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• Alice Springs Tours & Travel

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• Northern Territory

When you’re 1,500 clicks from the closest major city and a good 1,000 from the nearest beach, there comes a time when you need to make your own fun. And if anyone knows that, it’s the locals of Alice. 

Sitting slap-bang in the middle of Australia’s dusty Red Centre, this small but charismatic town has long had to rely on an inner ingenuity for both survival and entertainment. Take the Henley-on-Todd Regatta, which, every September, sees teams of fun-fixated Territorians racing ‘boats’, by feet, and fashioned from whatever materials they fancy, along a dry riverbed. Who needs a body of water when you’ve a head for imagination?

Tours from Alice Springs

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Uluru Adventure (Alice Springs to Alice Springs)

3 days from $896.

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3 Night Uluru Adventure (Alice Springs to Yulara)

4 days from $1,076.

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Outback Camping Adventure (Alice Springs to Alice Springs)

5 days from $1,346.

Get to know the Red Centre at your own pace with a…

Alice Springs to Uluru Tours 

Don’t be fooled by the outback’s size! While Alice Springs airport is only 13 kilometres from Alice Springs, Alice Springs is 463 kilometres from  Uluru . That’s a four hour drive!

Check out our range of tours that can take you from Alice Springs to Uluru.

Alice Springs Highlights

Simpsons Gap

A leisurely 18 kilometre bike ride from Alice Springs is Simpsons Gap, a break in the towering red cliffs of the West MacDonnell Ranges that’s filled by a narrow pool of water. The area is home to black-footed rock wallabies, who can usually be found at dawn and dusk eating their way through the foliage. You’ll also find hauntingly beautiful Ghost Gums, their slender white boughs twisting up to the sky. While you can’t swim at Simpsons Gap, there are a number of walking trails to enjoy, such as the Ghost Gum Walk and Cassia Hill Trail, each varying in length from 15 minutes to a few hours.

Ellery Creek

Also known as ‘The Big Hole’, Ellery Creek is the quintessential Outback waterhole. Wedged between two high ridges, the quiet swimming spot offers a variety of walking trails but, unsurprisingly, the most popular activity is simply lying on the sandy beach and soaking up the view. When the day is especially hot, dive into the cool (croc-free) waters and ‘doggy paddle’ your way through the gorge.  Ellery Creek is also equipped with a gas barbecue picnic area, making it that much easier to spend the whole day here.

Ormiston Gorge

Ormiston Gorge is a little like Ellery Creek’s older sibling – wider, deeper and with more sandy beaches to stretch out on. Found eight kilometres off Namatjira Drive, the gorge is more isolated than other attractions near Alice Springs and it’s a haven for small marsupials seeking protection from the elements. You can lay down a towel and spend the day splashing around, or if you want to see what Ormiston Gorge really has to offer, lace up for the 3-4 hour hiking circuit through the Ormiston Pound, a path that crosses rocky slopes and delivers breathtaking views of the gorge. If you can, stick around until sunset, when most visitors have left and you can have the silent splendour of the gorge all to yourself.

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All prices in $AUD

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Alice Springs Tours

Alice Springs

Alice Springs, or Alice as the locals know it, is an incredibly unique and remote city, right in the middle of Australia.

Best of Alice Springs

The gateway to The Red Centre, Alice Springs is the perfect destination to explore on your Australian outback adventure. There are a multitude of things to see and do in Alice Springs, whether it be embracing the rugged terrain of the outdoors, admiring the sunrise while relaxing in a hot air balloon or enlightening yourself on the Indigenous Australian history, there is something to keep everybody entertained.

Best Day Trips from Alice Springs

Alice Springs is surrounded by beautiful wild landscapes and pristine national parks. It’s also the closest large city to the famed Australian icon, Uluru . A 5-hour drive from Alice Springs through red desert and remote communities, and you will find yourself marvelling at one of Australia’s most prized UNESCO World Heritage attractions.

