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

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has joined hundreds of Cyclone Tracy survivors and their descendants to mark 50 years since the disaster. On Christmas Day in 1974, the tropical storm killed 66 people and destroyed 85 per cent of homes in Darwin.

Transcript

00:00Decades after Darwin's darkest moment, a time to reflect.

00:15In the early hours of this day in 1974, the severe tropical cyclone took a sharp turn

00:21and made landfall in Darwin's north, leaving many unprepared.

00:2550 years ago, children across Darwin went to bed dreaming of Santa Claus, and Christmas

00:32and awoke to a nightmare.

00:35Hundreds gathering this morning to honour both victims and survivors.

00:39Very sad because it brings back memories of what happened that night, which is still very

00:44raw.

00:45It's very emotional, I can tell you that, for 50 years.

00:52I got very badly injured.

00:54Our best friends lost their daughter, who was only very young, she was only 8 years

00:59old, and that gets to me every time.

01:05So now a new memorial blooms at the place Tracey first hit.

01:09Five decades, five flowers, forever remembered, a permanent reminder of the strength and resilience

01:15of Darwin and its people.

01:17This is a memorial to survivors and to those who died, and it's been something that survivors

01:26have been demanding, asking for at least, for most of the past 50 years.

01:32With 200km wing gusts, Tracey destroyed most of Darwin.

01:3666 people died and tens of thousands were left homeless, and then the biggest evacuation

01:42effort in peacetime Australia.

01:45Five decades on, Cyclone Tracey remains firmly etched into the city's history.

01:49But the legacy of Tracey isn't only one of destruction, but also of strength, resilience

01:55and mateship.

01:56We were able to come together as a community, as a whole of Australia, to rebuild Darwin

02:02to what it is today.

02:03A Christmas day like no other, still just as vivid 50 years on.

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