A boat trip up the Katherine Gorge

Katherine (including the Katherine Gorge National Park and the Cutta Cutta Caves)
An important and major centre surrounded by a range of excellent attractions.
Katherine, with a population of over 6 000, is the third largest town in the Northern Territory. Located 340 km from Darwin and 1184 km from Alice Springs, the town is situated on the banks of the Katherine River far enough from the coast to avoid the humid excesses of the tropics (it has a annual rainfall of 960 mm nearly all of which falls between November and March) and yet sufficiently far north not to be surrounded by desert.

Historically Katherine has always been important. To the local Aborigines it was the point where the traditional lands of the Jawoyan (sometimes spelt Djauan), Walpiri, Dagaman and Wardiman met and consequently the river and the nearby gorge were popular meeting places.

The Katherine River, after which the town and the nearby gorge take their names, was named by John McDouall Stuart when he passed through the area in 1862 on his sixth and successful journey across the continent. At the time Stuart was being sponsored by the South Australian pastoralist, James Chambers. Chambers had become obsessed with the idea of an overland telegraph link with Europe and had sponsored the first five of Stuart's expeditions. Stuart reciprocated by naming a number of places in the Northern Territory after members of Chambers' family.

On 4 July 1862 Stuart crossed the Katherine River and recorded in his diary: 'Came upon another large creek, having a running stream to the south of west and coming from the north of east. This I have named 'Katherine', in honour of the second daughter of James Chambers Esq.' There is some argument over Stuart's accuracy. Chambers' wife's name was Katherine but, according to most sources, his daughter's name was Catherine. Stuart's error is understandable.

As with so many of the settlements in the Territory the next step in the development of Katherine was the arrival of the Overland Telegraph Line and the establishment of the Katherine Telegraph Station on 22 August 1872.

The location for the Telegraph Station was chosen by Walter Rutt, Robert Patterson and James Stapleton. It consisted of six rooms, was built out of slabs and had a tin roof. It overlooked the Katherine River approximately 1 km east of the current town and just beyond where the hospital now stands.

Stapleton became the first stationmaster but in 1873 he transferred to Barrow Creek (q.v.) where he was killed by the local Aborigines.

The Overland Telegraph helped to the opening up the area to pastoral activities. In 1877 Alfred Giles and Alfred Woods, accompanied by 40 men, 2500 cattle, and 12 000 sheep headed north from South Australia with a view to establishing a pastoral empire in the Northern Territory. They arrived near the modern day site of Katherine in June 1879 (the journey had taken them 20 months) and near the Katherine River they built a homestead which they called 'Spring Vale'. The land was owned by Dr W. J. Browne a respected pastoralist in South Australia who was gambling on the good reports of the land around Katherine which had been spread by Stuart and other explorers.

Alfred Giles was, by any measure, a remarkable man. He had been second-in-command with the team who had surveyed the Overland Telegraph Line route and had explored the Top End of the country. It is likely that he was the first white man to see the Katherine Gorge.

An excellent and interesting account of the journey of Giles and Woods across Australia and the settlement of Springvale is contained in Peter Forrest's Springvale's Story and Early Years at the Katherine published by Murranji Press in 1985.

Today Springvale Homestead, the oldest station homestead in the Territory, still stands. It was built to last. It is within the Springvale Homestead Tourist Park and can be visited and inspected.

There is a wonderful description of life in Katherine at the turn of the century in Jeannie Gunn's We of the Never Never when she recalls her first contact with the town in 1908: 'Coming up from the river, the Katherine Settlement appeared to consist solely of the 'Pub', which, by the way, seemed to be hanging on to its own verandah posts for support. We found an elongated, three-room building, nestling under deep verandahs, and half-hidden beneath a grove of lofty scarlet flowering poinsettias.'

In 1917 the railway was extended from Pine Creek to Katherine but it was halted by the difficulty of building a bridge over the river. It wasn't until 1924-26 that a bridge was built. On 21 January 1926 the first train crossed the bridge and continued on to the distinctive Katherine Railway Station.

