It’s Christmas Eve and I bid all my readers a happy one.
It is also the fortieth anniversary of the destruction of one of my favorite Australian cities. I had arrived in Oz in August and hadn’t got around to visiting Darwin. I have been several times since. There is a Thai restaurant upstairs in Mitchell Street, near the bus station, that I thoroughly recommend. It’s called Thailicious. Sitting there you are about 100 metres from the corner of Searcy Street. Look out for Searcy Street at 2 minutes 45 into this newsreel …
Tracy killed 66 people, caused A$837 million in damage (1974 dollars), or approximately A$4.45 billion (2014 dollars). It destroyed more than 70 percent of Darwin’s buildings, including 80 percent of houses. Tracy left more than 41,000 out of the 47,000 inhabitants of the city homeless prior to landfall and required the evacuation of over 30,000 people. Most of Darwin’s population was evacuated to Adelaide, Whyalla, Alice Springs and Sydney, and many never returned to the city.
bobmcgee 