The Katherine Museum

The bomb crater at the Gallan Licence Store Katherine nt

PMG Line Party present the day Katherine was bombed 22 March 1942

Thursday 22^nd March 11am Commemoration of the 70^th anniversary of the Bombing of Katherine at Katherine Museum and historical sites around Katherine.

The Royal Australian Mint will be releasing a coin set on Friday 3 February.  This collection – set of three coins are called Shores Under Siege. The set of coins is for the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the bombings of Darwin 19 February 1942, Broome WA 3 March and the bombing of Katherine 22 March 1942.  The set will retail for $25.50

Extract from article written by Mike Reed for the 60 bombing  anniversary of Katherine:

10.21 am  22 March 1942 : Nine Mitsubishi G4M1 Betty Bombers of the Japanese Navy’s Tokao Kokutai, 23rd Koku Sentai had left Timor early that day and appeared over Katherine aerodrome, circled and Left…. They came back about a quarter of and hour later and let us have it (Dorothy Hall, Gallon License Store).  It is estimated that  91, 60 kg bombs were released during the raid, 84 were said to have been Daisey Cutter and 84 fell on the main target, the Katherine Aerodrome.

Local farmer Bert Nixon said:  “I’d heard American and Australian planes, but these were different… I thought, ‘It’s got to be the Jap’s and when I looked up, there they were, nine of them in formation coming from the north east”.

At Knotts Crossing, a PMG Line party were narrowly missed by bombs.  Other bombs fell near the hospital, The Gallon License Store which still bears shrapnel holes and two landed near Manbulloo.

Noel Hall had a finger severed at the joint by shrapnel from a Daisey Cutter bomb and an Indigenous man called Dodger Brumby was tragically killed by shrapnel from the same bomb.

Anne Cox recalled “There were six men working out the front.  They suddenly raced down our driveway and over our fence into the bush.  We knew something was wrong and came outside.  We heard an unusual drone….. Planes were easily spotted in the eastern sky….they circled the town three times … they bombed the aerodrome.” 

Iris's Quilt -

The Katherine Museum would like to thank Iris for her outstanding achievement in being our treasured treasurer for the last 20 years.  Iris was asked by the Manager at the time Shirley Canning if she would consider nominating at the AGM for the position of Treasurer for the Historical Society of Katherine.  Iris often said that she was never interested in the history side of things at the Museum but she made it her business to know exactly what was going on around her. She lead the way with commitment and sometimes she showed a sneaky peek of interest in the historical side. The Museum has achieved to grow over these years because of Iris’s dedicated strengths in managing our finances.  20 years of voluntary labour or should I say –  hard labour – is an outstanding effort and she has rake up at least 31,200 hours of sheer devotion for our Museum. What more can I say! It’s just an incredible effort

Welcome to our team - Kerryn A Taylor - Manager Katherine Museum

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL OUR BLOG READERS

Sorry for the delay in posting something new to read.  The time gets away and here we are ready for another year of historical work.  Last year the Katherine Museum has had a few staff changes.  We would like to welcome Kerryn Taylor to our team.  Kerryn will be our Museum Manager.  Kerryn has lived in Katherine for 36 years and has lived a part of our early history.  Also over the last four months Kerryn has been busy catching up on our admin, researching, and hosted a hat exhibition.  I am sure we will be seeing many of Kerryn’s handy work from now on.

Thank you to all our volunteers and support from our wonderful community of Katherine!

Dont forget everyone, Saturday is the Deb Ball and tickets are still on sale at the Museum.

Ring Craig or Kaye to reserve your tickets. 

Three course meal under the stars, great entertainment so dont miss out. 

John McDouall Stuart – 1862

After several attempts, John McDouall Stuart was finally successful, in 1862, in crossing Australia for South to North. In July of that year he reached the Katherine River at a point approximately 90 km upstream from the present town. In his diary he wrote ” 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 the ‘Katherine in honor of the second daughter of James Chambers Esq. “.

James Chambers’s daughter’s name was actually spelt Catherine, but Stuart’s miss spelling has never been changed.

John McDouall Stuart

Markies cooking up a storm

Marksie Museum Café

Geoff Mark is a local man that has been running his own outback tucker nights since 2005 at the Katherine Museum grounds.  Geoff has now launched himself into opening Markies Museum Café.  Geoff has to offer, a service with old fashion values, and I have to say that being one of his customers certainly makes you feel special. 

The outback theme gives you a glimpse of what it was like many years ago to live in the Territory.  Marksie, as he calls himself, loves a yarn and he can tell you about the local bush and the surrounding history without any pauses. His knowledge about local bush tucker and indigenous culture is a great asset to his business that makes it very unique.

Brekkie with Geoff

Marksie Museum Café has daily specials and is open for breakfast. Brekkie with Geoff is good old fashion food, that we just love to call “Comfort Food” these days. Bacon, eggs, tomatoes, sausages, baked beans, juices, cereals, pannikins of hot tea or coffee, and all served with a smile!

Markies day time Menu: Crocodile and beef sausage rolls, buffalo and barra burgers, gem scones and mango smoothies.  It’s a very tropical menu that is served in the open air Café surrounded by the beautiful tropical gardens at the Museum.

The recipe that is used for his Gem Scone’s is the original Mark

If you would like to book in for a special occasion just give Marksie a ring on 0427112806.