The problem was that the region was so darn big and so darn empty. It would be hard to put together a school district in that situation; the bus rides would take forever. The answer was to embrace the technology of the day. Thus in 1952, the School of the Air opened for business - covering half-a-million square miles of territory. That's a big classroom.
It was rather primitive back then. Lessons were given essentially on a one-way basis over the radio. But as the years went by, communication became a little easier. These days, the internet serves as the host medium for the lessons.
The headquarters for the operation is in Alice Springs, and there's a visitors' center. You can drop by and see the operation, which has a few different studios. The facility even has a gift shop, in case you want to help them out a bit.
What was my favorite item in the building? That's easy. Check out that map. We're used to seeing the North Pole at the north of a map. This version flips the script and puts Australia near the top. Sure looks funny, doesn't it?
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