The town of Katherine is located in the Northern Territory of Australia, on the Katherine River, 314km south of Darwin. It is known as the place where "The outback meets the tropics".
Aboriginal People
The first ancestors of Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, and Melanesian people arrived in Sahul
more than 50,000 years ( Sahul: mainland Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea joined at times of lower sea level).
New Guinea was separated from the Australian mainland approximately 8,000 years ago, and Tasmania approximately 6,000 years ago. Before this, Aboriginal people could walk down through Cape York to the rest of the continent from New Guinea.
With the end of the Ice Age, global temperatures increased and sea levels rose, flooding the land bridge and separating mainland Australia from New Guinea and Tasmania.
The Jawoyn, Dagoman and Wardaman Aboriginal people traditionally lived and congregated around the area now known as Katherine. However, communities of the Walpiri People of the Victoria River District and Tanami Desert people also, now live in the Katherine district.
There are about 30 Aboriginal language groups in the Katherine area and the various tribal groups who once lived semi-nomadic lifestyles had a comprehensive
knowledge of the flora and fauna of their area and intermarried with other clans.
The traditional foods of the Aboriginal people of the Northern Territory included echidna, goanna, mud mussel, long-neck turtle and witchetty grubs, which are high in protein; also, honey ants and native plants like green plum, yam and bush onion. If you are suffering from the flu, however, you could try squashed green ants as a remedy, or, sap from wattle trees, if you have a headache.
Before European settlement, bush tucker was readily available around Katherine, but with changing land use, these food sources declined.
The Aboriginal people of Katherine today, still share their traditional spiritual beliefs, through Dreamtime stories,
art, dance and song.
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| Christine Owney, a Jawoyn tribe resident of the Manyallaluk/Eva Valley community, weave baskets from tree roots. Sgt. David J. Hercher |
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| Aboriginal painting, Katherine Gorge, NT, Australia, Sardaka |
1845
Dr Ludwig Leichhardt was the first European to visit the Katherine region in 1845 when he discovered the headwaters of the Katherine River.
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| Portrait of Ludwig Leichhardt, (1813–1848) |
1860s
In 1862, the explorer John McDouall Stuart passed through the Katherine region and named the river "Catherine" after the daughter of his benefactor, James Chambers. However, the name was misspelt and has remained
that way ever since. Only ten years after this, the Katherine Telegraph Station was built, and the Overland Telegraph Line completed.
1870s
George McLaughlan surveyed the land south from Darwin to Katherine for a route of the Overland Telegraph line that would run from Darwin to Adelaide in 1870. Around this time, a shack belonging to Barney Murphy existed at the crossing of the river. A year later, the shack was used by visitors travelling to Pine Creek for the gold rush.
A shanty town
developed from the 1870s, near the Katherine River Crossing.
The Gallon Licence Store, built by Bernard (Barney) Murphy, and three other buildings, occupied the site which would later become the Sportsman’s Hotel.
The overland telegraph and original post office would be situated above Knott’s Crossing, adjacent to the Sportsman’s Arms Hotel. The building consisted of six rooms, built out of slabs, with a tin roof, located about 1 km east of the current town.
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| The hotel at Old Katherine, NT, Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), Wednesday 31 August 1938 |
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| The Gallon Licence Store was built in the 1870s on the Katherine River Crossing area. It is part of original town, Katherine, NT |
The Overland Telegraph
The Overland telegraph line opened 22nd August 1872, with the Telegraph Station up river from the crossing.
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| World's News (Sydney, NSW : 1901 - 1955), |
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| Katherine Telegraph Station. Date: Unknown. Library & Archives NT |
Springvale Station
Dr W.J. Browne, who was born and died in England, took up a lease at Spring Vale (or Springvale) Station near Katherine in 1876, as did Gilbert McMinn, a surveyor and public servant from County Down, Ireland, who operated Springvale and Bonrook runs.
Springvale Homestead, which was built in 1879, is the oldest standing homestead
in the Northern Territory. It was established in 1879 by Alfred Giles, ex Overland Telegraph linesman, as part of Dr William Browne's pastoral lease.
Giles stocked the station with sheep and cattle brought up from Adelaide and
built the homestead in 1879. The sheep were later moved to Glencoe Station 145 kilometres (90 mi) south-west of Katherine.
