The town of Katherine is situated 312 kilometres south of Darwin. It is a regional centre to a population of 9,000 people in the municipality and another 10,000 people in an area of 336,674 square kilometres, approximately the size of Victoria. Katherine is located on the banks of the beautiful Katherine River, which breached its banks on Australia Day, 1998.
Managing adversity
The 1998 Australia Day Flood caused major devastation to two thirds of the town, which included the whole of the Central Business District. The last five years has seen business and residents suffer financial difficulties in overcoming the effects of the Flood. Katherine Town Council has managed to maintain its operational budget and continue to carry out major upgrades to a number of facilities, including the Waste Management Facility; and contributing $260,000 towards drainage and raising the road heights in flood prone areas of Hickeys Lake, which links the rural area to the township.
Community building
Council has managed to maintain a proactive role in the community and has played a major part in the development of the new visitor information centre on the corner of the Stuart Highway and Lindsay Street. It also provided financial assistance for the building of the new grandstand at the Katherine Showgrounds, and replaced the Stuart Memorial Hall at the Showgrounds, as well as clearing and mowing all the roads in the municipality. There are also many small projects that Council has aided over the past five years including upgrading of facilities for various organisations, as well as providing sponsorship for many young people to attend sporting events around Australia.
Growth and prosperity
While many small rural towns across Australia are seeing rapidly declining numbers and losing services, Katherine has experienced the opposite, and consumer confidence has seen a number of new developments in the past year or two. The extension of the old YMCA building into the Oasis Shopping Centre has seen a number of new businesses – Target, Just Jeans and Bright Eyes – opening up in Katherine. The new Petrol Plus and Independent Motor Mart have also chosen Katherine as a good place to conduct business, and a number of older established businesses have carried out major extensions and upgrades to their premises. The Alice to Darwin Railway will change the way business is done in Katherine in the future and Council is looking forward to this with interest and anticipation. The impacts on the town so far have all been positive, with the building of a large Sleeper Factory and Ballast Mine, along with increased spending and work for local people and contractors. Horticulture and agricultural industries continue to increase with Katherine mangoes being recognised as some of the best on the southern markets.
Environmental initiatives
Katherine and the Kalano Community were the joint winners of the 2002 Territory Tidy Towns Award for a large Community.
This award reflects the work of the Katherine Town Council, the Kalano Community Association Inc. and community participation in the many waste management and environmental management activities developed in the town.Katherine, like many small towns, has its share of litter and illegal dumping. The awards were not presented for the streets with the sparkled finish but for the effort of the community to develop programs to address the issues, and the Katherine Town Council has implemented many major projects to address litter and environmental management.
The Katherine Town Council is the first Council in the Northern Territory to sign up for the National drumMUSTER program. drumMUSTER is designed for Councils to provide a local facility where chemical users can safely deposit their empty drums, so that empty chemical containers will not be used in landfill. Drums can only be deposited at the time of an officially organised drum muster.
The Council undertakes a community advertising and education program to set aside specific collection days. A specific area has been set up at the Waste Management Facility to store used chemical containers.
Funded by the Beverage Industry and Environment Council, the Katherine Bin Trial investigated the implications of providing local language and art on rubbish bins. The trial has found that the bins were utilised more. The project involved the local language centre, local artists from Mimi Arts, Work for the Dole and the Katherine Landcare Group.
Sustainable development
The Katherine Hot Springs is one of the heavily visited Council managed natural features along the Katherine River. Visitation is free and has increased extensively, and this excessive use has resulted in some damage to the stream banks surrounding the springs and associated pools. Council, in conjunction with the Katherine Landcare Group, Conservation Volunteers Australia, Green Corps and Work for the Dole has completed a two year National Heritage Trust funded Rivercare Project to address vegetation loss and bank stabilisation.
Prior to adding the biodiversity touches, Council and the Northern Territory Government addressed access by providing a raised walking platform, staircase access to the pools and disabled access to the river basin site. This work forms a small part of the implementation of Council’s Katherine River Plan of Management, which in conjunction with community groups such as the Kalano Community and the Katherine Landcare Group, has implemented an intensive environmental management program along the river. Access points to the river corridor have been formalised with major bank rehabilitation and revegetation occurring where old access points had created massive erosion gullies.
Katherine Town Council also maintains the Low Level River Reserve which is part of the Katherine River Corridor, as a recreation area free to the public.
Council has implemented many annual community events such as Clean Up Australia Day, and Recycle Phone Books and Christmas Cards, and supported the push for Container Deposit Legislation. Council also supports the annual Arbor Week tree planting with Greening Australia and Planet Ark Tree Planting Day, along with an official tree planting program throughout the town.
Airport award
The Katherine Rural Airport has been awarded the Australian Airports Owners Association 2002 Rural Airport of the Year, for the upgrades made to the GA Apron to extend it to Australian Standards. Council identified in its Master Plan that the widening of the GA taxiway to meet aviation standards was a high priority and plans were developed to suit Code B aircraft. Katherine Town Council hired local contractors to undertake these works at a cost of $190,000. The widening of the taxiway will ensure Katherine takes advantage of the growth in the region and the demands that will be put on air services.
Council has earned over $1 million and all profits are returned to the upgrading of the airport. This has included extensions to the existing terminal building and installation of air conditioning, automatic security gates and beautification of airport grounds, all the above at no cost to the ratepayers.
Katherine is also home to the RAAF Base Tindal, which is a user of the runways at the Katherine Airport. The airport is seen as an alternative to the Darwin Airport for diverted aircraft and has the capacity to take aircraft up to and including the 737-400.
While Northern Territory Councils do not have responsibility for planning, health or education, Katherine maintains a large central sportsground facility and the Showgrounds, along with owning all internal roads, which are all bitumised. Council also hosts the annual Flying Fox Arts and Cultural Festival at the end of August each year, offering the unique event of Dragon Boats in the magnificent Katherine Gorge during the ten days of arts and entertainment across the community.
Katherine is at the crossroads of Highway Number One and the road to Western Australia. Tourist visitor numbers reached over 200,000 in 2002, with the beautiful Katherine (Nitmiluk) Gorge being the major attraction.
