Day to Day happenings in my life

Darwin 1974

I remember this event very well, although it didn’t affect me personally. We had emigrated to Perth Western Australia and been living here for two years. Cyclones were a foreign concept to us. We awoke on Christmas Day to the news that a city called Darwin had almost been wiped off the map. It was hard to imagine a weather event could cause so much damage and heartache.

Events of December 1974

The northern Australian city of Darwin was devastated early on Christmas morning 1974 when hit by the tropical weather depression that was given the name Cyclone Tracy. As the eye of the cyclone passed over the city between midnight and 7am on Christmas morning, torrential rain fell and the winds were officially recorded at 217 kilometres per hour prior to the Bureau of Meteorology anemometer being destroyed. Houses and other buildings disintegrated under the onslaught, accompanied by the sounds of flying debris and breaking glass. Records have identified 66 names of individuals who perished as a result of the cyclone (53 on land and 13 at sea), and many more were injured. Seventy per cent of Darwin’s homes were destroyed or suffered severe damage, and all public services – communications, power, water and sewerage – were severed.

There was a song written about the event.

https://youtu.be/UsQfeROpd5c?si=hBGzLvikDP9J-HIf