For some reason I got off on a “Research Australia” kick tonight. I’ve always found it interesting that most of Australia’s inhabitants live in cities on the eastern coast, so I’m mainly focusing my research on the cities of the central and western areas of Australia.

Alice Springs, almost exactly in the center of the continent, sprung up mainly for that reason: it’s in the center of the continent. A telegraph repeater station was originally established there, and later it connected some railways. They’ve got a joint US / Australian military base which monitors satellites, and they’re famous for their “Camel Cup” - racing camels can’t be beat.

Kalgoorlie-Boulder (originally separate cities), were founded mainly by mining folk - especially gold mining. They’re famous for gold… Big surprise. They’ve also been a notorious “wild west” city (Aussie version), and apparently had several popular pubs and brothels. Gold, hookers, and booze… great combination.

And after that, there are lots of boring British colonies. Several were, apparently, just to spite the French, who were rumored to be seeking to colonize the area. Lousy French…