Things to do in Top End, Northern Territory: The Best Historic Sites

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This is the only surviving example of B.C.G. Burnett’s Type ‘K’ and was unusual in being of two-storey configuration. A unique feature is the coloured compass inlay in the ground floor concrete slab. Burnett’s original plans and early photographs indicate a rainwater tank at the rear, near the laundry. The house was damaged by Cyclone Tracy in December 1974. From about 1983 the house remained vacant and was boarded up to prevent access from itinerants until it was restored in 1988 for the National Trust. It was officially opened as the headquarters of the Trust by the Administrator, Commodore Eric Johnston, on 18 April 1989. It then became known as Burnett House, after its designer. Burnett House offers guided tours of the house and surrounding gardens. Afternoon Tea is available on the third Sunday of every month from 2pm to 5pm (except for December and January) bookings recommended.The only experience of its kind in Darwin, the precinct is an educational and photographic experience not to be missed.

O’Keeffe House was intended as a recreation hut, built by the army in World War II, but became the Officer’s mess. It was a simple structure with the walls and ceilings made from bark, cypress pine, fly wire and the roof from corrugated iron. The floor was local aggregate and concrete. When the war ended the shortage of housing was immense and most people in Katherine scraped together homes from whatever materials were left behind by the army. It is one of the few structures from the war to have survived in the Katherine region. In 1963, Johnno and Olive O’Keeffe purchased what would become known as O’Keeffe House. Johnno turned out to be an excellent handyman, making furniture from all sorts of scrap and territory timbers. Olive loved her garden, so between them, they made their own little paradise between the trees on the banks of the Katherine River.