Flying Officer Rebecca Sweeney: Hi, I'm Flying Officer Bec Sweeney. This is my first posting
out of ADFA to RAAF Tindal. I live on Base up here.
Heather Querin: My name's Heather Querin. My husband, who's a Sergeant with 17 Squadron,
and I moved to Katherine four and a half years ago.
Amanda: I'm Amanda and ...
Executive Officer Taffie: I'm Taffie and we've been posted here for two years from Newcastle.
I'm the XO of 75 Squadron and so one of about 15 pilots that are up here in Tindal.
Flying Officer Brent Jones: I am Flying Officer Brent Jones. I've been ... through pilot training
up here at this point so I've been to Sale, Tamworth, Perth, Newcastle and now I'm here
... I got here 6 months ago.
Voiceover: Welcome to a snapshot of the Katherine Region of the Northern Territory. Its spectacular
beauty lays on the doorstep of the Tindal RAAF Base, which is located 15 kilometres
south east of the town of Katherine.
Wing Commander Mark H Larter: Welcome to RAAF Base Tindal. The base actually dates back
to 1942 ... it was developed predominantly for the B24 heavy liberator bombers. The base
was never used in anger here but it was bombed. It was developed again through the 70s and
80s and in 1988 it was opened as you can see the base today to support fast air operations.
Executive Officer Taffie: I actually applied for this position. At the time, it was a good
thing for me to do as far as career goes, and with the kids being the age that they
are, it just made sense for us to come and spend a little bit of time up here.
Heather Querin: When my husband was told he had to post out of Williamtown where he had
been for nearly 14 years, we really had to make a decision where we wanted to go and
it was more about our lifestyle. Katherine appealed to us because it was an outback posting,
it had a lot of rewards that went with that posting, and it offered us something as a
new married couple that we wouldn't get in our old environment.
Flying Officer Brent Jones: I found out mid last year that I was getting posted to Tindal
and it was a bit of a surprise because it meant that my tour at Newcastle was going
to cut in half. But I'm happy to be here now and one of the biggest drawcards I guess is
probably the team and the people that I get to work with here.
Flying Officer Rebecca Sweeney: Halfway through my fourth year at ADFA, we got asked where
we'd want to go for a posting. I got offered Tindal or Melbourne. I decided that Melbourne
was a little bit too close to Canberra, a little bit too close to home and I wanted
a bit of an adventure so I decided to come to Tindal.
Voiceover: A tree-change like the Katherine region will introduce you to a more tranquil
lifestyle in a region packed with spectacular natural beauty, all on the doorstep of the
modern township of Katherine. A remote posting certainly but one with much to consider.
Heather Querin: A fabulous tree-change ... desert-change, I think it's fantastic.
Wing Commander Mark H Larter: Well, I've been to a few bases in my time in the Royal Australian
Air Force. Tindal as I've said is one of those ones that sometimes is a bit of a secret.
Not everybody gets the opportunity to come up here.
Flying Officer Rebecca Sweeney: I imagined just a giant dirt patch in the middle of nowhere.
I was actually surprised to find that there were trees and grass. A little bit, I suppose,
naive of me but I wasn't exactly sure what this part of Australia was going to look like.
Heather Querin: We always addressed Katherine as a wild frontier because we were a bit of
a latte set in Newcastle, we would go out for dinner four or five nights a week, socialised
a lot with our friends, lots of wine in the Hunter and we thought it was good to get a
break away from that and maybe get, you know, down and dirty in a little bit of the bush
and camp ... and get some use out of a campervan that we hardly ever used since we bought.
Flying Officer Brent Jones: I guess it could be perceived that Tindal would be a very lonely
place because it's a remote location but one of the big benefits is that I'm surrounded
by people of the same age with the same interests.
Voiceover: RAAF Base Tindal is a purpose built facility designed specifically to cater for
RAAF personnel and their families. There is on Base accommodation for singles, couples
and families. And there are even childcare facilities.
Wing Commander Mark H Larter: Base Tindal is a purpose built facility in terms of we
do have an operational area here where all the military operations happen but a large
part of the footprint here in terms of the real estate belongs to what we call the domestic
area, that is for the families, that's for the children, that's for the members when
they're not working � it's a bit of a social hub, we have a lot of community spirit in
there. And some of the items that we do have in terms of facilities to justify this as
a purpose built base is a 50m swimming pool, which goes down very well with the families
especially on the hot days here, post office, banks, a utilities shop, coffee shop, community
centre, absolutely fantastic first rate gym facilities as well.
