of Coniston cattle station came to the rescue and assisted them to expand their tours. Bowman had already become involved in the tourist industry by assisting Bert Gardiner start Trailway Tours.
At the same time Harry Bloomfield agreed to relinquish his lease on the Loves Creek Cattle Station for the purpose of allowing the Green Brothers to apply for a 40 acre Special Purpose Lease to build a tourist resort – now Ross River – within the Loves Creek Cattle station.
In the early 50s Trailway Tours was formed by Bert and Kate Gardiner. They had arrived in Alice Springs and set up the Legion Taxi service and like many others could see the potential of a tour operation in the area.
Bert showed interest in the Western MacDonnell Ranges and particularly Glen Helen Gorge, and started tours to that area in 1954.
An approach was made to Bowman with the idea of renovating the deserted Glen Helen homestead to provide rooms for passengers, plus kitchen and lounge facilities. Bowman agreed and so became involved in that tourist venture, becoming a great supporter in the early formation and operation CATA.
Bert Gardiner started operating tours to the area on a four day basis. The first day was travelling to Glen Helen calling at Ellery Creek Big Hole, Serpentine George, and the Ochre Pit.
1980 Albion Denning
The second day’s activities began with viewing sunrise on nearby Mount Sonder in the west, then later a full day trip to Ormiston George and Ormiston Pound.
The third day was exploring Glen Helen Gorge and nearby gorges in the area including Redbank. Around 1960 or 1961 a road was constructed through Glen Helen Gorge alongside the Finke River, but the old river had other ideas, and the road was washed away in the next flood.
In 1959 Bert asked Reg Rechner of TAA for concessional airfares to enable him to travel to the capital cities to promote his tours to Glen Helen George and Central Australia. TAA agreed to provide concessional travel and as a result, tour operators from Alice Springs started calling on tourist bureaux and travel agencies particularly in South Australia and Victoria about tours in the winter months, May to September.
Convinced that the area had a huge potential, Jack and Elsie Cotterill decided to go it alone and operate tours to Kings Canyon.
They sold their shares in Alice Springs Tours to Stan Cawood, whose wife Ethell was the daughter of Daisy Underdown and the sister of Lycergus, known by all as Ly.
No land was available near the canyon, so after discussions with Aboriginal pastoralist Arthur Liddle, they completed an arrangement with him to build the tourist chalet on Angas Downs station.
Unfortunately the area with a suitable supply of water nearest to Kings Canyon was some 60 miles away from the canyon at Yowra Bore. It later became Wallara Ranch Motel.
A new “road” allowed the operation of their four-wheel drive coach to Kings Canyon in reasonable conditions when the weather was dry.
The story of the Elkira Court Motel starts in 1952 when Harry and Joy Taylor visited Alice Springs as tourists and were so moved by the beauty of the area that they vowed to return.
They did that in 1954 and at that time purchased a colonial style house in Bath Street owned by Claude Cashman.
On return to Victoria they left the house in the care of the ES&A Bank manager, Bill Mullins who, after his retirement from the bank, became the manager of the Oasis Motel, owned by Bernie Kilgariff.
Serpentine Gorge
Having taken up residence the Taylors renovated the house to become a guest house, increasing the number of rooms by building motel units.
Harry, the builder, tried to purchase a tip-truck in Alice Springs but was unable to find one at a reasonable price. He went to Adelaide and purchased one and returned up the South Road (the unsealed south Stuart Highway) loaded with materials.
To make the concrete blocks he obtained a license to mine sand from the Todd River and gravel from Gillen Creek near the base of Mount Gillen. By 1957 Elkira’s total capacity was 22 rooms.
The Hotel Alice Springs on the south-east corner of Gregory Terrace and Hartley Street was built by the Underdown family. It started operating as a hotel in 1932, having obtained a hotel license from the Northern Territory Administration.
The licensee for many years was Mrs Daisy Underdown. After her death it was taken over by son Ly.
In late 1947 the hotel provided accommodation and meals to the TAA air-crews for their overnight stays. They were accommodated in some of the earliest, and perhaps the first air-conditioned rooms in Central Australia.
The hotel was extended to a second floor in the early 1950s. Ly was the builder and made the materials at his cement brick works on the south-east bank of the Todd River near Heavitree Gap.
By the early 1950s Central Australia and Ayers Rock were becoming known as a tourist destination by many Australians. In September 1950 Len Tuit took a party of 22 school-boys and 11 masters from the rail at Finke to Ayers Rock and later that year escorted a group from Melbourne University to Ayers Rock.