For travellers to Alice Springs who are short on time but wish to see the magnificence of Uluru, then our One Day Trip to The Rock at Sunset is the perfect option for you. You will depart Alice Springs in the early morning to ensure that you see as much as possible, accompanied by a friendly informative tour guide and a group of likeminded travellers. Visiting the ancient rock formations Kata Tjuta (the Olgas), you will learn about the indigenous connection to the land at the Aboriginal Cultural Centre and walk the unbelievable Walpa Gorge. The day concludes in the evening with a sparkling wine, an Aussie BBQ dinner and a breathtaking sunset over Uluru. We guarantee that this will be a day trip to remember!

Alice Springs Multi-day Trips

For those thrill seekers who wish to join an adventure packed multi day trip, we have you covered. With multi-day tours ranging in duration from 3 to 9 days, you will have the opportunity to explore all the astonishing treasures the Red Centre holds.

One of our most popular multi day tours is the 3 Day 2 Night 4WD Red Centre Goanna Dreaming Adventure . You will explore Central Australia in the comfort of a fully equipped 4-wheel drive vehicle and finish off the adventure filled days with a dreamy sleep in permanent tents.

For the budget friendly backpacker who still wants to see all the main sights, join us on the 3 Day 2 Night Red Centre Cockatoo Dreaming Budget Safari . You will take more of an authentic approach to exploring the Red Centre, camping under the luminous stars in swags.

All our multi day trips include visits to the main attractions of The Red Centre including Uluru, Kata Tjuta and Kings Canyon, Heart Attack Hill, Curtin Springs, Kings Creek Station, The Valley of the Winds and many more. We guarantee that you will have the time of your life on one of our multi day trips. You will witness draw dropping views, get up close and personal to Australian wildlife and create valuable friendships and memories that will last a lifetime!

18 Tours in Alice Springs

One Day Trip to The Rock at Sunset

3 Day 2 Night Red Centre Trip from Alice Springs

3 Day 2 Night Red Centre Trip from Uluru

4 Day Ayers Rock & Red Centre Premium Camping tour

4 days 3 nights Rock to Rock Tour from Alice Springs

4 days 3 nights Rock to Rock Tour from Uluru

3 Day Uluru & Kings Canyon Premium Camping Tour

7 Day Alice Springs to Melbourne Express

Alice Springs to Adelaide Cheap as Chips

3 Day 2 Night Alice Springs to Darwin

6 Day Alice Springs to Darwin including Kakadu and Litchfield

9 Day Alice Springs to Melbourne Cheap as Chips

3 Day 2 Night Rock Tour

3 Day 2 Night Red Centre Cockatoo Dreaming Budget Safari – with Pre and Post accommodation

4 Day 3 Night Red Centre Galah Dreaming Budget Safari – Begin Alice Springs or Ayers Rock Airport and End at Ayers Rock Airport

3 Day 2 Night 4WD Red Centre Goanna Dreaming Adventure

Wild Honey Travels®

4wd tours, charters, transport alice springs, nt, tours alice springs. macdonnell ranges. palm valley. finke national. ormiston gorge. ellery bighole. standley chasm. trephina gorge. simpson desert. chambers pillar. rainbow valley. indigenous community art centres..

• Let's Journey

4WD Tours, Charters, Bush Transport & Unique Experiences

Alice Springs | MacDonnell Ranges | Palm Valley | Finke National Park | Ormiston Gorge | Ellery Bighole | Standley Chasm | Trephina Gorge | Simpson Desert | Chambers Pillar |  Rainbow Valley | Indigenous Community Art Centres

Feel the freedom of the vast open spaces as you immerse yourself in this ancient land and culture.

Whether you’re after a Private & Bespoke Tour to access and discover the natural beauty around Alice Springs, want to connect with Indigenous society and culture , or simply enjoy the unique experiences of  Alice Springs festivals and events, Wild Honey Travels is here to help you create lifelong memories in the heart of Australia.

With over 10 years of professional driving experience, Kimberley Morgan is an inspirational female owner operator who personally delivers tours and charter services in Central Australia.

If you’re a local looking for bush transport , Kimberley also delivers services for socially and culturally diverse passengers, always remaining respectful of the first people, cultures and land of the countries on which we travel and visit.

“Gather your adventurous spirit, inquisitive nature, a bag for laughs and expect the unexpected. Experience Culture – 2 Ways!”

