History

Elec­tions for mem­bers of the fourth Coun­cil were held on 24 May 1980.

George Smith was re-elect­ed as May­or with an over­whelm­ing majority.

Elect­ed Members

• Dan Kil­gar­iff
• John Jenk­ins
• Les Loy
• David Bell
• Leslie Old­field
• Trevor Espeland
• Wayne Thomas
• Bill Oestre­ich
• John Mar­riott
• Reg Smith

Changes with­in Council

• 29 May, 1980: Coun­cil elect­ed Alder­man Leslie Old­field as Deputy Mayor
• Res­ig­na­tions, 23 Feb­ru­ary, 1981: Alder­men Bill Oestre­ich, David Bell, and John Jenkins
• By-elec­tion, 11 April, 1981: Alder­men Dave Tuzews­ki, John Reeves, and Ray Hanrahan
• March, 1981: There was dis­cus­sion on the eli­gi­bil­i­ty of Alder­men Kil­gar­iff and Thomas to remain on the Coun­cil because of ques­tions about their res­i­den­tial status
• 28 Sep­tem­ber, 1981: Alder­man Dan Kil­gar­iff was dis­qual­i­fied in the local court from hold­ing the posi­tion of Alder­man because he had moved to live out­side the Munic­i­pal boundaries
• By-elec­tion, 21 Novem­ber, 1981: Alder­man Her­mann Weber
• 14 Decem­ber, 1981: Fol­low­ing the recent by-elec­tion, the Office of Deputy May­or was declared vacant. Although Leslie Old­field received a major­i­ty of votes, an irreg­u­lar­i­ty was found in the num­ber of votes cast. Les Loy was appoint­ed Deputy May­or, This appoint­ment was con­firmed in April, 1982, after the Coun­cil took advice from Counsel
• Late Jan­u­ary, 1982: Les Loy appoint­ed act­ing May­or while May­or George Smith was on holidays
• Res­ig­na­tion, 5 April, 1982: Alder­man Trevor Espeland
• By-elec­tion, 8 May, 1982: Alder­man Bri­an Smith
• 31 May, 1982: Coun­cil elect­ed Les Loy as Deputy Mayor
• Res­ig­na­tion, 11 Feb­ru­ary, 1983: May­or George Smith resigned from Council
• Res­ig­na­tion, 23 Feb­ru­ary, 1983: Alder­man Wayne Thomas
• 28 Feb­ru­ary, 1983: Coun­cil appoint­ed Deputy May­or Les Loy as act­ing Mayor
• Res­ig­na­tion, 8 March, 1983: Coun­cil not­ed the res­ig­na­tions of Alder­men Dave Tuzews­ki and Leslie Oldfield
• By-elec­tion, 23 April, 1983: Leslie Old­field was elect­ed as Alice Springs’ first woman May­or. Alder­men Dave Tuzews­ki (re-elect­ed), John King, Bar­ry Browse, and Har­vey Millard
• Res­ig­na­tion, 17 Novem­ber, 1983: Coun­cil tabled the res­ig­na­tion of Alder­man Ray Hanrahan,
• 28 Novem­ber, 1983: Coun­cil decid­ed not to fill the vacan­cy on Council
• Res­ig­na­tion, 16 Feb­ru­ary, 1984: Coun­cil tabled the res­ig­na­tion of Alder­man Bri­an Smith and decid­ed not to fill the vacancy

1980 – 1981

Alice Springs cel­e­brat­ed the arrival of the first stan­dard gauge pas­sen­ger train on 9 Octo­ber 1980.

It was dri­ven for the last few kilo­me­tres by Princess Alexandra.

Coun­cil assumed respon­si­bil­i­ty of the Town Library on 1 July 1980.

Pre­vi­ous­ly, the library had been under the charge of the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Government.

This was only one of a num­ber of increas­ing respon­si­bil­i­ties assumed by the Council.

The new library, to be known as the ​“Nevil Shute Memo­r­i­al Library”, was offi­cial­ly opened on 19 Octo­ber 1980.

In Jan­u­ary 1981, a car park was opened in Hart­ley Street with access to Todd Mall through Reg Har­ris Lane. Coun­cil sup­port­ed the Nation­al Trust in its efforts to raise suf­fi­cient funds for the restora­tion of the old Hart­ley Street School but placed a time lim­it on its fund-raising.

Tony Greatorex, for­mer Leg­isla­tive Coun­cil Pres­i­dent and Alice Springs May­or died in Jan­u­ary 1981, aged 75 years.

Dur­ing 1941 to 1946 he served in the AIF and fought in the Mid­dle East and New Guinea where he attained the rank of Captain.

At a Coun­cil meet­ing in late April 1981, a pro­pos­al to hold Coun­cil meet­ings dur­ing the day time was defeat­ed by a nar­row margin.

Con­struc­tion of the pro­posed Aralu­en sub-divi­sion began in ear­ly June 1981.

Most of the Lots had already been sold.

Act­ing Chief Min­is­ter Mar­shall Per­ron advised the Coun­cil that Alder­men liv­ing out­side the Munic­i­pal bound­aries must resign from Council.

