While Central Australia has been getting hammered with rain recently, 60 years ago it was Katherine that was under water, brought by a 1957 cyclone that was centred at the mouth of the Daly River. This image shows the main street as ìan island, completely surrounded by water, no possible way to evacuate, as described in the photographer’s handwritten note on the back. The Katherine River broke its banks near the Sportsman Arms pub, with water flowing from there around the back of the airport and into town from the south. While reliable data is hard to come by, it ís thought that the river peaked at 19.28m, making it the largest and most significant flooding event prior to the floods of 1998.
Published: 22 January 2017