History

Elec­tions for mem­bers of the third Coun­cil were held on 28 May 1977.

May­or Tony Greatorex and four Alder­men did not seek re-elec­tion. George Smith, a local jew­eller, was elect­ed as Mayor.

Elect­ed Members

• John Jenk­ins
• John Mar­riott
• Den­nis Haddon
• Alan Gray
• Kendall McClel­land
• Gino Mar­in­uc­ci
• Di Byrnes
• Reg Smith
• Bill Oestre­ich
• Wal­ly Mason

Changes with­in Council

• 9 June, 1977: Coun­cil elect­ed Alder­man Den­nis Had­don to the posi­tion of Deputy Mayor
• Res­ig­na­tions, 28 March, 1978: Alder­men Den­nis Had­don and Wal­ly Mason
• 28 March, 1978: Coun­cil elect­ed Alder­man John Jenk­ins as Deputy May­or until after the by-elec­tion to be held on 20 May, 1978,
• By-elec­tion, 20 May, 1978: Leslie Old­field and Ros­alie McDon­ald were elect­ed as Aldermen
• 29 May, 1978: Coun­cil elect­ed Alder­man John Jenk­ins to the posi­tion of Deputy Mayor
• Res­ig­na­tion, 31 Jan­u­ary, 1979: Alder­man Gino Marinucci
• By-elec­tion, 24 March, 1979: Eight peo­ple stood for elec­tion, includ­ing Mr Mar­in­uc­ci. The suc­cess­ful can­di­date was Dan Kil­gar­iff who enjoyed a land­slide victory.

1977 – 78

The Coun­cil endorsed the deci­sion made by the pre­vi­ous Coun­cil con­cern­ing the up-grad­ing of Todd House in Todd Street and its use as a Coun­cil Cham­bers until such time as the Munic­i­pal Cham­bers were built. Relo­ca­tion of all admin­is­tra­tive ser­vices of the Coun­cil to Todd House took place on 31 March, 1978, with the move to be com­plet­ed before 3 April, 1978.

In July 1977, Alder­man Di Byrnes was the Council’s nom­i­nee for the vacan­cy on the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Plan­ning Board.

With the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry about to receive self-gov­ern­ment, May­or Smith expressed con­cern that the Coun­cil must keep pres­sure on the Leg­is­la­ture of the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry to ensure that prob­lems were addressed, for exam­ple, seal­ing of the Stu­art High­way south, that the Com­mon­wealth Gov­ern­ment hon­ours its promis­es con­cern­ing the Munic­i­pal Depot and the Coun­cil Cham­bers, and that the terms of the changeover give Coun­cil a bet­ter than even chance to suc­ceed in man­ag­ing its own affairs.

Dur­ing mid-1977 the Coun­cil was con­sid­er­ing plans for future res­i­den­tial sub­di­vi­sions – Head Street sub­di­vi­sion includ­ing the area occu­pied by the race­course and the East Side Val­ley sub­di­vi­sion east of Burke Street. These sub­di­vi­sions were soon to go ahead.

The first May­oral Ball was held on 19 August, 1977. The Ball was being held in con­junc­tion with the Annu­al Queen com­pe­ti­tion in aid of Spas­tic Children.

His Roy­al High­ness Prince Charles vis­it­ed Alice Springs on 10 Novem­ber 1977.

Devel­op­ment of the west bank of the Todd Riv­er between Wills Ter­race and The Gap was car­ried out dur­ing the sec­ond half of 1977. In ear­ly 1978 the new half-mall was completed.

This allowed one way vehi­cle access through the mall.

The Coun­cil sup­port­ed the idea of Christ­mas Fes­tiv­i­ties in the town by using Colocag Park and oth­er avail­able areas for dec­o­ra­tions and activ­i­ties. Colocag Park was on the cor­ner of Todd Street and Gre­go­ry Ter­race and is the present site of the Civic Centre.

Mr P. Hol­stein was employed as Senior Super­vi­sor of Parks and Gar­dens, com­menc­ing duties in mid-April 1978.

In May 1978, Coun­cil agreed to com­mis­sion Andrew McPhee and Asso­ciates to design the pro­posed Munic­i­pal Chambers.

