Cyclone Tracy 1974 - 2024 | 50th Anniversary

2024 marks the 50th anniversary of Cyclone Tracy, one of Australia's most catastrophic natural disasters.

On Christmas Eve 1974, Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin, leading to unimaginable destruction and mass evacuations.

The cyclone claimed the lives of 66 people and rendered 70% of Darwin's buildings unusable. Approximately 20,000 residents, constituting about two-thirds of the population, were forced to evacuate as the city's infrastructure crumbled.

Let's never forget... Cyclone Tracy hit Darwin in the small hours of 25th December 1974 - Christmas Day, killing 71 people and devastating 80% of the city.

After 10:00 pm (ACST), damage became severe, with wind gusts reaching 217 km/h (135 mph) before instruments failed. The anemometer in Darwin Airport control tower had its needle bent in half by the strength of the gusts.

In the days and weeks following the disaster, most of the traumatised population left the city.

On 28 February 1975 the Whitlam government established the Darwin Reconstruction Commission, which effectively rebuilt the city within three years. Darwin's near complete destruction led to the introduction of improved building codes across Australia.

Christmas Day

Darwin, indeed the whole of Northern Australia, is no stranger to cyclones. However, Cyclone Tracy, which hit Darwin in the small hours of Christmas Day 1974, was among the most destructive ever recorded in Australia. Its vital statistics make for frightening reading:

wind gusts reached 217 km/h before the anemometer was destroyed

gales extended to about 40 kilometres from the cyclone's centre

there was a storm surge of 1.6 metres in Darwin's harbour; an estimated 4 metres at Casuarina Beach

255 mm of rain fell in 12 hours overnight, 145 mm in the two half-hour periods on either side of the eye of the cyclone

71 people were killed

145 people were seriously injured; more than 500 received minor injuries

about 70 per cent of houses suffered serious structural failure

total damage bill topped $800 million (a colossal sum in 1974).

Impact and aftermath

The cyclone crossed the coast near Fannie Bay at around 3.30 on Christmas morning. Had it struck during the daytime, the death toll could have been much higher. Most of those who lost their lives were killed by flying debris or crushed beneath their houses.

In the immediate aftermath of the cyclone, evacuation of the majority of the population was considered essential given there was no running water, no sanitation, no electricity, little shelter and a high risk of disease outbreaks. More than 36,000 people left Darwin, filling the planes that had arrived with supplies, equipment and specialised personnel.

News of the disaster took hours to reach the rest of the country. The song 'Santa never made it into Darwin' captured the poignancy of the cyclone's arrival on Christmas Day, as most Australians were preparing to celebrate the most significant religious holiday of the year with their families. People donated clothes and money, and opened their homes to Darwin's refugees.

Voluntary organisations swung into gear, many sending in teams as soon as news of the disaster broke. Joan Allridge, Vice President of the Red Cross who spent the hours of the cyclone under her kitchen table with two other adults, six children, one cat, four kittens, one dog and three birds recalled how essential those early fly-in support workers were.

Most of Darwin's population, herself included, emerged from the cyclone in a state of shock. These days there is a much more sophisticated understanding of the psychological impact of being involved in major disasters, both for those who live through them and for the staff or volunteers who go in afterwards.

Darwin Reconstruction Commission

On 28 February 1975 the Whitlam government established the Darwin Reconstruction Commission, following the Prime Minister's pledge to make 'a determined and unremitting effort to rebuild your city and relieve suffering'.

The Commission's mandate was to reconstruct Darwin within five years. In fact, it achieved this in a little more than three years. It was only then, in the middle of 1978, that Darwin's population reached its pre-cyclone levels.

Repercussions

In time, some good would come out of the experience of Cyclone Tracy. The main benefit was the introduction of greatly improved building standards that would apply across the entire country. These included requirements that buildings be clad to protect them against flying debris, and that their roofs be tied to the foundations.

When Cyclones Larry and Yasi both stronger than Tracy - hit Innisfail and Mission Beach on 20 March 2006 and 3 February 2011 respectively, there were no casualties.

The events of 1974 remain indelibly marked in Australia's cultural memory. The cyclone's timing and ferocity, the mass evacuations of distressed and injured residents, and the terrible images of destruction shocked many, and reminded them of their human frailty.

The extraordinary official response and public generosity reminds us of our social resilience, of how terrible things can happen, and how we can help each other through them.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Tracy

21 - 25 December 1974 - www.bom.gov.au

Tropical Cyclone Tracy is arguably the most significant tropical cyclone in Australia's history accounting for 65 lives, the destruction of most of Darwin and profoundly affecting the Australian perspective to the tropical cyclone threat.

By world standards, Tracy was a small but intense tropical cyclone at landfall, the radius of gale force winds being only about 50 km. The anemometer at Darwin Airport recorded a gust of 217 km/h before the instrument was destroyed.

Tracy was first detected as a depression in the Arafura Sea on 20 December 1974. It moved slowly southwest and intensified, passing close to Bathurst Island on the 23rd and 24th. Then it turned sharply to the east southeast, and headed straight at Darwin, striking the city early on Christmas Day. Warnings were issued, but perhaps because it was Christmas eve, and perhaps because no severe cyclone had affected Darwin in many years - many residents were caught unprepared. But even had there been perfect compliance, the combination of extremely powerful winds, and the loose design of many buildings at that time, was such that wholesale destruction was probably inevitable anyway. Forty-nine people were killed in the city and a further sixteen perished at sea. The entire fabric of life in Darwin was catastrophically disrupted, with the majority of buildings being totally destroyed or badly damaged, and very few escaping unscathed. The total damage bill ran into hundreds of millions of dollars.

As usual in such disasters, many communication links failed, but enough survived to let the world know of the catastrophe, and relief measures were soon under way. An airlift involving both civilian and military aircraft was swiftly organised, while many residents chose to drive out. Within several weeks, three-quarters of Darwin's population had left.

This was not the first time Darwin had been severely damaged by a cyclone: it was badly mauled in both January 1897 and March 1937. But as a result of Tracy , much more attention was given to building codes and other social aspects of disaster planning. Darwin was rebuilt and now thrives as one of our most important gateways to Asia.

Next Remembrance Day

❊ When ❊

Darwin

❊ Web Links ❊

→ Cyclone Tracy 1974 - 2024 | 50th Anniversary

→ www.nma.gov.au

→ www.wikipedia.org

→ www.bom.gov.au

→ www.cyclonetracy.au

❊ Also See.. ❊

➼ Palmerston Town Hall

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