Ltyentye Apurte Community also known as Santa Teresa is located 80km South-east of Alice Springs. It can take up to 1.5 hours to drive there by motor vehicle or 15 minutes by airplane.

We are proud of our community - with our friendly people and fantastic lifestyle we wouldn't want to live anywhere else!

Why is the Mission named Santa Teresa?

The Mission of Santa Teresa was named after a Carmelite nun by the name of Saint Therese of Lisieux who was born in Alencon, France 1873. Saint Therese of Lisieux was declared a Saint in 1925. Her specific message regarded the missions and that people can be missionaries just by offering help to those less fortunate even though she was restricted to the Carmelite convent. Saint Therese was callled the "The Little Flower"in recognition of the message she was spreading throughout the world that little things were more important as big things.

The Santa Teresa Site

In the year of 1950, Bishop J P O'Loughlin submitted a grant for land for the Mission. In 1952 a property belonging to the Crown was divided into four blocks. The mission was approved for one of the four blocks, located approx. 85km south-east of Alice Springs and 80km from the Simpson Desert. The area for Santa Teresa is a 1,242 square km block of land appropriate for cattle-grazing, located on the Phillipson River normally only a dry creek bed.

Santa Teresa is positioned at the base of a range of hills overlooking a very large plain. This region of land can be quite vibrant and colourful after the rain when the wild flowers blossom showing off their beautiful colours.

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