"The town that is Alice was a telegraph station when Doris Bradshaw Blackwell moved there as a young girl in 1899. Her father, Thomas Bradshaw, was the officer in charge of the Alice Springs Telegraph Station from 1899 to 1908. Doris has recaptured the atmosphere of those early days - only thirty years after the construction of the overland telegraph line and forty years after John McDougall Stuart first crossed the continent from south to north. This book captures the atmosphere of those early days."

This personal story of life in the outback at the turn of the nineteenth century is a book of great historical interest. More than that, it reflects a deep love for the country and its people.