Tours and Unique Experiences - March to October

At Wild Honey Travels we want to ensure you get maximum enjoyment from your visit to Alice Springs and the surrounding areas, enjoying all that The Alice is. Our Tours and Unique Experiences operate exclusively from March to October to compliment the climate, to enhance your comfort and reduce the risks to your health and safety. Risks that go with the Territory and are consistently prominent in the Summer months, November to February.

Tour and Charter Bookings are open for the 2024 season, March to October.  Transport and transfer bookings are available all year round.  Join us for breath taking outback adventures, wonderment and discovery with Wild Honey Travels®!

“Let’s Journey – Awareness, Curiosity, Compassion, Respect”®

Private & Bespoke Tours

Travel a dusty dirt track or sealed road but 15 minutes or more from Alice Springs. Linger among surreal and ancient landscapes. Walk sturdily or meander, swim in a waterhole, share stories and realities or simply be still under the sun’s rays, filling expansive blue skies beyond limitless horizons. Tours Alice Springs!

Transport & Charters

Whether you’re a local, from another remote community, here for work or an event, book travel with Wild Honey Travels.  Safe, informed, happy, reliable, modern comforts and smooth tunes to your remote destination.

Transport & Charters

Wild honey travels acknowledges the arrernte people, the traditional custodians of country on which we are humbled to live, learn, work & play. we pay respect to their elders, past, present & emerging., +61 402 527 195, [email protected]​, abn 52 356 523 486​, © 2020. all rights reserved., [email protected], abn 52 356 523 486, wild honey travels acknowledges the traditional owners of country & pays respect to their elders, past, present & emerging., © 2020. all rights reserved. wild honey travels..

Adventure Tours Australia

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Uluru, Kata Tjuta and Kings Canyon Camping Safari from Alice Springs

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as waiting time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Adventure Tours Australia - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

Alice Springs Adventure Tours

Ayers Rock is one of the most impressive landmarks in Australia - a huge chunk of sandstone monolith residing in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.

• Uluru Facts
• What is Uluru?
• Where is Uluru?
• Uluru and Aboriginal Culture
• Aboriginal Uluru Dreamtime
• Flights To Uluru
• About Ayers Rock
• What is Ayers Rock?
• Where is Ayers Rock?
• Ayers Rock Map
• Ayers Rock Flights
• Ayers Rock Airport
• Weather at Ayers Rock

There are a diverse range of adventures and experiences in the red centre.

• Uluru Tours
• Sunrise and sunset at Uluru
• Stargazing at Uluru
• Walks around Uluru
• Walks in Kata Tjuta
• Uluru Scenic Flights
• Hot Air Balloon Tours
• Alice Springs Camel Tours
• Adventure Tours

Visitors can explore many great Australian outback destinations around the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.

• Kings Canyon
• Devils Marbles
• Uluru National Park
• Finke Gorge National Park
• The Macdonnell Ranges
• Alice Springs
• Alice Springs Airport
• Alice Springs Flights
• Alice Springs Tours
• Alice Springs Weather

Uluru provides a variety of accommodation for every taste.

• Alice Springs Accommodation
• Ayers Rock Accommodation
• Ayers Rock Hotels
• Ayers Rock Resort
• Camping at Ayers Rock
• Uluru Hotels
• Longitude 131

Adventure Tours Uluru Adventure Tours

Head outback and experience an adventure tour in Alice Springs and Australia’s red centre. Alice Springs is the only significant settlement for hundreds of kilometres in Central Australia but it sits among some arresting scenery and there’s a variety of things to do.

The town is popular for adventure-seekers, wishing to make the most of the famous red dessert that dominates the centre of Australia.

See more of Uluru while touring on a fun Segway. Or enjoy a camel tour against the incredible backdrop of Uluru and Kata Tjuta.

To experience the red desert first hand you could take a four-wheel drive tour. From Alice Springs most adventurists head to the Simpson Desert, south of the town, and you can stop at Uluru along the way. Distances are vast mind you.

At the Simpson you can tackle some of the most challenging sand dunes in the world.

You can self-drive, or hire a driver for you and your travel party. Another option is to hire a quad bike and get to grips with the sand. A popular route is to travel across the oldest cattle stations of the Northern Territory.

Get your quad and trek your way across riverbeds, bush trails and mountain ranges. You will have plenty of opportunity to check out the local wildlife at close range, including the big red ‘roo – a kangaroo that stands around two metres proud.

