Karen arrived in the Northern Territory in 1970 as part of a working holiday. She started working at the Barrow Creek Roadhouse and over the next five years Karen developed her trade as a chef. She married her former boss Clarrie Sheldon and they moved to Tennant Creek. After the birth of her first child, Karen and her brother Robert developed a community centre that included a Squash Centre and the Dolly Pot restaurant. Karen was actively involved in the formation of the craft council and the show society. The Dolly Pot won several Brolga awards for Best Restaurant. It became known as 'the only place along ‘the Track' you could get fresh home-cooked food featuring locally grown herbs and salads' (Territory Quarterly, 2009). In the early 1990s Karen opened the Dolly Pot Inn in Fannie Bay which she sold after four years. Over the next few years Karen's business grew providing catering to the airlines, TIO Stadium, corporate functions and other events and expanded to include three partners: Julie Calvert, Amanda Swift and Sarah Hickey, the business was now know as Karen Sheldon Catering. The business flourished and there are now outlets of Karen's Kitchens from Darwin to Tennant Creek, including Speaker's Corner Café in Parliament House. Karen Sheldon Catering leads the way as a Registered Training Organisation for hospitality. The business provides life skills program for Indigenous hospitality trainees.,
Subject
Women,
Northern Territory,
Related materials
Kennedy, Dinah. "A Dolly Pot for Darwin", Territory Business, Second Quarter 1994, p.10.,