Things to see:  

Katherine Tourist Information Centre
The starting point for any visitor to Katherine is at the south of the town where, on the eastern side of the Stuart Highway, the Katherine Tourist Information Centre is located and, on the western side of the Highway, at the BP Garage, where tours of Katherine Gorge can be booked.

Katherine Railway Station
Katherine Railway Station. Today the railway station, the only one on the line built out of concrete, is run by the National Trust. It is open Monday to Friday 11.00-1.00.

Katherine Museum
The Katherine Museum which is located 3 km out of town on the Katherine Gorge Road is definitely worth a visit. It is well organised with a good range of interesting displays including a room on the Overland Telegraph Line, another on the Chinese in the Territory, detailed history of the changes of the town from the first settlement at Knots Crossing to the building of 'The Katherine', to the modern settlement. They also publish and sell an interesting range of publications on aspects of local history including a booklet on the origin of the town's street names and a fascinating account of Russian Peanut Farming at Katherine 1929-1960. In the annals of local history can there ever have been a more exotic topic.

Springvale Homestead
Springvale Homestead, the oldest station homestead in the Northern Territory, still stands. It was built in 1879 and with its thick limestone walls it is a rare example of early colonial architecture in a region where most early buildings were constructed of timber. It is within the very popular Springvale Homestead Tourist Park and can be visited and inspected.

The second gorge in Katherine Canyon

Katherine Gorge National Park
The most important tourist attraction in the Katherine area is the 180 352 hectare Katherine Gorge National Park located 32 km north east of Katherine. The Gorge actually comprises 13 separate gorges each of which is separated by rocky areas during the dry season. The Park offers swimming, bushwalking and boating as its main activities.

A brochure provided free of charge by the Conservation Commission gives details of the ten walks in the park. Walks vary from the one hour Lookout Walk which is 2.5 km (one way) to the Edith Falls Wilderness Walk which can be spread over 5 days and is 152 km return.

It is possible to hire canoes and make your own way, at your own pace, up the Katherine Gorges. At the end of the dry season this involves dragging the canoes over the rocks in order to enter each successive gorge. It does however allow for swimming, picnics and a more leisurely investigation of the gorges.

The most popular and convenient way of visiting the gorges is to take one of the cruises (2 hour duration which visits the first two gorges, 4 hour - the first three gorges, and 9 hour - the first five gorges). While the cruises are interesting and informative they are run by guides who are not afraid to make up fanciful stories for visitors. It was common, as the boat entered the second gorge, for the guides to point out the 'Jedda Rock' and explain that it had been used in the final scene of the 1955 film Jedda. It was then common to embroider the story be explaining that the film crew had been unable to persuade anyone to jump off the rock and consequently paper mache models had been used. This would all be quite interesting except that the final scene of the movie was shot at Kanangra Walls in the NSW Blue Mountains. Equally the rocky outcrop known as 'The Indian Chief' is a recent invention designed to 'enhance' the journey.

Cutta Cutta Cave Nature Park
27 km to the south of Katherine is the 1499 hectare Cutta Cutta Cave Nature Park. The whole area around Katherine is characterised by limestone formations with thermal springs (at Mataranka and Douglas Hot Springs) bubbling to the surface and large numbers of caves.

During World War II when airstrips were being built in the area there were problems with collapses into caves and even today there are people in Katherine who have a hole in their backyard which is presumably the entrance to an underground cave system.

Cutta Cutta Cave is the only cave open to the public in the park. It is a tropical cave with an average temperature of 35°C and 80-90 per cent humidity.

The cave is unusual in the sense that it does not grow in the dry season. It only grows during 'the wet' when the area receives most of its annual rainfall. It's thought that the caves developed millions of years ago when the climatic circumstances were significantly different.

As always there is good information at the Rangers Headquarters which are located a few kilometres west of the Stuart Highway. The caves are a short walk away and conducted tours, lasting about one hour, are held at 9.00 am, 10.30 am, 12.00, 1.30 pm and 3.00 pm. There is also a walk through the woodlands of the area with Conservation Commission signs pointing out the unusual flora of the area. There are plans to open more caves but approval has to be granted by the local Aborigines as many of the caves are sacred sites.

