On Christmas Day 1974, Australia woke up to the news that Darwin had been
devastated by Cyclone Tracy.
Only hours before, the town of Darwin was winding down for the holiday
season. Like many people that day, Josephine Foreman spent the morning cooking a
large turkey for Christmas lunch; Geoff Crane finished off some last-minute
Christmas shopping. Reports of an approaching cyclone were taken lightly - after
all, the last cyclone has been little more that a storm with a bit more wind.
Besides, it was Christmas ...
At midnight on Christmas Eve, Cyclone Tracy roared in from the Arafura Sea
and in six hours wiped out Darwin. It was Australia's worst natural disaster - a
night of fear and horror, a storm of unprecedented savagery and destruction.
Winds of 300 kilometres per hour totally destroyed nearly all of Darwin's
buildings and caused the deaths of more than fifty people. When Christmas Day
finally dawned, many counted themselves lucky to be alive.
Thirty years later, some of those who lived through the cyclone recall their
frightening experiences - from the sheer terror of the storm itself, to the
heart-wrenching days that followed and the massive clean-up operation and
evacuation of more than 20,000 people in six days. This is a compelling account
of tragedy, survival and human courage.
Contents:
Foreword
Preface
Maps
Introducton
Part 1: A Storm is Born
1. The Gathering Storm
2. The Lull Before the Storm
3. Impending Menace
Part 2: The Sound and the Fury
4. 'We could be in for a blow ...'
5. The Angry Sea
6. Landfall
7. Omega's Path
8. Eye of the Storm
9. Roar of the Devil
10. Riders of the Storm
Part 3: The Aftermath
11. The Sounds of Silence
12. Ham, Jam, Lamb or Spam?
13. Epilogue
Appendix: The Heart of a Tropical Cyclone
Acknowledgements
Index