In 1951 Eddie Connellan, having regularly diverted some of his cattle station mail runs to fly over Ayers Rock, applied for landing rights there.
1955: The Commonwealth Railways operated the passenger train “The Ghan” (pictured as it was in the 1930s) from Port Augusta to Alice Springs, leaving Port Augusta on a Thursday arriving in Alice Springs sometime between 11.30 am and 4.30 pm “or later” on a Saturday. It then left on its return journey to Port Augusta on Sundays at 11.00 am.
Trans-Australia Airlines (TAA) had flights to and from Adelaide six days a week, and to Darwin from Alice Springs four days a week.
In 1957, on a request from Len Tuit, Merv Andrews from Curtin Springs station drilled for water at Ayers Rock. In 1957 he found a supply and this stopped the need of carrying water in jerry cans from Curtin Springs to Ayers Rock on his tours.
To promote the tours and increase loadings Len began employing a “hospitality officer” who joined the Ghan at Finke to advise the passengers about tours and accommodation.
In 1958 Pioneer Tours joined forces with Len Tuit. The new operation conducted tours for some time as Pioneer-Tuit Tours. Pioneer Tours later purchased Tuit’s Coach Services tours and organization, including Mount Gillen Hotel and began expanding their Central Australian operations by building a Chalet at Serpentine Gorge and expanding and upgrading Mount Gillen Hotel and the tent camp at Ayers Rock, and introduced more modern coaches.
The Alice Springs Chamber of Commerce stated in 1960 that Central Australia had embarked on “what, undoubtedly will be her greatest season ever. From it could emerge undeniable proof that she has within her grasp a great national industry which, with proper development and encouragement, could outstrip cattle and mining as the Territory’s major money earner”.
On April 15, 1961 the new airline terminal and travel agency built by Ly Underdown was officially opened by Mr J (Jock) Nelson MHR, member for the Northern Territory in the Australian Parliament: “The potential value of the tourist industry to the Northern Territory is estimated at four million pounds a year.
This potential will make tourism as valuable as the pastoral industry – however to achieve this goal close co-operation is needed between the Government and private enterprise. By forming CATA, private enterprise has shown its interest, and it is up to the Government to expand such essential services as roads and water, and assist in the development of the various reserves and tourist attractions.”
Ian Conway with two elders on Dreamtime Tour.
1958: The Oasis Motel on Gap Road was owned by a group of local people. The prime organiser was Bernie Kilgariff whose family owned the land, and had operated a chicken farm there. He cleared the land at the northern end of the block and commenced laying foundations in 1959 for seven units and shortly later another three units.
Somewhat like the building of the Elkira units, the sand for bricks was obtained from the bed of the Todd River, and gravel from a creek near Flynns Grave.
Sandy, an Aboriginal man, was employed by Bernie to make the bricks. A loan of £3,000 was obtained from the ANZ Bank to enable construction to start. Sitzler brothers were the builders. In 1963 the Kilgariff family became the sole owners of the property.
[Bernard Francis Kilgariff AM (1923 to 2010) was one of the founders of the Country Liberal Party and served as a member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly which included a stint as Deputy Majority Leader. He was elected to the Australian Senate in 1975, and initially sat with the National Country Party until 1979, before sitting with the Liberal Party for the rest of his Federal political career in 1987.]
1964: CATA’s standing among Travel Agents became prominent: Central Australia is now accepted as a Tourist Destination in the industry. There is an estimated 20% yearly increase in visitors to the area. Tourists are usually in the 45 to 60 year age bracket. Facilities provided by CATA are acknowledged as good in the industry. Promotion of Central Australia in general and CATA in particular needs improvement. Both Sydney and Melbourne promotions are lacking.
Between 1961 and 1989 Central Australian Tours Association Pty Ltd and its subsidiary CATA Tours Pty Ltd, both trading and and being promoted as CATA, had started as a group of small local bus operators who built and provided their own chalet accommodation, and two Alice Springs motels.
They became a major tour operator in Central Australia and the Northern Territory, extending into both Northern Western Australia and North Queensland. The company continued to operate after many other operators had ceased to exist.
These included Tuit Tours, Pioneer-Tuit Tours, Pioneer Tours, Ansett Pioneer Tours, Redline Coaches, Sampson’s All Australian Tours, Legion Trailway Tours, Pioneer Trailway Tours and Deluxe Coaches who operated as competitors within the Northern Territory
On December 1, 1989, all of CATA’s operation were absorbed into AAT-Kings Tours.
IMAGE at top: Mt Sonder and Glen Helen homestead, by Albert Namatjira.