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Central Australia

Region in Australia

Summary

Region in Australia

Field	Value
type	region
name	Central Australia
state	nt
image	CSIRO ScienceImage 1217 Aerial view of Central Australian landscape.jpg
caption	Aerial view of Central Australian landscape
coordinates
pop	41,000
pop_year	2016
pop_footnotes
lga	Alice Springs Town Council
lga2	MacDonnell Regional Council
lga3	Central Desert Shire

Central Australia, also sometimes referred to as the Red Centre, is an inexactly defined region associated with the geographic centre of Australia. In its narrowest sense it describes a region that is limited to the town of Alice Springs and its immediate surrounds including the MacDonnell Ranges. Commonly, it refers to an area up to 600 km from Alice Springs, in every direction. In its broadest use it can include almost any region in inland Australia that has remained relatively undeveloped, and in this sense is synonymous with the term Outback.

In a modern, more formal sense it can refer to the administrative region used by the Northern Territory government, as of 2022.

Centralia is another term associated with the area, most commonly used by locals.

Administrative region of the NT

Economic region

There are six regions in the Northern Territory for the purposes of economic planning, as defined by the Northern Territory Government:

Central Australia
Darwin, Palmerston and Litchfield
East Arnhem (also a local government area (LGA))
Barkly Region (also an LGA)
Big Rivers Region
Top End

This region has an estimated population of total regional population of 41,000, serviced by Alice Springs (population 28,000). The town also services parts of South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland. LGAs make up the region:

Town of Alice Springs (town)
Central Desert Region (region)
MacDonnell Region (region)
Yulara (unincorporated town)

Colloquial or general use

In more general usage, or when referring to the flora and fauna of Australia, the term "central Australia" may refer to a large area in the interior of the continent, including the Lake Eyre Basin, which stretches across three states and the NT. For many, the term "outback" is almost synonymous with central Australia.

Climate

The region has a desert environment, meaning it is very dry, receiving on average just 150 mm of rainfall annually. Most of the annual rainfall falls during extreme rainfall events in the summer months. Moderate dry winters persist between May and October with hot, long summers from November to April.

References

. (18 April 2016). ["NT regional economic profiles"](https://business.nt.gov.au/business/investment-and-major-projects/regional-economic-development/nt-regional-economic-profiles). *Northern Territory Government*.
(26 September 2022). "Strengthening the regions".
(24 September 2021). "Central Australia".
"Hermannsburg Historic Precinct and Finke River Mission Today".
Willis, Carli. (8 November 2022). "Traditional owners, advocates say federal Threatened Species Action Plan will not stop central Australia extinctions - ABC News".
(20 August 2012). "Where is the Outback?".
Laity, Julie J.. (2009). "Deserts and Desert Environments". John Wiley & Sons.
(April 2022). "Episodic extreme rainfall events drive groundwater recharge in arid zone environments of central Australia". Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

regions-of-the-northern-territory

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