Flying Officer Rebecca Sweeney: A typical day for me is I get up at about 6.00, I go
to the gym, go for a run and get ready and go to work. Probably come back from work and
then head to the Mess for dinner.
Executive Officer Taffie: We wanted to live on Base and it's about half/half the people
that live on Base and the people that live in town ... we wanted to just mainly for the
kids and the facilities that are here ... and for them like the pool, that's, you know,
only a five minute walk away and there's the parks.
Amanda: I think for me it's a lot about the support of the guys that are around here in
the neighbourhood. You know, a lot of the families here do have young kids, similar
ages to us and the support that you get from them being here on Base is lovely. You don't
have your families right here but you've got your neighbours who turn into your families.
Executive Officer Taffie: Some of the activities that they do after school are here like swimming
lessons are done out here and the AusKick now is done at the AFL oval, so it's just
easy to have those all within 5 minutes walk. The kids can walk there on their own as well
and it's a very safe environment.
Wing Commander Mark H Larter: We've got approximately 200 married quarters on Base, they are all
aligned to the Defence Housing Australia standards. In fact we're doing very well up here, we're
just going through a major refurbishment program for all those houses, due to conclude towards
the end of 2015. The houses that have been refurbished, the feedback from the families
is very positive.
Voiceover: Outside the base but within the suburbs of Katherine, there is also Defence
housing available for both families and individuals, and all meeting the required Australian standards.
Their style and location can be accessed via the Defence Housing DHA website prior to your
arrival in Katherine.
Flying Officer Brent Jones: So I chose to live off Base when I moved to Tindal. I kind
of enjoy the freedom of leaving work behind. I found a place in Katherine East, it's a
pretty good area to live and I'm essentially surrounded by all my mates in town as well
anyway, so it's almost like living on Base with plenty of friends around.
Heather Querin: I chose to live off Base because it gave us a greater advantage of meeting
our neighbours, none of who are Air Force people. So it's very kin to living back in
our old home town where none of our neighbours were Air Force people, so we're still socialising
with other people.
Voiceover: Katherine enjoys a great deal of services and facilities. There are all major
Australian banks, many small specialty stores, a library as well some of the national chains
you will be familiar with such as Country Target, Woolworths, Subway and let's not forget
Coffee Club.
Heather Querin: Shopping in Katherine is shopping anywhere in a remote small country town, you
know whether you live in country town Victoria, country town New South Wales or Katherine,
you're limited to what you can get in by transport. If they don't have something that you really
want you can order it in. And also you can always shop online.
Voiceover: Katherine's climate is defined as subtropical. There is no such thing as
four seasons here, rather two distinct Wet and Dry Seasons. Average daily temperature
variation is generally no greater than 10 degrees year round, ranging between 25 and
35 degrees Celsius. The Dry Season has the least humidity and temperatures regularly
drop down to a cosy overnight temperature of around 10 degrees Celsius.
Wing Commander Mark H Larter: Yes it can get hot and sticky but certainly during that Dry
Season it's very, very pleasant here. The amount of tourists that we get during that
Dry Season is testament to how pleasant it is.
Voiceover: There is no shortage of water though with an average of 74 rain days a year, and
generally this occurs between January and early March.
Heather Querin: The local culture and the local Indigenous people ... I've learnt an
awful lot about their culture and how to fit in with them because we are after all in their
backyard you know, they're not in ours.
Voiceover: Katherine marks the point where three traditional lands come together. The
history of these cultures can be seen in local galleries and festivals, ancient rock art
and crafts. Right in town is the
stunning landmark that is the Godinymayin Yijard Rivers Arts and Culture Centre, a meeting
place for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to gather and share their art and culture.
The township of Katherine is just 30 kilometres away from the Nitmiluk National Park, not
only do you get to experience the breathtaking 13 separate gorges but you can also explore
the Indigenous history that has developed over the many millennia.
Voiceover: Katherine may have a population of around 10,000 people but it has an education
platform that is equal to a large city, from childcare and early learning facilities through
primary and secondary school and further into VET or TAFE and tertiary education sectors.
The younger ones can be catered for either on Tindal Base or in Katherine township. Katherine
has both private and public school options.
