Every year, three major events are spread out across the day and perfectly timed for the ambitious who wish to make an appearance at all.

The day starts at 8am at the Katherine Club's annual Big BBQ Breakfast, where digging deep into pockets for charity is very welcomed.

Each year the club picks a local person or organisation to donate all of the proceeds from the day. In 2019, the money raised was split between Katherine firefighter Wayne Stubbs, who tragically passed away in the same year, and Jen Harris.

The club is yet to make their 2021 pick, but Ms Harris, who now works at the club says it will be helping someone in a similar position to herself at the time.

"The generosity of the town, whenever I think about it brings tears to my eyes," Ms Harris said.

"The donation was immensely helpful. I had to be away from work for eight months to get stem cell replacements while I was going through cancer. But I am luckily much better now.

"The Big Breakfast is an awfully good and fun way to raise money for charity. It doesn't matter if it is $5 or $100, it all counts."

Running for over 15 years, the club "always pulls in a good crowd regardless of whether it is blistering hot or pouring with rain".

Expect a good Aussie BBQ breakfast, face painting, vintage cars, an egg and spoon race, and a pie eating competition.

Racing on to the other side of town for a prompt 9am start is the Katherine Town Council's Australia Day Citizen Awards, held at the Godinymayin Yijard Rivers Arts and Culture Centre.

This annual event shines a light on Katherine's community standouts and in previous years has seen Colleen McTaggert, the organiser of Katherine's Debutante Balls and Sue Pszkit, the coordinator of Kalano Flexible Care, awarded Citizen of the Year.

Last year, the youth-led School Strike for Climate won the 2020 Community Event of the Year, and with no other contenders, Cathy Highet was named Senior Citizen of the Year.

In the running for awards this year is an impressive list of contenders.

The Darwin Pride Roadshow Katherine, Katherine and District Show Society, Katherine Regional Arts' Junk Arts Festival and KICS Literacy Festival are contending for Community Event of the Year.

Leroy Gazey, Nathaniel MacKinnon and Skye Smallmon are vying for Young Citizen of the Year

Senior Citizen of the Year has four contenders this year including Bev Patterson, Colleen Wakefield, Donald Bruce Higgins and Valerie Smith.

Citizen of the Year shines a light on Annette Schefe, David Reed, Lauren Chapman, and Trent de With.

The free event includes a citizenship ceremony, guest speakers, the awards ceremony, a morning tea and a fly over by the Royal Australian Air Force.

At precisely 11.30am, we're working on military time here, two F/A-18A/B Hornet aircraft from RAAF Base Tindal's Number 75 Squadron are expected to soar past, marking the end of the event, and time to march onto the Country Club, colloquially known as the Golfy.

If you've made it to the Golfy, you're doing well, or you're just starting out. Regardless this is where you're likely to stay. But be warned, this is where things could get messy: people have been known to eat entire jars of vegemite.

The Country Club's packed sequence of events starts at 11.30am and meander late into the night, but the whip smart organisers have put a lot of forward thinking into the plan, which includes a courtesy bus.

Head chef and principal organiser Emma Fitzpatrick says first up is a fundraiser for the Katherine RSL sub branch - which has just moved in.

"There will be prizes for the best dressed bogan, best mullet, a thong toss and a croc (the shoe) toss," she said.

A DJ from 3pm is set to play "bogan favourites", and the infamous eating competition is stacked with classic Australian favourites: fairy bread, party pies, warm red cordial, sachets of Vegemite, a pavlova with cream and two eucalyptus drops.

"Singlets and hats are allowed this year - as it's a staple for the bogan," Fitzpatrick said.

"And you don't need a member to sign you in, everyone is welcome."

Apart from Australia Day being the perfect time to "have a beer with a mate", Fitzpatrick said she's most looking forward to the eating competition.

"We've gone from four people participating two years ago to more than 10. Last year the competition was the first to eat a jar of Vegemite - someone actually did it and they didn't get sick," she said.

While Australia Day is a day of celebration, barbecues and music for some people, for others it is a day of mourning and loss.

Currently, no protests have been scheduled for Katherine, but thousands of people are expected to take to the streets in every capital city across Australia, including Darwin.

UP: Uprising of the People, has organised the Darwin Survival Day event, which includes a spoken word performance by Melanie Mununggurr, a smoking ceremony led by Aunty June Mills and a march through Darwin's CBD, which is expected to kick off at 11am.

The event starts at 10am at Civic Park with a welcome to country and a barbeque. Organisers say they are encouraging Katherine residents to attend.

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