Katherine Museum

The Katherine Museum is a community history museum housed in the heritage-listed former Katherine Airport terminal on Giles Street in Katherine, Northern Territory. Established in 1962, it preserves the region's pastoral, aviation, World War II and Aboriginal heritage. Notable for its 1930s terminal building, extensive photographic archives and exhibits on the 1998 Katherine floods, the museum documents the development of the Katherine region and its role in northern Australia.

Visitors can expect a single-storey heritage terminal building set in open grounds on the edge of Katherine town centre. Inside, rooms display photographs, documents, machinery, household items, Aboriginal artefacts and aviation memorabilia. Outside, visitors can view historic aircraft including a replica Gypsy Moth, agricultural equipment and vehicles. The museum is self-guided with interpretive panels and volunteer staff available to explain exhibits.

Housed in the former Katherine Airport passenger terminal built in the 1930s, the building served as a Royal Australian Air Force base during World War II. The museum was established in 1962 to preserve the history of Katherine and the surrounding pastoral district, including early aviation pioneered by Dr Clyde Fenton, wartime operations, and the development of the town as a regional centre.

The museum preserves and interprets the cultural heritage of the Katherine region, including artefacts and stories of the Jawoyn, Dagoman and Wardaman peoples, pastoral and pioneering life, and community memory of significant events such as the 1998 floods.