Tindal was officially opened in 87 or 88, but was operational for a while before that. I landed and took off from the Katherine airstip in 1999 in a C177RG (the pink and purple one that used to be in Darwin REJ perhaps?), but as stated below you do need to be wary of the ditch. I believe there was only one when I was there and it was about 2/3's of the length?
Also flew into the old strip just west of Tindal on a Mango farm - can't remember the name - but that was also fun, especially with an ALSAV parked smack bang in the middle of the road/runway at the upwind end!
Cheers
Nards