Katherine is a small busy township of approximately 10,000 people, servicing an area of 400,000 square kilometers of farmlands and National Parks, and only 320 kilometres from Darwin. One of Australia’s most famous tourist attractions lies just 30 kilometres from town in a spectacular wilderness area. The Katherine Gorge, which has been formed by millions of years of erosion by the Katherine River through the Arnhemland Plateau, is part of the Nithiluk National Park.
The town has many interesting places to visit including the museum where Doctor Clyde Fenton, the first flying doctor, has his plane, a De Havilland Gypsy Moth on display. At Knotts Crossing, the original site of the town of Katherine, there are a couple of the original overland telegraph pylons, and the original horseback crossing of the river both from a bygone era. Springvale Homestead, 8 kilometres south of Katherine, is the oldest original homestead in the Northern Territory, established in 1879 by Alfred Giles, who worked on the original telegraph installation.
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