Today in history: NT town of Katherine gazetted 100 years ago

Today marks the 100 years since Katherine was gazetted. (ABC News: Michael Franchi) Link copiedShareShare articleThe town of Katherine in the Northern Territory has been a meeting place for centuries, and remains a crossroads for people travelling across the north. But it was not until the completion of a bridge in 1926 that the town, 300 kilometres south of Darwin, was officially gazetted. Today, we look back at a century of Katherine — a place many people, from traditional owners to Russian peanut farmers, have called home over the years. It is a town that has seen its fair share of triumphs and hardships, from the landmark return of sacred land to traditional owners, to being bombed during World War II. Katherine's early days of European settlement in the late 1800s were driven by its role as an outpost on the overland telegraph line. But the modern township, in its present location, came about in 1926 with the completion of the Katherine railway bridge. Katherine's railway bridge was under construction during the 1920s and was finished in 1926. (Supplied: Historical Society of Katherine) The railway brought investment and the first proper homes, built for the engine drivers. For most people, living conditions were tough in those days. Town historian Simmone Croft said most people lived in structures that were "more like shanties". Simmone Croft says the living conditions in Katherine's early years would have been tough. (ABC News: James Elton) "It would have been pretty hard living in this heat with no air conditioning, no fans, basically no refrigeration — so people lived on salt beef, dampers and whatever they could grow," she says. Lisa Mumbin, a traditional owner, senior Jawoyn elder and chair of the Jawoyn Association, said the experience for many Aboriginal stockmen and their families was extremely tough. Lisa Mumbin says the Wave Hill walk-off affected the lives of Aboriginal stockmen and women in Katherine. (ABC News: James Elton) In the 1960s, the mass walk-off from Wave Hill Station to Katherine's south-west brought the payment of Aboriginal workers with flour, sugar and tea to national attention and was a flashpoint in the land rights movement. Early Chinese migrants brought much-needed culinary skills, with many working as cooks on nearby cattle stations. "They knew how to grow greenery, they were very good gardeners and cooks," Ms Croft said. Men involved in the Russian Civil War (1918–1920) migrated to Katherine in the 1920s. (Supplied: Katherine Museum) Russian peanut farmers, displaced from their homeland by civil war, also settled in the town in the 1920s and 1930s, having originally come to help construct the railway under a federal government program. The peanut enterprise ended up failing due to mould problems, but the Russians remained, with Katherine suburbs still bearing names like Cossack. Lil Tindal and Nadia Pascoe with a successful peanut harvest. (Supplied: Historical Society of Katherine) The melting pot of cultures in Katherine's early years was encapsulated by the man now depicted in a statue on horseback on Katherine's main drag. Sabu Sing, born to a Wardaman Aboriginal mother and a Chinese station cook father, was a highly skilled horseman. A statue of Sabu Sing, who was known in town as a skilled horseman and town icon. (Supplied: Lauren Reed) "He worked with cattle, he was very good with animal husbandry, and he could do bird calls that sounded like the real deal," Ms Croft said. "He worked very hard … Sabu was very iconic to our town, and very loved." Most of Katherine's residents were evacuated during the Second World War while tens of thousands of troops took up postings in and around the town. Craters were created around Katherine from the bombing of the town by Japan in 1942. (Supplied: Historical Society of Katherine) Newspaper clipping showing reporting in the Daily Telegraph on March 23, 1942. (Supplied) The Canberra Times reported on the raids on March 23, 1942. (Supplied) A core group of around 100 shopkeepers, postal staff, police and health workers stayed behind with the soldiers. The military saw inland Katherine as a strategic location on Australia's northern front, with railway access and a hospital, which became especially important after the bombing of Darwin in February 1942. The sense of relative security was shattered when a group of nine Japanese aircraft dropped around 90 bombs on Katherine's airfield on March 22, 1942, killing one Aboriginal man named Dodger Kodjalway who was working at the hospital. The resulting damage was minor from a military perspective, though craters and shrapnel marks from the bombing can still be seen today. Nitmiluk Gorge is Katherine's biggest drawcard, winding its way in sharp 90-degree zigzags through fractures in a gigantic slab of sandstone. Ms Mumbin said the gorge had always been deeply important to the Jawoyn, many of whom lived in what is now Nitmiluk National Park. Katherin

Today in history: NT town of Katherine gazetted 100 years ago

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Today in history: NT town of Katherine gazetted 100 years ago

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