I woke up with kind of a headache and a slightly unruly/uneasy inside, and decided to have a quiet day. I caught up on some things (work, personal life, governance, and yes, blog posts that I will complete once I upload some pictures from my phone) and actually sat and watched some television for a while. It really felt pretty good to just relax.
Now it's time to tell the stories I left hanging in my last post.
The Story of Sweetheart:
Sweetheart was the name given to a male saltwater crocodile (17ft - just over 5m). Northern Territory folks say he was responsible for a series of attacks on boats in the area southwest of Darwin in the 1970s.
Sweetheart first rose to prominence around 1974 by frequently attack outboard motors, dinghies, and fishing boats. There is no known case of his attacking humans. In 1979 Sweetheart was caught alive by a Territory Parks and Wildlife Commission team (due to concerns for human safety). Apparently, however, the sedative used to tranquilize him allowed him to get entangled underwater, and he died while being transported. His death was attributed to slow drowning.
The crocodile's mounted body is currently on permanent display at the museum.
Cyclone Tracy (1974)
{I'm stealing from the government of Australia sources here to make sure I get the information correct. The museum showed a film with news footage including interviews with those affected and how the country responded to the catastrophe. It was fascinating.}
Darwin, indeed the whole of northern Australia, is no stranger to cyclones. However, Cyclone Tracy, which hit Darwin in the small hours of Christmas Day 1974, was among the most destructive ever recorded in Australia. Its vital statistics make for frightening reading:
wind gusts reached 217 km/h before the anemometer was destroyed
gales extended to about 40 kilometres from the cyclone’s centre
there was a storm surge of 1.6 metres in Darwin’s harbour; an estimated 4 metres at Casuarina Beach
255 mm of rain fell in 12 hours overnight, 145 mm in the two half-hour periods on either side of the eye of the cyclone
66 people were killed
145 people were seriously injured; more than 500 received minor injuries
about 70 per cent of houses suffered serious structural failure
the total damage bill topped $800 million.
Cyclone Tracy crossed the coast near Fannie Bay at around 3.30 on Christmas morning. Had it struck during the daytime, the death toll could have been much higher. Most of those who lost their lives were killed by flying debris or crushed beneath their houses.
In the immediate aftermath of the cyclone, evacuation of the majority of the population was considered essential given there was no running water, no sanitation, no electricity, little shelter and a high risk of disease outbreaks. More than 36,000 people left Darwin, filling the planes that had arrived with supplies, equipment and specialised personnel.
News of the disaster took hours to reach the rest of the country. The song ‘Santa never made it into Darwin’ captured the poignancy of the cyclone’s arrival on Christmas Day, as most Australians were preparing to celebrate the most significant religious holiday of the year with their families. People donated clothes and money, and opened their homes to Darwin’s refugees.
Voluntary organizations swung into gear, many sending in teams as soon as news of the disaster broke. Joan Allridge, Vice President of the Red Cross who spent the hours of the cyclone under her kitchen table with two other adults, six children, one cat, four kittens, one dog and three birds recalled how essential those early fly-in support workers were.
Most of Darwin’s population, herself included, emerged from the cyclone in a state of shock. These days there is a much more sophisticated understanding of the psychological impact of being involved in major disasters, both for those who live through them and for the staff or volunteers who go in afterwards.
On 28 February 1975 the Whitlam government established the Darwin Reconstruction Commission, following the Prime Minister’s pledge to make ‘a determined and unremitting effort to rebuild your city and relieve suffering’.
The Commission’s mandate was to reconstruct Darwin within five years. In fact, it achieved this in a little more than three years. It was only then, in the middle of 1978, that Darwin’s population reached its pre-cyclone levels.
Planning is underway for a program of activities, events and interactive projects throughout November and December 2024 with an official commemorative ceremony scheduled for 30 November 2024.
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