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| Springvale station, Katherine, NT. Stone buildings with communal porch. Building on left probably a house. Far left is a bamboo framed shed. Springvale Homestead. (taken 1-Jan-1920). Library & Archives NT |
At Springvale, shepherds were "southern blacks from Alice Springs". When these Aboriginal shepherds went home, they were given
a revolver for self-protection (Giles, nd.: 155). At one time, there were also Chinese shepherds, with a flock each at Springvale (Giles, nd.: 133). The sheep did not thrive at Springvale and so, were taken to Delamere Station 170km south west of Katherine, but in 1882, they were removed.
Elsey Station
Elsey Station lease was taken up by Abraham Wallace in 1879 and named after Dr Elsey, a surgeon who travelled with the Augustus Charles Gregory expedition. Today the station is owned by the Mangarrayi Aboriginal Land Trust. A replica of the Elsey Homestead was built for the film, "We of the Never Never".
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| Replica of the Elsey Station Homestead from the novel and film, "We of the Never Never", Katherine, NT |
1880s: Gold!
In 1888, a small gold-bearing reef was discovered at Maude’s Creek 20 km east of Katherine. Many Chinese arrived to work the gold fields by 1889, but by 1894, the mining leases at Maude's Creek
had been abandoned. In 1891, copper and silver were discovered, and in more recent years, more gold was found here.
The original 1870s shanty pub operated until 1888, when Bernard Murphy obtained permission to build a Hotel. Murphy expanded his business, becoming the Pioneer Cash Store and the licensed Sportsman’s Hotel.
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| Northern Territory Times and Gazette (Darwin, NT : 1873 - 1927), Friday 15 December 1893 |
The Railway
The
train line reached Pine Creek, 90 km north of Katherine, in 1888. Singhalese and Indian gangs completed the earthwork and 3,000 Chinese labourers laid more than one kilometre of track per day. The line south to Emungalan (may come Aboriginal word meaning "Place of Stone") opened in 1917 when the Northern Territory Railway reached Katherine on route to Alice Springs.
There was no gaol at Emungalan, so detained prisoners were shackled to a tree while they awaited
transportation to Darwin.
1900s
Tom Pearce (“Mine Host” of We of the Never Never) was the manager of the Sportsman's Arms Hotel near Knott's Crossing in 1900 (named after Frederick George Knott and his wife Kate who were the first people to farm the north side of the river.
The hotel was later known as the Commercial Hotel and the Crossways Hotel on Katherine Terrace). Tom Pearce planted boab trees, with seeds from Bradshaw's Run.  |
Tom Pearce, He had a reputation of being able to handle telegraph pole ssingle-handed. Territorians will remember him for having swum the Katherine while it wa sin flood during one 'wet.'Three times he crossed a torrent 70 ft. deep, infestedwith crocodiles and dangerous with trees being swirled downstream, to repair thetelegraph that gave Australia communication with the world. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 17 January 1952. Tom Pearce, who was the licensee of the "Sportsman Hotel, became known as "Mine Host" in recognition by the locals for the hospitality and assistance they received from him. |
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| Tom Pearce, who was the licencee of the Sportsman Hotel, Katherine, NT, Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1862 - 1918, 1935), Saturday 21 May 1904 |
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Knott's Crossing, identified by NT Library (1-Jan-1906)
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Chinese families at Emungalan, approximately 1906-07. identified by NT Library
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A newspaper article about the town of Katherine in 1909, in the The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser stated that, "The waters of this beautiful river teem with fish and crocodiles". And Mr Kingston who owned the Sportsman's Arms Hotel at this time, grew huge pumpkins and water and rockmelons on land adjoining his hotel.
We of the Never Never
The autobiographical novel by Jeannie Gunn, first published in 1908,
We of the Never Never, describes her view of the town of Katherine, as she
passed by there in 1902, on her way to Elsey Station:
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| Jeannie Gunn), identified by NT Library, circa 1902 |
Coming up from the river, the Katherine Settlement appeared to consist solely of the “Pub” and its accompanying store; but beyond the “Pub,” which, by the way, seemed to be hanging on to its own verandah posts for support, we found an elongated, three-roomed building, nestling under deep verandahs, and half-hidden beneath a grove of lofty scarlet flowering ponchianas.
“The Cottage is always set apart for distinguished visitors,” Mine Host said, bidding us welcome with another smile, but never a hint that he was placing his own private quarters at our disposal. Like all bushmen, he could be delicately reticent when conferring a favour; but a forgotten razor-strop betrayed him later on.
