KATHERINE (BRIEFLY) THEN  ADELAIDE RIVER

The elusive Ghan, Bats, Flowers and WW2 History

Katherine was just an overnight stop on the way north. Katherine does not have a lot to recommend it, the principal attraction is Katherine Gorge.  Robyne and I have been there and done that so there was no real reason to revisit there.

Restocking the fridge and freezers was one priority and Woollies got a fair workout.

One other attraction in Katherine is Springvale Farm that was settled back to 1879 when it was stocked with cattle walked through from SA, quite a feat in those days. After falling into disrepair, the buildings have been sympathetically restored and are now run by the NT Trust.

The Ghan Part 1  Some excitement is generated in Katherine by the transit of The Ghan, it stops for about three or four hours on each trip either up or down so passengers can tour Katherine Gorge, so during the stop there are coaches zooming backward and forward with detrained passengers. I’m a bit of a train spotter and so we decided to visit the station and get a couple of photos of The Ghan…. It didn’t happen. As we arrived and walked across towards the platform it departed, but I did get a shot of one of the carriages.

Having mentioned what we call “star flowers” Robyne suggested that we show you, so you will find a photo in this blog…very pretty and quite prolific in difficult conditions.

Next stop Adelaide River. It’s a place we have stopped before and a place we like to stay. There are a lot of WW2 historical sites in the area, including an airstrip, a large rail siding where a hospital train was located and the remains of quite a large complex at Snake Creek.

There’s also a war cemetery that was begun in March 1943. The cemetery is operated by Australian War Graves and is kept in immaculate conditions.  It contains the graves of Australian, British and a lone Canadian service members as well as some civilian victims of the bombing of Darwin. The Dutch Government asked to repatriate eleven of its airmen to their home country and the Americans also repatriated their war dead for reburial.

The Snake Creek area contains the remains of a large weapons research and storage area although all that remains of most of the buildings are the concrete foundations. There are some structures listed as “shelters” built into the side of the hill that remain in fairly good condition. We have explored here before and were surprised to learn that the area is now considered out of bounds for a variety of reasons depending on who you are talking to. One person said it was because of the large amount of blue asbestos on site (ho hum!) while another said it was because the area was now aboriginal land, unlikely in my view seeing the area has had a massive amount of disturbance

The Ghan Part 2.  At the local market, a bloke told me that The Ghan was due, now. Now was my chance to get a really good photo so I went straight over to a good position right next to the line. I was really well set up for a good angle. Waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting. I spent some of the wait taking shots of random road trains and another colony of red headed flying foxes, but after an hour gave up. Sure enough just after I left, the train came, so the photo I got was fairly ordinary. Foiled again.

Next stop Darwin