No Brainer # 3: Stott Terrace renameded? Tourists in swags. Playing chicken with cars.

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2443 Scott Terrace 1 OKHas Stott Terrace been renamed?
 
An alert walker snapped this pic this morning.
 
According to historian Jose Petrick the street and the bridge are named after Robert Stott.
 
He was an NT Commissioner of Police, born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1858 and appointed to Alice Springs in 1911 as the keeper of the newly opened Stuart Town Gaol, and clerk and bailiff of the local court.
 

• • •

 
What’s the productivity (back of the envelope) of a square kilometre running (A) cattle and (B) tourists?
A: The current price of a steer is $1000. It takes three years to be ready for sale. The carrying capacity is two head per square kilometre. Two steers = $2000 after
p2252-cattle-sale-4three years = $666 per year.
B: Sleeping in the swag under our fabled star sky in a place with zero pollution after a meal cooked on the open fire and a few beakers of red wine – the dream of any city dweller: 10 guests per camp, 10 camps = 100 people @ $200 a head = $20,000 per night. 
 
Doing the swags in the 250 days a year outside the very hot time would turn over $5m per year. That means with running tourists, the profitability of  our square kilometre is 7500 times greater than running cattle. And you could still run the cattle as well.
 

• • •

 
Bear in mind we’re having a Royal Commission which concerns itself with the safety of and appropriate care for young people. It will cost us, best guess, in the vicinity of $50m.
 
On May 6 at 19 minutes past 7pm Mark Tulleken posted this on Facebook: “Please be careful when driving up near Yirara College tonight … on the Stuart Highway. 6 young ladies having fun playing chicken with vehicles by running backwards and forwards in front of them. Police have been notified, hopefully they dont get hurt or worse.”
 
No-brainer-450We don’t know Mr Tulleken. We sent him a message via Facebook which he may not have received. Maybe he doesn’t exist. But whoever wrote that message sounds like a person concerned about young people in mortal danger – that section of the highway has a 80 kmh speed limit and it is likely to have been in the dark. There have been many fatalities on that stretch.
 
The tone and the format of the FB post certainly do not suggest it is the product of hysterical person or a mischief maker.
 
What did the police do? Not much. It sent out a patrol which did not spot any girls. The patrol returned.
 
When pressed, the police gave us the following statement: “Police received a report of a group of youths walking on the road near the Yirara College, in Alice Springs. When Police attended the youths had already disbanded. There was no evidence to say where the youths were from.”
 
“Walking?” There is a big difference between walking and playing chicken in traffic.
 
Clearly, neither did the police seek any “evidence to say where the youths were from”.
 
There are three likely places – Yirara College, which is a boarding school for teenagers.
 
And there are the town camps, New Ilparpa and Karnte, in the vicinity. But the police didn’t even place a phone call.
 
What did the Department of Families do? The department says it has a 24/4 response team at “Central Intake” to deal with reports of potential harm.
 
The incident with the girls was not reported to them and consequently nothing was done.
 
 
 

9 COMMENTS

  1. “10 guests per camp, 10 camps = 100 people @ $200 a head = $20,000 per night.”
    Minus the cost of installation and maintenance of the amenities, insurances, necessary to run a legal business.

  2. @ Evelyne Roullet, Posted May 11, 2017 at 4:21 pm. Exactly, Evelyne.
    It is a business that involves a lot of people.
    And what’s more, run properly, it uses an infinitely renewable resource, the great beauty of the place we live in.
    Erwin Chlanda, Editor, Alice Springs News Online.

  3. And the added bonus is the gullible tourists will never know we’re wiping out the native flora and fauna to replace them with lovely money making introduced ones.

  4. Unfortunately none of the tourists I have met are interested in being branded, they don’t like the idea of being whipped, they prefer buses to cattle trucks.
    I don’t think they are able to be mustered by helecopter, and very few of them are gonna enjoy being castrated. I just don’t think our local cattlemen have the skills or equipment to run them tourists.

  5. Tourism growth = jobs and government taxes.
    Central Australia is unique and beautiful. Local Aboriginal expertise could maintain flora and fauna.
    Two year backpacker work visas for Central Australia would solve remote area staff problems.
    Maybe wayward kids should work on rural projects as penalty?

  6. @ Dr Who: I don’t have an answer, I was making a comment. The point is we are not going to shoot ourselves in the foot to tourists by drawing their attention to the way we are degrading the environment. They are here for the pristine nature experience. Do you have any answers, Dr Who?

  7. The young ladies from Yirara College were not just playing chicken with cars.
    They were throwing rocks at them.
    At least one motorist suffered a smashed window.
    The police were called and addressed students at the College.
    They should be able to confirm that.

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