At the crossroads of the north

The NT town of Katherine is celebrating its centenary with a series of events that retell its remarkable history.

Story Kerry Sharp Photo Lisa Pilbeam

From an unassuming start as a tiny northern outpost originally formed to support local Overland Telegraph Line (OTL) facilities, two pubs, the Cox family’s general store and a police station, Katherine has travelled a remarkable journey since being gazetted as a town on July 1, 1926.

Today’s modern, bustling Katherine ‘at the crossroads of the north’ is home to 11,000 people, a rich Indigenous and multicultural heritage, globally strategic Tindal airbase and spectacular landmarks that bring in 280,000 annual visitors. It’s also the regional service hub for pastoral, agricultural, mining and other sectors operating across a vast feeder area the size of Victoria.

As proud locals flock to this year’s centenary celebrating events including a sunset cocktail party on Katherine’s heritage-listed railway bridge, star-studded sports and music carnivals, medal presentations for recent flood heroes and a street parade – stories of Katherine’s early settlers and history-shaping events are being retold. A larrikin flying doctor, Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa who both charmed Katherine School of the Air pupils over the airwaves, and Russian Cossack peanut farmers fleeing a civil war, have all contributed to the town’s colourful past, along with a terrifying World War II bombing, three devastating floods and dry-season droughts.