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 7.00am 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. With the cyclone’s passing 65 people were killed (including 16 lost at sea) and many more were injured, 70% of Darwin’s homes were destroyed or suffered severe damage, and all public services – communications, power, water and sewerage – were severed.
Major-General Alan Stretton, Director-General of the Natural Disasters Organisation, was placed in charge of the rescue effort. Emergency committees were established to deal with such matters as accommodation, clean-up, clothing, communications, evacuation, food, law and order, sanitation and health and social welfare. The defence forces played a major role in cleaning up the city and suburbs.
With essential services all severed, and with food and shelter at a premium, many Darwin people were evacuated and in the week that followed Darwin’s population was reduced to little more than 10 000. For the next six months access to the city was regulated by means of a permit system.
The Darwin Reconstruction Commission (CA 2276) was established on 28 February 1975 by the Darwin Reconstruction Act 1975 to plan, coordinate and undertake the rebuilding of Darwin. Between 1975 and 1978 the Commission coordinated many construction projects including the building or repair of more than 2 500 homes.
Selected records relating to Cyclone Tracy held by the National Archives in Canberra, Sydney and Darwin are listed below.
The Darwin office reading room holds a range of published sources about Cyclone Tracy, including the four annual reports of the Darwin Reconstruction Commission.
Searches on RecordSearch, the Archives collection catalogue, using keywords such as ‘cyclone tracy’ and ‘Darwin reconstruction’ will identify records of interest. RecordSearch is available on the Archives website (www.naa.gov.au) and in all reading rooms.
Use our online photographic database, PhotoSearch, to identify images taken in Darwin in the days following the cyclone and during the clean up and reconstruction phases.
 | Case history material for tropical cyclones | 1956–ongoing | E490 | ||
| Correspondence files | 1975–76 | E1604 | ||
* Copies of these records are also held by the Darwin Office
Further information about records relating to cyclones is included in Fact Sheet 90 – Cyclones and the Northern Territory.
You can obtain more information about the record series listed above (and the items within the series) from RecordSearch, the Archives database. Follow the links in the series lists to go directly to information on that series. You can also use RecordSearch to find out about the agencies that created the records and to locate more records on your subject. You might also explore PhotoSearch to find out if there are photos pertaining to your subject.
RecordSearch and PhotoSearch are available online or in all Archives reading rooms. Reference staff are available in the reading rooms to help you, or email ref@naa.gov.au.
