![Katherine's war history remembered Katherine's war history remembered](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/181547318/a46b4af7-aa20-4101-b8a6-b3dadfe89975.png/r0_16_463_276_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
When the clocks strike 12.30pm on Wednesday, March 22, Katherinites are set to pause to commemorate the history of their town.
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When Pearl Harbour in the US, was bombed in a surprise attack by the Japanese military on December 7, 1941, more than 2,400 people were killed.
Soon after, the Administrator of the Northern Territory, Charles Lydiard Aubrey Abbott, gave an evacuation notice to the citizens of the Northern Territory - in fear of a similar attack on Australian soil.
A small pre-war community of just 250 people, Katherine was transformed into a major military centre in support of units of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Australian Army, United States Army and United States Army Air Force (USAAF).
At 12.30pm on 22 March 1942, nine Japanese Betty Bombers launched a direct attack on the early settlement of Katherine.
First spotted high above the township, the aircraft circled twice before each released its load of ten daisy cutters anti-personnel bombs.
During this sole attack on Katherine - the southernmost attack by foreign forces on Territory soil - Aboriginal man Dodger Kodjalwal lost his life, aged 42.
Three others were injured during the bombing raid, and an Aboriginal man only known as Hector later succumbed to the injuries sustained on that day.
Katherine man Noel Hall lost his fingertip from shrapnel at the Gallon License Store.
Noel Hall's wife Dorothy remembered: "We saw all the bombs drop on Katherine that day... The bomb dropped near the heap of rocks, killed an Aboriginal fellow..."
Local farmer Bert Nixon recalled hearing the planes.
"I heard the planes, they were different - they had a high-pitched sing," he said.
"I looked across the south side of the river where this construction mob from Alaska were building taxiways on the old aerodrome.
"A falling bomb struck near the workmen."
During this attack on Katherine an estimated 91 bombs were dropped - 84 on the Katherine Aerodrome alone. Bombs also hit an area near Manbulloo Airstrip which had been constructed to provide a base for RAAF and United States Army Air Force (USAAF) B-24 Liberator bombers.
The bombers were to conduct bombing raids against Japanese positions on islands to the NT's north, whilst RAAF and USAAF fighter aircraft were deployed to counter the increasing number of raids by Japanese aircraft on Top End targets.
![Lily Kruger. Lily Kruger.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/181547318/ad44d126-255f-4034-b774-4b24f63820e6.png/r0_0_364_485_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
In 1991, local woman Lily Kruger told the Katherine Times of her memories of the bombing of Katherine when her children "had to have sticks in their mouths to stop them from biting their tongues when the bombs went off".
"We were in such close proximity to the bombing you could feel the ground shuddering," she said. "The army men screaming out orders ...
"I expect the shock of it going off could hurt a little child's ears. We had to cover our ears and the children were biting these sticks."
Many years later, the Katherine Museum as the keepers of Katherine's history, paid tribute to the region's war efforts.
"Together with thousands of civilians who made an essential contribution to the war effort, the people of Katherine endured extreme hardship during the bombing of Katherine and the war years, with little services available to them, families were torn apart during evacuations and all the while in harsh environments.
"Although the impact of World War II caused great loss and disruption to the community, it was also a turning point for the development of infrastructure towards the growth of the Northern Territory and especially Katherine."
Due to the influx of troops and army personnel accommodation was established to support them. The Sidney Williams Huts were a prefabricated structure designed for the Australian Army and remained after their post war departure. The structures were later disposed of by the Army Decommission Disposal Unit and became churches, retail shops, mechanical workshops and residential accommodation for families who remained in the region.
World War II also put Katherine and the Northern Territory on the map, highlighting its strategic importance for Northern Australia.