Amanda: We have two young boys, one is 6 and one is 4. We started off with Olly in preschool
and there's a fantastic preschool here on Base which we were really lucky to be part
of. Yeah, they're in that Monday to Friday routine of preschool in the morning and pick-up
school in the afternoon. There are the buses that go into town so Olly gets on the bus
at 7 o'clock in the morning and ... yeah they're enjoying that.
Voiceover: From head to toe, Katherine has health services to cater for most primary
health care needs. There are a number of private and public dental practitioners along with
optometry services such as OPSM Katherine. Primary health care on Base includes a medical
centre with dental care, health promotion, physiotherapy and a resident general practitioner.
The medical centre also has ward and emergency recuss facilities. For families and supplementing
on Base facilities are a selection of general practitioners and the Katherine Hospital.
Heather Querin: When you arrive in Katherine, it's always best ... there's two major medical
clinics in town ... it's best to go along and visit them and register yourself with
them first. For emergencies of course you can go along to the hospital, to the emergency
centre at the hospital. Mostly � the most you would wait for an appointment would be
1 or 2 days but if there's an emergency you''ll need to tell the doctors or the medical centre
that it's an emergency, they'll make an opening for you or even stay a bit later if they have
to. It's not really that much of an out frontier especially when you've lived in Newcastle,
you can have the same facilities here as you can have there really.
Voiceover: Katherine's community is diverse, they are welcoming people from all walks of
life and your participation in community activities is valued. Of course there is always the option
of heading off Base to check out the latest movie in town or enjoy one of the many restaurants
and bistros. There's even the likes of Marksie and his Outback Tucker dinner experience.
Or perhaps it's time to go five star and indulge in the Cicada Lodge experience - glamour and
luxury front and centre. But where the extreme entertainment comes from is through the awesome
wilderness.
Flying Officer Brent Jones: I guess the good thing about being posted up here is the opportunity
to explore the Top End - there's heaps of national parks like Litchfield and Kakadu
National Park and there's some really good things to see.
Flying Officer Rebecca Sweeney: We've got the gorge or Edith Falls. There's the hot
springs, there's heaps on the way from here to Darwin that you can go see ... Kakadu or
Litchfield. And you can go swimming, fishing, camping ... depends on what your interests
are.
Amanda: And you know your kangaroos hop down the street in Australia ... they do here.
There's kangaroo poo out on the front lawn so this is actually where it happens. So yeah
the wildlife you know and
teaching the kids about that is ... and I think you know the Indigenous cultural side
as well, you know that's an opportunity that we wouldn't have had back down south as rich
as what it is here, so I think that's a lovely thing for the kids to ... you know, explore
as well.
Voiceover: There is also the Henry Scott Recreation Centre. A fantastic facility that the YMCA
operate many fitness and wellbeing activities from. Activities such as Les Mills group fitness
classes, full gym facilities, personal trainers, a roller rink, dance classes and can even
organise music classes. Let's not forget the Katherine Aquatic Centre - the pool is heated
by a solar heating system during the Dry Season.
Voiceover: With the growing economy in the Northern Territory, there are always work
opportunities in the Katherine area. The Territory Government is very supportive of people interested
in being involved in small business. Assistance and training through Department of Business
programs is available in areas such as industry support, business development and upskilling.
The Territory Business Centre is located in the main street of Katherine.
Amanda: I'm trained as a speech pathologist so I decided to start up my own private practice
when I got up here. I came up here ... there was the Business Centre offered free courses
on how to start your own business, there were members of the community that were really
helpful in supporting me in starting that up. It wasn't long before I had plenty and
too many referrals to deal with, but that's you know, there's ... I suppose that says
there's a lot of opportunity.
Voiceover: All of this just 334 kilometres from Darwin, the Northern Territory's capital
city. For those times when you want to enjoy the resources of a capital city, Darwin is
not only Australia's gateway into South East Asia, but also gives you access to great national
events such as the V8 Supercars and the Darwin Cup as well as recreational, health, education
and shopping facilities. Darwin has Casuarina Square, a GPT managed shopping centre with
100 national retailers outlets. Of course there is also over 200 shops in the Darwin
City Mall and surrounds, not to mention Mindil and Parap markets.
Voiceover: So, moving to the Katherine region will require you to leave behind the high
rise environment, the peak hour traffic and the sounds of trams. But you will be gaining
a green environment, an amazing community focus and the inspiring sights and culture
of Australia's north. Join us and be part of the sheer adventure of living and working
in the Northern Territory. For more information, please contact the Defence Community Liaison
Officer, Northern Territory Government