In the meantime we discovered the remainder of the Settlement from the Cottage verandahs, spying out the Police Station as it lurked in ambush just round the first bend in a winding bush track—apparently keeping one eye on the “Pub”; and then we caught a gleam of white roofs away beyond further bends in the track, where the Overland Telegraph “Department” stood on a little rise, aloof from the “Pub” and the Police, shut away from the world, yet attending to its affairs, and, incidentally, to those of the bush-folk: a tiny Settlement, with a tiny permanent population of four men and two women—women who found their own homes all-sufficient, and rarely left them, although the men-folk were here, there, and everywhere.
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| Cheon, a Chinese cook, was a character featured in "We of the Never Never" (Gunn 1908). SLSA |
Territory of The Commonwealth The Northern Territory became a territory of the Commonwealth on 1.1.1911.
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| Chinese carriers for the Katherine. (shows laden horse drawn dray crossing dry gully, and Chinese people on foot carrying loads from shoulder poles -Between Pine Creek and Katherine, NT, circa 1912 |
Originally police in the Northern Territory were part of the South Australian Mounted Police, assisted by Aboriginal Trackers.
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| Katherine Police Station shows two small buildings with wrap around verandahs set on a slight rise in an area prone to flooding, NT. Approximately 1911, SLSA |
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| On the verandah of the Katherine Telegraph Station, Minister Thomas, Sir Walter Barttelot, Dr Gilruth, circa 1912, National Library of Australia |
Tin was discovered at Maranboy about 70 kilometres east of Katherine in 1913
by prospectors Scharber and Richardson.
George McKeddie was one of the first publicans in the Katherine district, he took over the Sportsman's Hotel in 1912. Both George McKeddie and his Aboriginal wife, Annie Duwun, a Larrakia woman, have roads
named after them in the Northern Territory. The couple had two children.
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Northern Territory Times and Gazette (Darwin, NT : 1873 - 1927), Saturday 25 May 1918
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Second Settlement
A second settlement developed in the Katherine area between 1914 and 1917, about 3 km from the original settlement at Knott’s Crossing, called Emungalan (Aboriginal meaning "Place of Stone"). A railway station was built here in 1917.
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| John Mott led the first survey party to the Roper River and Katherine regions of the Northern Territory. circa 1914, Aussie Mobs |
In May 1918, Ah Fong was a baker and grocer at Katherine and Mr K. R. Gillard opened a dining room at the
rear of his store.
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Gillard's store and boarding house, Emungalan, circa 1920, Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 21 August 1920
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| A coach which runs between Pine Creek and Katherine River, Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), Saturday 26 May 1917 |
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| Aboriginal people getting their station supplies, Roper River, NT, Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 17 February 1917 |
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| Young Australian, steam ship, built 1853, wrecked 1872, Roper River, NT› you... Observer (Adelaide, SA : 1905 - 1931), Saturday 17 February 1917 |
1920sVestey's Meatworks located west of Katherine was operating in 1917, but closed in 1920.
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| Bill Carter's bakery, Katherine. Corrugated iron building. Bill Carter standing beside it. Circa 1920, identified by NT Library |
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| Emungalan train station, identified by NT Library, circa 1921 |
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| Three men at Emungalan Railway Station), identified by NT Library, circa 1922. This was the terminus of the North Australia Railway from 1917 until 1926 |
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| Northern Territory Times and Gazette (Darwin, NT : 1873 - 1927), Friday 8 August 1924 |
The Terry ExpeditionMichael Terry, who was born in England, was an explorer and motor vehicle pioneer. During 1922, he travelled from Longreach to Katherine by car. Read
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| Michael Terry was an explorer who used motor vehicles. He arrived in Australia from England in 1919 and during 1922 he travelled from Longreach to Katherine by car. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 29 August 1925 |
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| 1. the inland mail leaving Emungalan, NT. 2. Donkey team crossing the Katherine River, NT, Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 30 September 1925 |
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| Railway station, with water tank in background, Katherine Historical Society Collection, n.d. |
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| Two teams laden with provisions for the outback telegraph stations leaving the Katherine. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 25 July 1925 |
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| Katherine old Post Office quarters, NT., date taken, 1-Jun-1925. identified by NT Library |
The Bridge
From 1924 to 1926, a bridge was built over the Katherine River. This resulted in the station at Emungalen closing and the railway station and many people and businesses relocated to the current site of Katherine, across the river.
The Old Katherine Railway Station was built in 1926 and became the headquarters of the North Australia Railway during WWII.
