The 40thanniversary of the natural disaster which smashed into Darwin on Christmas Eve l974 destroying about 90 percent of the houses , killing 49 people and reducing the population from 47,000 to about 11,000 is being marked in various ways. The estimated cost of rehabilitating Darwin at the time was estimated at a billion dollars . From the Little Darwin files and other sources comes the first in a series dealing with the event.
TOP: Cyclone supremo Major General
Alan Stretton who took command of Darwin after the cyclone holding a packed media conference
. ABOVE : Houses torn apart by the force
of the
winds and the debris which
flew about.
The Tactile Arts contemporary craft studios
and gallery at Fannie
Bay launched 1974 : REMEMBERING TRACY exhibition , supported by the Darwin
City Council , at which a mural ,Twister, by Franck
Gohier, was unveiled . Ace Darwin photographer Barry Ledwidge is also working on
another pictorial display which he plans to launch on the fateful day of
December 24 .
As you walk down the Smith Street Mall this permanent reminder of Cyclone Tracy can be seen .