At the Coun­cil meet­ing on 22 June 1981, it was agreed that the name of the Cor­po­ra­tion be The Alice Springs Town Coun­cil.

1981 – 1982

Coun­cil made a finan­cial pay­ment to the Man­age­ment of the Gap Neigh­bour­hood Cen­tre con­cern­ing their Out­reach Youth Worker.

From Feb­ru­ary, 1982, Alder­men took turns at being avail­able on Sat­ur­days at the Coun­cil Cham­bers to meet mem­bers of the public.

This arrange­ment was soon dis­con­tin­ued because of a lack of response from the public.

The Library declared an amnesty on over­due books. Coun­cil assist­ed the Toy Library with a finan­cial grant.

On 11 Jan­u­ary, 1982, Roy Mitchell began a three mon­th’s appoint­ment as act­ing Town Clerk to replace Town Clerk Trevor Jenk­in­son who had been tak­en sick in late Novem­ber 1981, and was now on extend­ed sick leave until 6 July 1982, at which time he retired.

After the May 1982, by-elec­tion, Coun­cil mem­bers could be excused if they were con­fused with three Mr Smith’s on Council.

1982/1983

Act­ing Town Clerk, Mr Roy Mitchell, was appoint­ed Town Clerk with effect from 7 July 1982.

“Hawk­er and Street Trad­ing” and ​“Street Fur­ni­ture” poli­cies were approved by Council.

Sit­zler Broth­ers was the suc­cess­ful ten­der to build the Aralu­en Arts Cen­tre. Earth­works began on site on 20 Sep­tem­ber, 1982.

Con­struc­tion was antic­i­pat­ed to be com­plet­ed by the end of Feb­ru­ary, 1984.

The Coun­cil made a grant to the Nation­al Trust, McDouall Stu­art Branch, to begin restora­tion work at the Stu­art Memo­r­i­al (Pio­neer) Cemetery.

Coun­cil sup­port­ed the inten­tion of the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Gov­ern­ment to con­struct a recre­ation­al lake at the Tele­graph Station.

1983 – 84

In July, 1983, Coun­cil decid­ed to con­vert Todd Street to a full pedes­tri­an mall and start­ed look­ing for suit­able exper­tise to achieve that result.

Mark Phillips was appoint­ed Inspec­tor and pound-keeper.

Coun­cil sup­port­ed a Careers Day in Alice Springs and agreed for the Town Clerk or his nom­i­nee to participate.

Coun­cil pro­vid­ed finan­cial assis­tance to the Soci­ety for Pre­ven­tion of Cru­el­ty to Ani­mals to meet the costs of euthana­sia of stray cats.

Coun­cil agreed to a 5 per cent rebate of rates and garbage charges paid in full before the due date.

Coun­cil assessed child care needs and facil­i­ties in Alice Springs.

By Feb­ru­ary 1984, the pop­u­la­tion of Alice Springs had reached 20,000.

Mr Mal­colm McKel­lar was appoint­ed Reg­is­trar and Inspec­tor pur­suant to the pro­vi­sions of the Dog Act. He was also declared to be an Offi­cer for the pur­pos­es of the Lit­ter Act.

Free­dom of Entry to the City was grant­ed to North West Mobile Force, Aus­tralian Army, the con­fer­ring cer­e­mo­ny to be held on 25 August, 1984.

The annu­al dis­tri­b­u­tion of free trees to the pub­lic was held on Sat­ur­day, 15 Octo­ber, 1983.

It was resolved to pro­ceed with the con­struc­tion of two indoor bas­ket­ball courts in Traeger Park.

The Coun­cil made bylaws con­cern­ing garbage dumps, stall­hold­ers and aban­doned vehi­cles in Alice Springs.

The Coun­cil peti­tioned His Hon­our the Admin­is­tra­tor of the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry to extend the Munic­i­pal Bound­ary of Alice Springs in an east­ward direc­tion to coin­cide with the town/​planning Boundary.

A large finan­cial con­tri­bu­tion was made by Coun­cil to the Aralu­en Arts and Cul­tur­al Cen­tre towards the pur­chase of a grand piano and two upright pianos.

A posi­tion of Wel­fare Work­er was cre­at­ed after the Min­is­ter for Com­mu­ni­ty Devel­op­ment pro­vid­ed a sub­sidy towards the salary and asso­ci­at­ed costs of employment.

The Sat­ur­day morn­ing ​“Meet the Peo­ple” ses­sions were dis­con­tin­ued and reg­u­lar infor­ma­tive adver­tise­ments were to be placed with the media.

The Aralu­en Arts Cen­tre was offi­cial­ly opened by the Gov­er­nor Gen­er­al Sir Nin­ian Stephen on 19 June, 1984.

After speech­es by Mr Max Hor­ton, Chair­man of the Aralu­en Trust, and Mr Paul Ever­ing­ham, Chief Min­is­ter of the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry, Sir Nin­ian opened the cen­tre and unveiled a plaque.