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| A train crossing the newly constructed bridge spanning the Katherine River, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Saturday 27 November 1926 |
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Katherine Police Station, old police cell (taken 23-Jan-1928).Library & Archives NT
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| The Sportsman's Arms Hotel.Library & Archives NT (taken 1-Jan-1929). The Gallon Licence Store is built on the original track across from the 1870s Katherine River Crossing, part of the original Katherine Town area. |
A Third Settlement
Catherine O'Shea opened a boarding house at Emungalen and when the
railway line allowed easy crossing of the Katherine River in 1926, Catherine and her husband Tim, moved to the new Katherine settlement and opened "O'Shea's Railway Hotel".
Manbulloo Station
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| Manbulloo Homestead, twelve miles from Katherine, NT, Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 6 March 1929 |
Manbulloo Station, just outside Katherine, which has 60 kilometres of Katherine River frontage, was established about 1917. It is located on the
opposite side of the Katherine River to Springvale. Owned by the British company, Vesteys, Manbulloo was also the site of an Aboriginal training centre until 1974.
1930s
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| Crossing Bed of Katherine River in Northern Territory, n.d |
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A VIEW OF THE HOMESTEAD AT ELSEY STATION, ON THE ROPER RIVER, NT, Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Thursday 14 December 1933 |
In 1933, Innokentiy Temofeevech (Jim) Zimin began to clear and cultivate a block of land on the Katherine River and then, to grow peanuts. Unreliable rainfall and other problems led Zimin to grow other crops, including cotton.
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| Katherine River Hotel, photo taken 1935. Original hotel in "We of the Never Never", Library & Archives NT |
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| Sunday Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1926 - 1954), Sunday 3 May 1936 |
First Flying Doctor
Clyde Fenton, the Territory's first flying doctor, was based at Manbulloo airstrip near Katherine. He was was appointed medical officer at Katherine in 1934. He acquired a small Gipsy Moth aircraft and
began operating as pilot and doctor.
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| Clyde Cornwall Fenton OBE (16 May 1901 – 28 February 1982) was the Northern Territory's first flying doctor, Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 - 1950), Friday 8 April 1938 |
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| Katherine during floods. Left to right: Katherine Store; The Institute; Post Office; Hotel. Circa 1936 |
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| Adelaide mail plane, which crashed at dawn onWednesday when taking off from Katherine, NorthernTerritory. Three of the crew and a passenger were killed. Left. — The plane's back was broken when it fell into the river. Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), Saturday 21 January 1939 |
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| Worker at Newry Station, NT, Recorder (Port Pirie, SA : 1919 - 1954), Thursday 19 October 1939. Newry Station was purchased by a finance company from Vietnam in 2019 |
1940s and WWII
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| Daily Telegraph (Sydney, NSW : 1931 - 1954), Saturday 13 January 1940 |
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| On October 5, 1938, news drifted into the Roper River police station that Cramulla had been severely bitten about the head by a crocodile while hunting for turtle in a waterhole on the Wilton River about ten miles away. It appeared that Cramulla, with his three mates, Jupiter, Mar-rool-moo, and Lumber Lilly were hunting turtle. Cramulla was chasing one under the water, and just as he was bending over to catch hold of it, a crocodile that had been hiding under a log awaiting the unsuspecting native shot out. like a flash and caught Cramulla by the head, at the same time gripping himwith its foreclaws on the back of the neck. The old native, with great courage and presence of mind, did not give in, but vainly tried to poke his fingers into the crocodile's eyes. Unfortunately, he could not reach them, but, fighting frantically, he managed to wrench himself free and swim under the crocodile's belly, through its back legs, to the surface. In the meantime his three mates, seeing the bubbles and the turmoil ofthe water that was being stained crimson realised that Cramulla had beentaken by the dreaded 'Walla jan damar.' Without hesitation they rushed to his assistance. Read here. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 2 January 1941 |
The Old Katherine Railway Station, built in 1926, became the headquarters of the North Australia Railway during WWII.
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| Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), Monday 23 March 1942 |
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| Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser (NSW : 1856 - 1861; 1863 - 1889; 1891 - 1954), Monday 23 March 1942 |
On 22 March 1942, the town of Katherine was bombed by the Japanese. At The Gallon Store at Knotts Crossing, a bomb crater and other damage can still be seen.
The Katherine Aerodrome terminal building
was completed in 1945, but now functions as a museum.
Manbulloo Airfield was a World War II airfield built at Manbulloo Station near Katherine, from where US bombers attacked Japanese airfields, ground installations, shipping, and industries in the Netherlands East Indies and the Bismarck Archipelago. The RAAF also built Tindal and Venn airstrips in the district.
