First, though, to a turning point-a moment in history after which, for those who went through it, nothing is ever the same again, Christmas Eve, 1974, when Cyclone Tracy virtually wiped Darwin off the map. Looking back 30 years later, Darwin resident Murray McLaughlin discovers how the city he loves, and the people who toughed it out, changed as a result of Tracy.
MURRAY MCLAUGHLIN, REPORTER: A shattered city on the edge of a continent, on the edge of the Asia-Pacific Rim. Brought to its knees not by bombs, not through the destruction of war, but by the forces of nature. This is Darwin on Christmas Day, 1974.
KAY BROWN, DARWIN RESIDENT: A lot of people thought it was only THEIR house that was falling down around them. But when they woke up and they got out in the morning and they saw the devastation, it was terrible.
STEPHANIE BROWN, DARWIN RESIDENT: It was just chaos. There were people walking around in a dream. I saw people that I knew, but I couldn’t talk to them. And it just… It was unreal.
EDDIE QUONG, DARWIN RESIDENT: A lot of people fell apart. A lot of Darwin people never ever came back. They could never face it.
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