Survivors mark 50 years since Cyclone Tracy left Darwin 'in ruins'

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Hundreds of Cyclone Tracy survivors and their descendants have gathered in Darwin to mark the 50th anniversary of the disaster. On Christmas Day in 1974, the tropical storm killed 66 people and destroyed 85% of homes in Darwin.

Transcript

00:00As many Australians celebrate Christmas, hundreds of people in Darwin attended a memorial event

00:08to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Cyclone Tracy. Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin, flattening

00:15the region and traumatising many people who were there at the time. More than or at least

00:2166 people died in Cyclone Tracy, some who were crushed in their homes and others who

00:28were on our Darwin shores. The memorial event was a bittersweet one. There were stories

00:35being shared, moments of tears and grief, but also some lighter moments where people

00:41remembered the times of recovery and resilience and the way that people really just worked

00:46with what they had. You know, there were stories of after the cyclone of people using shovels

00:51to stir pots of stew and firefighters having to wear thongs, not having their full gear

00:57on. So there were moments of laughter and joy. And of course, it would be amiss to not

01:01mention that at this event, Anthony Albanese, our Prime Minister, attended and said a few

01:07words. We'll hear from him now.

01:09We think of their families for whom every Christmas means revisiting that grief. And

01:18we remember all the survivors, so many of whom honour us with their presence here this

01:22morning. People who spent those days after Christmas as part of the biggest peacetime

01:28evacuation in Australian history. And people who still carry the pain and trauma of those

01:35days, because in the words of one, Tracy doesn't go away.

01:42At this memorial event, we also saw the unveiling of a monument. It was called Five Decades,

01:48Five Flowers Forever Remembered. Those flowers were frangipanis, which are an icon of Darwin.

01:54They're said to symbolise the beauty of Darwin, but also its resilience and its strength.

02:00We could see at the memorial event that people were looking around on these flower statues,

02:05these frangipani monuments to see the names of loved ones who were lost in Cyclone Tracy.

02:12They were people who didn't know each other, but were embracing and sharing tears together

02:16because they had that shared experience of having lost someone they loved dearly in Cyclone Tracy.

02:22I lived in Darwin for 43 years and we left a little while ago, seven years ago.

02:28And I've been back a couple of times, but today was different.

02:33The whole atmosphere was different because of the reason we were here.

02:38The event, which took place in East Point, just a couple of kilometres behind me,

02:43was very well attended and I think really resonated with the survivors.

02:47It represented their feelings of trauma and difficulty that they had at the time,

02:54and it really brought together this sense of community.

02:57During it, Anthony Albanese said,

02:59there's no other place that a PM should be than here in Darwin.

03:03And I think it's fair to say that that not only resonated with the attendees of that event,

03:08but it resonates with the sentiment of the Darwinian people

03:12as they commemorate a very difficult but important event.

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