For some of the best off-roading in all of Australia, if not the world, you must try your hand at the Binns Track. As you set off from Alice Springs for your 4WD adventure, you will pass landscape that makes the ‘Red Centre’ so unique, travelling 2000km north to Timber Creek.

Or you could head south of Alice Springs into the Simpson Desert. Tackle the hilly sand dunes, either by car or in a quad.

If you feel like letting someone else do the driving, then you could jump aboard one of the many 4WD adventure bus tours that are available in Alice Springs.

Map of Australia's Red Centre

Explore more with our Uluru map and find your way around Australia’s world famous icons at Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. Zoom out on the map to discover more.

Experiences at Uluru + Kata Tjuta

Most visitors would have seen photos featuring Uluru, but nothing prepares you for the experience of being exposed to this expansive living cultural landscape. Experience many wonderful features of this region, including Uluru or Ayers Rock, and Kata Tjuta, also known as the Olgas.

Kata Tjuta Kata Tjuta, better known as the Olgas, is the companion to Uluru laying to the west, and can be visited together with the famous attraction.

Kings Canyon Sometimes seen as a side attraction to the world famous Ayres Rock in the Northern Territory, Kings Canyon is a worthy detour.

Sunrise at Uluru Sunrise at Uluru is an experience which will stay with you for the rest of your life, and photography is permitted.

Australia's iconic red centre

More great australian travel destinations.

• Great Barrier Reef
• Kangaroo Island
• Fraser Island
• Blue Mountains
• Hunter Valley
• Kimberley Australia
• Cable Beach
• Wiki Australia
• Great Ocean Road
• Australia's Best Beaches
• Port Stephens
• Lord Howe Island

About 'Uluru Australia'

Uluru Australia is a 'Web Magazine' website that is dedicated to all things related to Uluru (Ayers Rock). We are passionate about Australia's iconic red centre, its vast open landscapes and the unforgetable experiences that are waiting for all who visit. Our aim is to discuss Uluru, its history, its environment, its wildlife and its spectacular destinations. We hope that this website will inspire all who visit, just as much as Uluru has inspired us.

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Travel website design by Jimmyweb Sydney website design by Jimmyweb Blue Mountains website design by iVent

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Australian Outback Tours & Trips from Alice Springs

An adventure starting in Alice Springs is a great way to see Australian Outback. We have 18 tours that range from 3 days up to 8 days. The most popular time for tours from Alice Springs is July, which has the most tour departures.

18 Australian Outback tours from Alice Springs with 70 reviews

• Hiking & Trekking

Uluru & Kings Canyon Adventure

• Christmas & New Year

3 Day Uluru Kata-Tjuta Kings Canyon (Camping) - from Alice Springs

Big Thanks to our guide Adam, who made the tour extra interesting and memorable

Red Centre & Uluru Adventure

Premium Red Centre & Uluru

• Desert Hikes

Classic Larapinta Trek in Comfort

We had an amazing time! Our tour guides, Luke, Claire and Drew were kind, attentive, knowledgeable and genuinely nice people. The walks were wonderful, with some tough days followed by more leisurely days, with afternoon swims in billabongs. Sleeping under the stars was a highlight. I would recommend this trip to anyone who loves hiking and camping.

• In-depth Cultural

Outback Contrasts (6 Days)

• €100 deposit on some dates Some departure dates offer you the chance to book this tour with a lower deposit.

5 Day Trek The Larapinta Trail A Guided Tour

• Overland Truck

3 Day Uluru Adventure

It was really great. Our guide did everything perfectly

Wild Australia

Alice Springs, Uluru Ayers Rock & Kings Canyon 8 Days Touring Package

The trip was excellent. All of the companies that were a part of my trip are top notch!

Outback Camping Adventure

• Sightseeing

Northern Territory Escape with Uluru Tour

Larapinta Goddess Walk In Comfort

• Walking Adventure

Best of Uluru & Kings Canyon (4 destinations)

Trek the Larapinta Trail

What people love about australian outback tours from alice springs.

This tour brought together a n eclectic group of travellers for a lovely 3 day outback experience. The sights, and hikes were wonderful. The accommodations in tents were good. The meals were appropriate for the convenience and weather conditions.

