Joanna Henryks and Melissa Lindeman are one of a surprisingly high number of lesbian couples in Alice Springs.

Where do female same-sex couples live? State Local government Percentage of female same-sex couples NSW Inner West 2.5 NSW Sydney 2.1 VIC Darebin 1.8 VIC Hepburn 1.8 VIC Yarra 1.7 VIC Mt Alexander 1.7 VIC Melbourne 1.4 VIC Port Phillip 1.3 VIC Maribyrnong 1.3 WA Vincent 1.3 VIC Moreland 1.2 NSW Blue Mountains 1.2 NT Alice Springs 1.1 Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016 Census

They said they were drawn to the central Australian town by the lifestyle, work opportunities, and warmth of the local community.

Ms Lindeman, who manages a health service, said she felt more free to be herself in Alice Springs than she did in her former home in Victoria.

"There was a strong [lesbian] community in Melbourne, but it's not always safe to be totally yourself in certain environments," she said.

"In Alice, it's a smaller community so if there are people that are homophobic, and there are, people know about it."

Bucking the stereotype of an outback Northern Territory town, Alice Springs has one of the highest proportions of lesbian couples in the country.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2016 census figures show that female same-sex couples represent about one in 100 of all co-habiting couples in the town.

The local government areas of Mt Alexander and Hepburn in central Victoria are the only two similar-sized towns in Australia with a higher ratio.

Charles Darwin University (CDU) population researcher Andrew Taylor said Alice Springs has had a female-dominated population for more than a decade.

"The 2006 census was when the gender ratio flipped from Alice Springs being male dominated — which is what you would expect from a remote, outback town — to female dominated," he said.

"That was reportedly due to the arrival in town of some female same-sex couples and that group have grown over time."

It has grown so much so that there are now twice as many lesbian couples as there are male same-sex couples in Alice Springs.

Anti-war protest drew hundreds of feminist activists

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 1 minute 5 seconds 1 m 5 s Hundreds attend Pine Gap 'Women's Peace Camp' in 1983

A women-only 'peace camp' at the Pine Gap defence facility in 1983 is one factor behind the town's large number of lesbians said local historian Megg Kelham.

An estimated 700 women took part in the two-week protest against the dangers of nuclear war, part of a global women's peace movement happening in Europe, America and the UK.

"I think it brought large numbers of women to the centre of Australia that would not otherwise have come here," Ms Kelham said.

"Some of them stayed because for many, it was their first experience of the centre of Australia and they realised how beautiful it was.

"There were also opportunities to work closely with Indigenous people at what was a pretty exciting time [for Indigenous rights]."

The protest at Pine Gap brought a lot of women to the town of Alice Springs, and many stayed after making friendships there. ( Supplied: Silva Vaughan-Jones )

Ms Kelham attended the peace camp on a whim while travelling around Australia with her then girlfriend.

"I went for fun, for the social possibility of catching up with other lesbians who I hadn't seen since leaving Sydney," she said.

"In those days, in the early 1980s, we'd come across references to lesbians — and that was in graffiti in a toilet in Mackay."

Women found friendship and work

Ms Kelham said once the peace camp ended, the lesbian population in Alice Springs grew for a number of reasons but partly due to friendship networks.

"If you know somebody in a town then you're likely to move there or you visit and go 'Wow, this place is beautiful, there are so many jobs'," she said.

"So then you stay, and at some point that becomes a self-regenerating critical mass."

In addition, unlike other desert capitals like Mt Isa, Kalgoorlie and Broken Hill, Alice Springs is not predominantly a mining town.

"A large part of the economy is based on service industry and women are more likely to work in social work, education, arts management or community development projects than men are," Ms Kelham said.

Festival targeted pink dollar

Psychologist Phil Walcott said Alice Springs had long been seen as 'rainbow friendly', thanks to a Northern Territory Government-backed gay festival that started in 2001.

Phil Walcott helped co-ordinate Alice in Wonderland, the town's first gay festival, in the early 2000s. ( ABC Alice Springs: Emma Sleath )

Mr Walcott was one of the co-ordinators of the former five-day Alice is Wonderland Festival which targeted people looking for somewhere to go after the Sydney Mardi Gras.

As a joint venture, he also set up the Rainbow Connection, the Territory's first gay and lesbian bed and breakfast.

"People were always heading to far north Queensland after the Mardi Gras, so we set up the rainbow triangle — Sydney, Alice, Cairns," Mr Walcott said.

"I was trying to get rid of that redneck attitude because I was just really enjoying the place and I wanted to bring other people here so they could see the beauty of the place."

The festival included a dance party along with film nights, a pool competition and a cabaret.

"It brought people from interstate as well as overseas, and it brought people here at other times of the year as well," Mr Walcott said.

"The social scene now is different; we've kind of morphed into the mainstream."

Trend likely to continue

Mr Taylor said the recent growth of migrant communities from India, the Philippines and New Zealand showed that Alice Springs was becoming more accepting.

"Those communities didn't previously exist in any significant numbers in Alice Springs but over the past 10 years or so, they've emerged and grown," he said.

"To me that says that Alice Springs, despite some of the rhetoric you hear, has developed into a tolerant and accepting town so I think this might be something that continues into the future."