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| September 1944. Ground crew pull a trolley load of bombs to be loaded onto a Consolidated B24 Liberator bomber aircraft, code name GR-K (serial no. A72-40) of No. 24 Squadron RAAF, prior to a raid, Manbulloo, NT, (located within the Katherine Town Council local government area). The Australian War Memorial |
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| Ground crew of No. 24 (Liberator) Squadron RAAF service one of their aircraft (serial no. A72-38) after its return from a mission in the South West Pacific area. Manbulloo, NT. circa July 1944 |
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| Soldiers with Aboriginal children, identified by NT Library, date taken 1-Jan-1944 |
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| Aboriginal ordalies at 121 Australian General Hospital, 121 Australian General Hospital, Australian War Memorial |
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| General view of Aboriginal graves, just outside town, Katherine, NT, Second World War, 1939-1945, AWM |
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| "Duke & Duchess leaving Old Katherine. The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester visited Katherine from 15-25 August 1946 and spent 2 days at Elsey Station. NT. Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 5 September 1946 |
CSIRO
CSIRO established a research station at Katherine in 1946; many Aboriginal workers lived and worked at the
agricultural research station.
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| O'Shea's Katherine Hotel, Katherine, 1948. identified by NT Librar |
The iconic British meat extract paste, Bovril, was developed in the 1870s. Bovril leased land close to racecourse and began to build a Bovril meat extraction plant in 1947. Just a
few years later, the building and project was abandoned.
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| The Bovril Meatworks building partly completed, identified by NT Library, date taken 1-Jan-1951 |
1950s
Katherine was on the Darwin to Mount Isa section of the Redex Trials held in the 1950s.
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| Street with sign Welcome to Katherine, Lawley-Brown Collection, Library & Archives NT, (CC BY 4.0) |
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A native who knew theonginal Elsey Homestead at Warlock Ponds stands on the old site. Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), Saturday 29 September 1951 (note, Australian indigenous shelters made from small branches with the leaves still attached) |
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Tobacco Could Be New N.T. Industry, Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954), Thursday 29 January 1953
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| The Mobile Dental Unit travelled around the Northern Territory offering dental services, an initiative run by the government’s Department of Health. 1958, cc |
1970s
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| Katherine Terrace, the Stewart Highway, Katherine, Northern Territory - 1970s, Aussie Mobs |
Around Katherine
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| Katherine Gorge in the early morning light, Iambexta. Katherine Gorge in nearby Nitmiluk National Park, is owned and run by the Jawoyn people. Nitmiluk which means Cicada Dreaming, comes from a Dreamtime story. |
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| Remains of a bomb crater at Knotts Crossing, Katherine, NT |
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| Springvale station, Katherine, NT, built by stone mason Fred Stone |
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| The O'Keefe House is located off the Victoria Highway road, at Katherine, NT It is built of corrugated iron and was one of Clyde Fenton's Nurses' residence, and later taken over by the Officers in WW2 |
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| Knotts Crossing near Katherine NT |
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| Tom Pearce planted boab trees at Katherine, NT |
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| Katherine Museum, NT, building was the passenger terminal and air radio building for the Katherine Aerodrome. It was used for 30 years from 1945 until the Aerodrome officially closed in 1975 |
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| Former Katherine Railway Station, NT, located on Railway Terrace was built in 1926 |
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| The Wheel Rim Shrinkage Pit was constructed in about 1917 near the blacksmith's shop at Emungalan on the northern side of the Katherine River, read more |
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| The Katherine railway bridge was constructed in 1924 as part of the extension of the railway from Emungalan to Birdum |
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| The Katherine railway bridge, NT, was constructed in 1924 as part of the extension of the railway from Emungalan to Birdum |
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| Katherine Gorge, Gorge Road, NT |
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| Old locomotive in Ryan Park, Katherine. NT |
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| Katherine Low Level Nature Park. NT |
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| Found around Katherine, NT, Jawoyn word for "male" (the local aboriginal language around Katherine) |
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| Natural thermal springs are located just outside of Katherine Township and comprise of a series of clear pools framed by native vegetation. These springs have a constant temperature of approximately 25 - 30 degrees Celsius |
Things To See and Places To Go
Katherine Museum
Katherine Rail Trail
History and Heritage
Books To Read
We of The Never Never, Jeanie Gunn (Public Domain)
Territory, by Judy Nunn
The Silent Country, Di Morrissey
