Pioneer Pastoralists
Just a short drive today to Katherine and set up in a lovely caravan park. John has pulled a muscle in his back so he didn't feel like doing much today. He has contacted 2 physios and left a message but so far no return call. I guess they don't want to work on a weekend.
We went to Springvale Homestead which was the first cattle station established in the tropics of NT. Mobs of cattle and sheep were driven all the way from Adelaide and the enterprise started on the banks of the crocodile infested river. These early settlers had determination!
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| Springvale Homestead NT |
We followed this with a visit to Katherine Outback Heritage Museum which is housed in the original Katherine airport terminal. Once again the terminal and the airstrip were taken over by the army in the early 1940's. I had no idea the Japanese bombed Katherine in 1942, in fact they bombed a number of areas around the top end coastline too. Their planes could not carry enough fuel to allow them to strike further inland which is why the allied army was stationed so far south of Darwin. This museum is chock full of artifacts of all description just waiting for some keen enthusiast to come along and restore them. One of the exhibits is the Gypsy Moth plane flown by the original flying doctor servicing the top end remote areas. He was the pilot and the doctor!
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| Katherine Museum NT |
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| Dr Fenton's Gypsy Moth plane NT |
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