Fantastic guides, really great camping set up, meals and route. The cultural component was also appreciated.

Our young guide was exceptionally knowledgeable and capable as well as fun! He prioritized safety of the group which was so important in the heat we experienced during our tour. He was able to give us options to suit various ability levels and even managed to let us swim in a pool in between hikes one day! Your itinerary said there would be a tour of a camel farm, which there was not. I think your itinerary should state that the guides may have to change or modify activities due to weather conditions. We did get to the 3 main parks/landmarks and do the main hikes that were listed, which is what I went for. The campsites were "rustic," meaning not high end, but it was camping and was a true Outback experience. Loved it!

Tours starting from Alice Springs

• Alice Springs to Alice Springs tours (16)
• Explorer from Alice Springs (13)
• Family from Alice Springs (8)
• Hiking & Trekking from Alice Springs (7)

International Versions

• Deutsch: Outback Reise von Alice Springs
• Français: Circuits et voyages Outback australien au départ de Alice Springs
• Español: Interior de Australia Circuitos desde Alice Springs
• Nederlands: Australische Outback Rondreizen die beginnen in Alice Springs

Three decades after Priscilla, drag blooms in Alice Springs

Drag and cabaret performers from near and far travel to Australia’s red centre to celebrate a special anniversary of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

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M iss Ellaneous wept as the plane descended over the red centre and into Alice Springs. The Iwaidja and Malak Malak drag queen had just rewatched The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and it felt like life was about to imitate art.

The following night under desert stars, she took to the stage at Lasseters casino, where the closing scenes of Priscilla were shot. In a spangled onesie, with a cheeky smile, she performed Abba’s Mamma Mia alongside fellow queen Marzi Panne.

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“To know that I was coming to Lasseters and performing in the same areas that the movie was filmed really hit a nerve that I hadn’t felt before,” says the Darwin-based queen.

“I really see myself in Hugo Weaving’s character, Mitzi … I’m a drag queen, but I’m also a queer man, and I have a daughter.

“There is a message for all of us, whether you are from the LGBTQIA+ community or the dragging community or just live in a really remote little town … we all still face that discrimination daily.”

As a First Nations person, she also felt moved by the scene where Mitzi, Bernadette and Felicia meet a remote Aboriginal community. “In the film the majority of the places [the queens] stop, they’re interacting with non-Indigenous people and there’s often violence or discrimination, whereas with the First Nations people there was an acceptance … that was quite touching.”

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Priscilla and earlier this month, Alice Springs’ annual drag and cabaret festival FabAlice staged a tribute to Stephan Elliott’s film and its legacy, with 20 international and interstate acts performing in the town over four days.

Miss Ellaneous has been performing at the festival since it began in 2019, but this was her first year as a co-curator.

“The film has been part of all our lives in some way but because it’s the 30th anniversary, we really wanted to have that focus,” she says.

Top End king Donnie Piccolo said place-based festivals are important, because queer people in remote and regional communities often lack services and events that support them.

“Not everyone has had a good experience; you can never have too much love in a community,” he says. “The more time we spend with one another and understand each other the more love we can foster.”

“For me, drag is a way of expressing important issues as well as entertaining people. I feel it often helps people put their guards down and allows us all to connect … That’s what art does – you can suspend your current situation and enter a space where we go on a journey together.”

Piccolo says he felt a stillness fall over the audience when headline act Electric Fields played an acoustic version of their newest single One Milkali (One Blood), which they will soon be taking to the Eurovision song contest. The three-minute, ethereal version left attenders breathless and teary.

Electric Fields’ lead singer, Zaachariaha Fielding, says performing their song for the first time was like having a thousand Wikipedia tabs open in his mind. “It’s releasing our baby into the world … but I could absolutely feel the audience with us last night,” he says.

Like many regional events, local attendance was low, due in part to cost and criticisms that the festival needs more local representation: only one Arrernte drag queen, Estelle, who lives in South Australia, and Alice Springs-born DJ Cliterally performed. There were two local dancers at the night markets and during the final party, but they were not advertised as part of the lineup.

One local, who did not wish to be named, described the event as “incursion rather than invitation”. Event manager Dale McIver acknowledged FabAlice would like to see more local participation.

