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Kitty and Jack became known for their generous hospitality and their contribution to community affairs. At a
ball held during a very successful sporting weekend in Katherine in April 1930, Jack and Kitty were crowned ‘the
King and Queen of Sports’. A keen racing man, Jack was the Honorary Secretary of the Katherine Amateur Race
Club, at Emungalan and Katherine for many years. He was described as a striking, good-looking man with dark
hair and thick moustache, whereas Kitty, who was of slim build with dark hair, was considered very plain.
On 6 January 1931 John William Bernhard, who was a very heavy drinker, died and Katherine Bernhard
became the Licensee of the Sportsman’s Arms Hotel. It was around that time that Kitty’s nephew arrived from
Tasmania to assist her in running the hotel. Financially Kitty was apparently having a difficult time, for in February
1936 she and Robert McLennan, the local mail contractor, entered into a partnership in the store.
Although it is unclear when the Bernhards entered into an agreement regarding the hotel and store, Kitty Bernhard
purchased the four adjoining freehold blocks from James William McAdam on 13 December 1937, for a total
consideration of 5 250 Pounds. By that time, McAdam was living on Springvale Station, near Hall’s Creek in
Western Australia, his partner Herbert Gill having died in 1936.
It was during 1938 that Kitty became the Plaintiff in an action against E V V Brown, who was the Executor
of the Rundle Estate. Her late husband’s money was still in the Rundle store and seven years after his death Kitty
was endeavouring to claim what was hers. Brown made it difficult for her but she was successful in her action on
10 November 1938, when she was granted over 1 215 Pounds. The costs to both parties came out of the Estate.
Edward Henry Pearson from Yorkshire, England, arrived in Katherine in 1933 and commenced work at Kitty’s
hotel. He and Kitty, who was nine years his senior, enjoyed a quiet wedding in Katherine on 28 October 1938.
Unfortunately, for Kitty, her second husband was also a heavy drinker and she had been married less than a year
when he died, aged 51 years, on 2 July 1939. Both of Kitty’s husbands were buried in the Katherine cemetery and
there were no children from either marriage.
Except for a period of just over two years in the mid 1930s, Kitty continued to hold the hotel Licence until
the restrictions of the Second World War were imposed. On 27 March 1942, she, like most women and children,
was evacuated from Katherine after the bombing of Darwin. The military took over and used both the hotel and
store during the war.
By June 1946, Kitty had returned to Katherine where she initially leased the hotel for three years, but ultimately
it was sold in March 1947. The store was apparently disposed of in 1948 and the freehold land was sold in 1951.
In 1992, the hotel and store, having had various owners and facade changes over the years, were still operating in
the main street of Katherine.
Although she had semi retired, Kitty branched into a totally different area of business when she purchased
Jindare Station, near Pine Creek. She and her partner, Alfred Edward Hawker, took over Pastoral Lease 136N on
15 November 1948. They lived on the station for some time but by August 1949, they were arranging the sale of
the property.
It was after then that Kitty retired to her home on Block 48 in First Street, Katherine. Although there was a large
house on the block, she lived very simply in a corrugated iron hut, sleeping on an army cot, cooking over an open
fire and looking after her poultry.
Kitty was known as a very hard worker who gave extended credit and helped everyone. She was articulate,
astute and always had legal representation. A businesswoman in the Katherine area for over 20 years and continually
dealing with the public, Kitty still managed to remain a very private person. She had a reputation for being a first
class cook and running an excellent boarding house. She had very few close women friends and did not appear to
be popular with a lot of women, a fate that sometimes befalls women who run hotels.
In late 1963, Kitty became ill and was taken to Katherine Hospital, from where she was transferred to Darwin
Hospital. Katherine Maud Mary Pearson passed away in Darwin on 20 September 1963, but almost three decades
later, she was still referred to by Katherine old timers as Kitty Bernhard. The contribution the Bernhards made to
the growth of the Katherine region is recognised in Bernhard Street, which is named after them.
Northern Territory Times and Gazette, April 1930; Australian Archives, Darwin, F1 53/412 Commercial Hotel, Katherine, F 630 PL136N
(Part 1); Registrar General’s Department, Adelaide and Darwin, A 192 (a) Auction Sale of Town Leases, Katherine River; Registrar of Probates,
Law Courts, Darwin, no 7 of 1938; author’s personal files.
PEARL OGDEN , Vol 2.PECKHAM, HENRY VENTLIA (1872–1911), drover, stockman and mailman, was born on 28 February 1872
in Geraldine, in the south island of New Zealand, the son of Henry Peckham and Mary, nee Shute, a twin brother to
Susan Carol, and younger brother to Mary ‘Tot’, Dolly and Agnes. The family later moved to Adelaide. Henry left
home at the age of 16 and headed for the north of Australia to ‘make his fortune’. In 1894, he returned to Adelaide
for his twin sister’s wedding.
Early work in the Territory included cattle droving and working as a stockman at Renner Springs. Records at
Timber Creek police station indicate that in 1900 and 1901 Peckham worked at Auvergne Station.
To Territory history he is best remembered as a mailman. As a mailman he was punctual, obliging and, of extreme
importance, honest. He was considered to be jovial, hearty and full of fun by those whose paths he crossed.
Henry Peckham became immortalised as the ‘Fizzer’ character in Jeannie Gunn’s book We of the Never Never.
Mrs Gunn travelled to Elsey station in 1902 to join her husband, then the manager. The same year Peckham took
over the lonely and remote mail run between Katherine and Anthony’s Lagoon for a man named Prentice after the
previous mailman, Fred Stribe, perished on one trip. The name ‘the Fizzer’ came from the word ‘fizz’ being used
to get the horses up and the term ‘fizzing’ to describe his mode of travelling. In Mrs Gunn’s words: ‘The Fizzer is
unlike every type of man excepting a bush mailman. Hard, sinewy, dauntless, and enduring, he travels day after