Coun­cil rec­om­mend­ed the pur­chase of two child care prop­er­ties, name­ly 53 Bath Street and 153 Woods Terrace.

1978 – 1979

The North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry offi­cial­ly accept­ed self gov­ern­ment on 1 July, 1978. For­mer Alice Springs Alder­man, Paul Ever­ing­ham, became the North­ern Territory’s first Chief Minister.

After resign­ing from that posi­tion in 1984, Ever­ing­ham won the North­ern Territory’s Fed­er­al House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives seat where he remained for one term.

In Decem­ber, 1978, Coun­cil accept­ed a ten­der from Uni­ver­sal Con­struc­tions Pty Ltd for the con­struc­tion of the Alice Springs Munic­i­pal Chambers.

The Works and Cap­i­tal Pur­chas­es Pro­gram for the year includ­ed items such as:

• Acqui­si­tion of ser­vice lanes,
• Con­struc­tion of Munic­i­pal Chambers,
• Devel­op­ment of Fly­nn Park,
• Con­struc­tion of Munic­i­pal Depot,
• Devel­op­ment of Ross Park,
• Con­struc­tion of Alice Springs Gar­den Ceme­tery Stage 1,
• Stu­art ter­race car park,
• Under­ground­ing of Ross Park drain, and
• Kerb and chan­nel, Par­sons Street.

At the end of Jan­u­ary, 1979, Coun­cil approved the appoint­ment of Mr W. Carter to the posi­tion of Munic­i­pal Engineer.

Coun­cil Offi­cers con­duct­ed a sur­vey of park­ing prac­tice in the inner town area.

The Prime Min­is­ter Mr Mal­colm Fras­er, laid the Foun­da­tion Stone for the new Munic­i­pal Offices in a cer­e­mo­ny on 6 April, 1979. This was fol­lowed by a Civic Reception.

The stone was removed by the Town Coun­cil soon after­wards for safe keep­ing and lat­er re-instal­la­tion in the new building.

A mon­e­tary prize was approved for a com­pe­ti­tion to design a Coat of Arms for the Municipality.

The first vehic­u­lar bridge (Stott Ter­race) was offi­cial­ly opened by the NT Min­is­ter for Trans­port, Mr Roger Steele, on 18 August, 1978. About 500 peo­ple were present.

The first vehi­cle to cross the bridge was a 1911 Model‑T Ford dri­ven by Dave Simpson.

The col­lec­tion and dis­pos­al of garbage with­in the Munic­i­pal­i­ty was con­tract­ed out to M. J. Han­non Pty Ltd for the next three years.

The Coun­cil, in April, 1979, resolved to reject a North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Gov­ern­ment pro­pos­al to estab­lish a farm that would be irri­gat­ed with efflu­ent from the sew­er­age ponds.

The farm was to be con­struct­ed south of Heav­it­ree Gap.

1979 – 1980

Despite hav­ing no pre­vi­ous posi­tion on Coun­cil, May­or George Smith presided for almost six years and was May­or when the new civic offices and Coun­cil cham­bers were opened on 14 March, 1980.

The con­struc­tion of the new offices was fund­ed by the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Gov­ern­ment in accor­dance with the terms of the local gov­ern­ment agreement.

The Hon­ourable Nick Don­das, Min­is­ter for Com­mu­ni­ty Devel­op­ment, addressed the Coun­cil on the 13 March, 1980.

He informed Coun­cil that the NT Gov­ern­ment pro­posed to intro­duce leg­is­la­tion to extend the terms of office for May­ors and Alder­men to four years and to pro­vide a com­mon elec­tion date.

The Hon­ourable Paul Ever­ing­ham, Chief Min­is­ter for the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry, for­mal­ly opened the new, one mil­lion dol­lar plus, Munic­i­pal Com­plex on 14 March, 1980.

The Pre­mier of South Aus­tralia, Mr Tonkin, attend­ed the open­ing ceremony.

The Cen­tre was designed by local archi­tect Andew McPhee and built by Uni­ver­sal Constructions.

The design incor­po­rat­ed high pyra­mid rooves and wide over­hangs to sug­gest Afghan tents and sand­stone pil­lars after the style of camel’s feet.

Andrew McPhee was an Alder­man on the first Council.