“The board includes members of the local queer and LQBTQIA+ community, including a youth representative and two First Nations representatives … We are always looking for more volunteer board members.”

She went on to say the board commissioned a number of local artists in early 2024, but several had to pull out before the festival.

There is a long history of queer, women’s and First Nations rights intersecting in the red centre. In 1983, a decade before Priscilla was shot in Alice Springs, a global movement called Women for Survival, which was largely represented by queer women, bussed into town to join traditional owners protesting against the American army base Pine Gap.

After more than 100 women were arrested for walking on to the base, many stayed in Alice, making it today one of the queerest places in regional Australia, according to 2016 census data.

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For the next generation of queer kids, FabAlice brings a sense of pride. When the queens and kings parade down the street, it brings a sense of fun to the town, says festival youth ambassador Sorrell Diddams.

“At night this town gets quiet. It’s usually all kinds of silent,” the 15-year-old says.

“Queer is still underrepresented. You don’t see it a lot. So, to have that brought in, and to be on display, and to see people who are like me … that just gives you this sense of safety and sense of belonging.”

Diddams hopes more youth events will be incorporated into the festival next year. This year’s night-time performances were not all ages, which meant younger people missed out on watching headline acts.

It was a sentiment shared by both interstate and international acts.

Melbourne-based comedian Geraldine Hickey who grew up in a regional town, “didn’t think lesbians existed until Ellen”. If it weren’t for festivals like FabAlice it would be hard for young people to be what they “can’t see”, she says.

Ginny Lemon, a Britain-based drag queen who appeared on season two of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, was one of four international queens who flew out for the festival. The non-binary artist’s subversive performance – combining sexy drag and gender-bending comedy – during the final night’s dance party had the audience crying with laughter.

Lemon says regional festivals are close to her heart, having grown up in England’s West Midlands.

“I’m a big believer in regional art; what I always hate is that as queer people we tend to gravitate towards big cities, and we feel we have to move to the capitals in order to be free,” she says.

“To have festivals like this, it just encourages people to be their open queer selves where they live and to retain that culture … with our families and with our friends.”

Her fellow RuPaul contestant Sister Sister says being able to express yourself fully in a small town felt surreal.

“It’s special being able to express yourself to the full extent of your creativity … not having to pop to the big cities just to feel seen better,” she says.

“[This] town is like this gorgeous queer little bubble that is just slap bang in the middle of all these ancient mountains … and I think I will have a really difficult time trying to comprehend that, even when we have left.”

For US queen Utica the experience of taking drag beyond the stage and into the red centre’s rolling landscapes felt “healing”.

“It’s been stunning to be able to bask in it and share our art with it,” she says. “I feel like a lot of our work lives in the underground. It lives in shadows. But it’s been such a healing experience to be able to bring our craft out into nature – and to meet a couple of flies too.”

A Parkinson attended FabAlice as a guest of Tourism NT

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What do land tax, Monopoly, and Australia have in common?

Analysis What do land tax, Monopoly, and Australia have in common?

What does land tax, Monopoly , and Australia have in common?

Last week I wrote a piece about land tax and some economists who say  we should tax land more so we can cut taxes on business and labour income.

Today, let's read a bit more about Henry George (1839-1897), the once-famous American who made similar arguments more than 100 years ago, and who has inspired those economists.

It's a fascinating story with Australian links, and ties to a famous boardgame.

Land is rewarded for others' hard work

We'll begin with an image.

Have a read of the message on this old billboard:

What thoughts occur to you when you read that?

In today's context, where something deeply wrong with Australia's economic management has driven property prices to socially-destructive levels, that billboard carries a sting.

Australians have been watching property values rise at a supernormal pace in recent years while the value of their wages has deteriorated in relation to those property values.

At the same time, they've seen the federal government becoming more reliant on taxing workers' incomes as its other sources of tax revenue have been undermined.

Why does the government insist on punishing effort by over-taxing the  earned  income from work, investment and innovation, while rewarding rent-seeking and speculation by under-taxing the  unearned  income from the private ownership of land, natural resources and monopolistic advantage?

Henry George tackled these questions over 100 years ago.