The caves are famous for their colonies of blind shrimp (an ancient form of shrimp previously unknown in Australia) and Golden Horseshoe Bat which is now near extinction.

	Tourist Information
	Katherine Region Tourist Association Cnr Stuart Hwy & Lindsay St Katherine NT 0850 Telephone: (08) 8972 2650
	Motels
	All Seasons Katherine Frontier Motor Inn Stuart Hwy Katherine NT 0850 Telephone: (08) 8972 1744 Facsimile: (08) 8972 2790 Rating: ***
	Beagle Motor Inn Cnr Fourth & Lindsay Sts Katherine NT 0850 Telephone: (08) 8972 3998 Facsimile: (08) 8972 3725
	Katherine River Lodge Katherine NT 0851 Telephone: (08) 8971 0266 Facsimile: (08) 8971 3188 Email: stewcaul@hotmail.com
	Knotts Crossing Resort Motel Cnr Giles & Cameron Sts Katherine NT 0850 Telephone: (08) 8972 2511 Facsimile: (08) 8972 2628 Rating: ***
	Paraway Motel Cnr O'Shea Tce & First St Katherine NT 0850 Telephone: (08) 8972 2644 Facsimile: (08) 8972 2720 Rating: **
	Riverview Motel 440 Victoria Hwy Katherine NT 0850 Telephone: (08) 8972 1011 Facsimile: (08) 8971 0397 Rating: **
	Pine Tree Motel 129 Third St Katherine NT 0850 Telephone: (08) 8972 2533 Facsimile: (08) 8972 2920 Rating: ***
	Hotels
	Crossways Hotel/Motel Katherine Tce Katherine NT 0850 Telephone: (08) 8972 1022
	Katherine Hotel/Motel Katherine Tce Katherine NT 0850 Telephone: (08) 8972 1622 Facsimile: (08) 8972 3213 Rating: **
	Caravan Parks
	All Seasons Frontier Caravan Park Stuart Hwy Katherine NT 0850 Telephone: (08) 8972 1744 Rating: **
	Edith Falls Park Edith Falls Katherine NT 0850 Telephone: (08) 8975 4869
	Knotts Crossing Resort Caravan Park Cnr Giles & Cameron Sts Katherine NT 0850 Telephone: (08) 8972 2511 Rating: **
	Red Gum Caravan Park 42 Victoria Hwy Katherine NT 0850 Telephone: (08) 8972 2239 Facsimile: (08) 8972 2385 Rating: **
	Shady Lane Van Park Gorge Rd Katherine NT 0850 Telephone: (08) 8971 0491
	Springvale Homestead Tourist Park Shadforth Rd Katherine NT 0850 Telephone: (08) 8972 1355 Facsimile: (08) 8972 3201
	Katherine Low Level Caravan Park Shadforth Rd Katherine NT 0850 Telephone: (08) 8972 3962, or (08) 8972 2239 Rating: ***
	Riverview Caravan Park 440 Victoria Hwy Katherine NT 0850 Telephone: (08) 8972 1011 Facsimile: (08) 8971 0397 Rating: **
	Restaurants
	Digger Den Tavern 7 Victoria Hwy Katherine NT 0850 Telephone: (08) 8971 0422
	Katie's Bistro Cameron St Katherine NT 0850 Telephone: (08) 8972 2511
	Kirby's Restaurant Katherine Tce Katherine NT 0850 Telephone: (08) 8972 1622
	Paraway Motel Paraway Motel Cnr O'Shea Tce & First St Katherine NT 0850 Telephone: (08) 8972 2644
	Cafés
	Fare Dinkum Cafe Unit 1/102 Third St Katherine NT 0850 Telephone: (08) 8972 3390
	Kumbidgee Lodge Tea Rooms Gorge Rd Katherine NT 0850 Telephone: (08) 8971 0699
	Main St Cafe & Takeaway 22 Katherine Tce Katherine NT 0850 Telephone: (08) 8971 0688
	The Cinema Cafe Cinema Complex Katherine NT 0850 Telephone: (08) 8971 0594