Heavitree Gap Police Station is a historic building within the Heavitree Gap Police Station Historical Reserve. It is located on the southwestern side of

Heavitree Gap The Heavitree Gap, or ''Ntaripe'' in the Arrernte language, is a water gap in the Northern Territory of Australia in the MacDonnell Ranges. It is the southern entrance to the city of Alice Springs and in addition to the Todd River it carrie ...

Alice Springs Alice Springs () is a town in the Northern Territory, Australia; it is the third-largest settlement after Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin and Palmerston, Northern Territory, Palmerston. The name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William ...

in the

Northern Territory of Australia The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

History

The area was declared as a conservation reserve under Section 12 of the Territory Parks and Wildlife Commission Act of 30 June 1978 based on its historic values. The reserve is significant because of its connection to early policing in Central Australia, European settlement and early frontier contact between Aboriginal and European people. The first police camp in Alice Springs was established in 1879 at the

Alice Springs Telegraph Station The Alice Springs Telegraph Station is located within the Alice Springs Telegraph Station Historical Reserve, four kilometres north of the Alice Springs town centre in the Northern Territory of Australia. Established in 1872 to relay messages be ...

. In 1879, Mounted Constable William Wilshire moved the camp via wagon to Heavitree Gap. In 1904, the buildings were proclaimed to be a public gaol under the Prison Act 1869. The condition of the site had deteriorated by the early 1960s and in 1967 work was undertaken to reconstruct it. It is currently occupied by a caretaker. It was listed on the

Northern Territory Heritage Register The Northern Territory Heritage Register is a heritage register, being a statutory list of places in the Northern Territory of Australia that are protected by the Northern Territory statute, the '' Heritage Act 2011''. The register is maintained ...

on 15 February 1994.

References

{{coord, -23.72761, 133.86315, format=dms, type:landmark_region:AU-NT, display=title Buildings and structures in Alice Springs Northern Territory Heritage Register Police stations in Australia