A Lifeblood of The Desert: The Todd River, Central Australia

The dry Todd River cuts like a bloodless vein through the Central Australian town of Alice Springs. Empty of water, sand fills its bottom, crusting around the trunks of silver ghost gums that reach towards the sky. In the late afternoon, the sunlight turns the sand pink and the grasses along its edge golden.

Despite its illusion of shallow calmness when it’s empty, the Todd River has flooded multiple times over the decades. In flood, the water rises and swallows up nearby roads. At one point, the flooding was so extensive, the CBD of Alice was underwater and the river covered the landscape completely. It was a hard season, but the town braced, and the water receded. Now it is a story told to newcomers – until the next time it becomes a reality.

                                                                        The Dry Todd River

The land around it has changed over time: where once it was bush there are now houses and roads and cars. A town stands on its banks and it has a magnetic ability to attract people during the rain. When there are storms and the Todd River fills but doesn't flood, people wade into its shallows and the town turns out to enjoy the event. The prospect of floods lingers in everyone’s mind, but not enough to create fear. It is inevitable that eventually, it will swell again and remind people that the natural world and its moods are in charge, not humans. Until that time, dipping your feet in the brown current when it sloshes over the road is a pleasure.

The ancient rivers of Central Australia see many different seasons. The dry can last for years. When rivers flow, they bring life to the desert. The Todd River is ancient. When we stand on its bank and breathe in its colours and the desert air, our eyes see the same riverbed underneath a blue sky that has been seen by others for thousands of years. Those others knew it with a closer degree of familiarity than we do. It is up to us to listen to them.

In winter, fine breaths of smoke puff upwards in the icy wind. People in the riverbed light fires, the flames as stark as jewels against the black night. They have been burning fires on this country for millennia, and this practice will last long after we go. Today, in the early morning and evening, people ride bikes and walk around its edges, and the sapphire sky watches over the activity. This river has a memory as old as the Central Desert. It is there to enjoy but not to take for granted. It looks peaceful and harmless, but no one knows when it will once again flood. That question is raised every time the thunder rumbles.