He published a book, Progress and Poverty (1879), that dealt explicitly with these issues, which sold millions of copies and helped to spark the Progressive Era  in the United States and a worldwide social reform movement.

And a decade before that, he wrote a hugely popular essay, " What the Railroad Will Bring Us " (1868), about the soon-to-be-completed Transcontinental Railway in the United States that was then about to link California to the Atlantic coast by railway for the first time.

Mr George argued that the railway would bring huge benefits to California, but it could also concentrate wealth in the hands of people who controlled it, and who owned the land around it, to the detriment of wage labourers.

See a quick history of the railway in this video.

Australians in the late 1800s were well aware of Mr George and he was convinced to travel here to share his economic opinions.

On 6 March, 1890, he arrived in Sydney Harbour from San Francisco, accompanied by his Australian-born wife, Annie.

He was met at Circular Quay by a large crowd and taken by horse-drawn coach to town hall where mayor Sydney Burdekin made an official speech of welcome.

A banquet was held in his honour that evening at the town hall.

On 8 March, he gave his first public lecture at Protestant Hall  in Sydney's CBD (where Mark Twain famously spoke five years later, on his world speaking tour).

And during his 98-day stay in Australia, he ended up giving 48 lectures, nine sermons, and numerous interviews, in 38 different cities and towns, while having to retrace the same route several times because the path of his lecture tour had been so poorly designed.

It was a trial of physical and mental endurance.

See his gruelling itinerary below:

But his reputation preceded him and he was greeted by generous crowds, often thousands of people, and media reports routinely noted his eloquence and wit.

He stayed on message in his public lectures, sticking to two themes: land-value tax, and free trade.

On land tax, he argued all taxes could be abolished (including income tax) and replaced with a "Single Tax" on land values, and that that tax could produce more than enough revenue to cover government spending and improve the living standards of the communities from which it was collected.

On trade, he argued passionately for the free trade and against protection. He said a single tax and free trade were complements.

Is Henry George still relevant today?

If you haven't heard of Mr George, don't worry.

There are reasons why his name has been largely forgotten by the mainstream, which we don't have time to rehearse today (it's a topic for a future piece).

But his legacy in Australia is embedded in the way the Australian Capital Territory has historically treated land.

And here's what the renowned economist Ross Garnaut had to say last year about Mr George's continued relevance for Australia, in a fascinating speech in Melbourne ( here's the transcript ).

"The main ideas in George's work seem to me to be broadly right now, as they were then," Professor Garnaut said.

"He wanted to tax land and other rent as the main source of government revenue. Rent taxes raise revenue without sacrifice of total income and output. 

"Governments spend a lot more now than then. Then there was no Medicare. No government then thought about spending $369 billion on nuclear submarines.

"It may have been realistic to think of rent taxes raising most government revenue back in the 1890s. We need other sources of taxation today, but we would be better governed if taxation of rent contributed a much higher proportion of the total," he said.

Professor Garnaut said Mr George wanted to promote competition and break up monopolies wherever possible, but he also recognised some economic activities weren't suitable for competition and so were natural monopolies.

"It wouldn't be economically efficient to have multiple electricity suppliers running multiple transmission lines down the same street," he said.

"George wanted natural monopolies to be held in public ownership. Railways were the most important natural monopolies in the 1890s.

"[And] where the activities of one firm imposes costs on others, George wanted to tax them to deter the activities and to balance the cost. That's relevant to my work on climate change," Professor Garnaut said.

The "Monopoly" boardgame

At any rate, I'll leave you with a question.

Have you played the Monopoly boardgame?

It was originally called The Landlord's Game , and it was patented in the United States in 1904 by the feminist and writer Elizabeth Magie.

Ms Magie designed the game to teach people about the economic principles of "Georgism," to show how rents can impoverish tenants and enrich property owners.

The game eventually evolved into the Monopoly we know today, while  losing its specifically-Georgist messaging .

For example, the original "No Trespassing. Go to Jail" square morphed into the "Go Directly to Jail" square. "The Poor House" square, where you used to be sent if you became bankrupt, became the "Free Parking" square.

And to fit with the general theme, the story of the true origins of Monopoly was almost forgotten, buried beneath a layer of myths.

But it has been rediscovered in recent decades , illuminating the Georgist insights that have been there all along.

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