Cyclone Tracy Destroyed Darwin, Christmas 1974
Australia’s Most Well-Known Cyclone Brought Death and Destruction
Aug 26, 2009
The first white settlers arrived in Australia in 1788 so the country has only a little over 200 years of recorded post-contact history. However in that brief period of time there have been many natural disasters including bushfires, floods, droughts, earthquakes, landslides, hailstorms and cyclones, as well as plagues of mice, rabbits and locusts.
On the night of Christmas Eve 1974 a tropical cyclone destroyed the city of Darwin, Australia’s most northerly city. It was called Cyclone Tracy. It wasn’t the first cyclone to bring death, damage and destruction to Darwin, but because of the severity and the timing of the disaster it is the most well-known.
The Formation and Path of Cyclone Tracy
On the morning of 20 December 1974 a tropical low formed in the Arafura Sea about 700 kilometres northeast of Darwin. This was when Cyclone Tracy formally came into existence and began to drift southwest. On 24 December 1974 it rounded the western tip of Bathurst Island and began moving towards Darwin.
At 12.30 p.m. a Flash Cyclone Warning was issued as Cyclone Tracy headed directly towards Darwin. By late afternoon Darwin was cloaked with heavy low clouds and experiencing strong wind gusts and rain squalls. By 10 p.m. it was evident that the cyclone would be a direct hit and by midnight on Christmas Eve the damage being caused was already serious. The gale force winds continued from midnight to a peak at around 3 a.m.
At 3:05 a.m. a wind gust of 217 kilometres per hour (135 mph) was recorded at Darwin Airport before the equipment itself was blown away. Unofficial estimates suggest the wind speed had reached 300 km/h (185 mph) while official estimates by the Bureau of Meteorology suggested that wind gusts had reached 240 km/h (150 mph). The winds and rain continued until early dawn on Christmas Day.
The Destruction Caused by Cyclone Tracy
Cyclone Tracy killed 71 people, including 22 who were out at sea. It caused 837 million Australian dollars in damage and completely destroyed over 70 percent of all buildings in Darwin, including 80 percent of the housing stock. Over 20,000 inhabitants were left homeless and over 30,000 people were evacuated south. Many of them never returned to Darwin.
Darwin was rebuilt in about two years, with the rebuilding attracting a young diverse population to the city. Cyclone building codes required buildings to be built more solidly and to have their roofs tied to the foundations, so most Darwin accommodation is now quite modern. It was the second major rebuilding of the city, as it was heavily bombed during World War II.
Cyclone Tracy’s Place in Australian Culture
The Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory has a permanent Cyclone Tracy exhibition that is so realistic that it’s unsettling. Almost every visitor to Darwin takes time to visit. The Northern Territory library has a Cyclone Tracy website, with a wealth of useful background and photographs, as they found that since the inception of the library in 1980 this was the most requested information.
There is also a song called "Santa Never Made it Into Darwin" that was written by Bill Cate and performed by Bill & Boyd (Bill Cate and Boyd Robinson) in 1975 to raise money for Cyclone Tracy victims and the reconstruction of the city. Cyclone Tracy is part of Australia’s history and will never be forgotten.
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