Cyclone Tracy demolished Darwin, capital of the Northern Territory when it struck during the night of Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning, 1974. Over almost ten hours the small, intense, but slow-moving weather system left a swathe of destruction across the entire town. Few buildings escaped. Sixty-six people died, many of them on vessels which put to sea, while many hundreds were injured. The destruction of essential services made a reduction in the population of about 40,000 imperative and what followed was the greatest peacetime evacuation of an Australian community with nearly 10,000 leaving by road and more than 20,000 evacuated by air. Every survivor has a story and just over 50 of them have responded to the invitation to tell theirs, some for the first time, in their own words.
