Cyclone Tracy Newsreel [1974]

Original newsreel of the aftermath of Cyclone Tracy which hit Darwin on Christmas 1974.
34 years later, these images are still as horrifying as ever.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• cyclone
• tracy
• darwin
• christmas
• 1974
• disaster
• catastrophe
• hurricane
• twister

[FILMAUSTRALIA]

Hi Grubco - nice channel. Just wanted to point out that this film is not news footage as such (no reporters). It is actually a documentary made by Film Australia and directed by Chris Noonan. It was being shown in cinemas around Australia a week after the event. There was also a follow up documentary called When Will The Birds Return that was shown on TV a year later. If you would like to see more Film Australia and Government made documentaries please have a look at our channel. Thank You.

[GrubcoTV3]

@FILMAUSTRALIA Thanks for the info. Yeah this old stuff is cool to watch now.

[Yaumul]

I was one year old when this hit and survived because my Father bore the weight of a wall on his back while covering his family under him.

[irfan7751]

:(

[MrAaronball]

ahh the good old days i love those days better than now not everyone helps eachother anymore they just r selfish i wasn't alive then but yeah i heard alot about it and i like it

[MrAaronball]

i love old stuff like this how sad

[MrAaronball]

very Sad evern though i wasn't there

[91bpatrick]

Uh this is sad :(

[emmerdilemma]

Every christmas eve, this is all that runs through my mind.

[elekktrode]

@traemaxwell I live on the Gulf Coast as well and thought the same thing. Tracy was the size of a large thunderstorm

[jkillO5]

@banner1835 dude alot has changed between 1974 and 2011. the houses in 1974 were like shacks bascially and not cyclone built. today the houses are much better built and are actually built to cat 5 standards and not to mention people take the cyclone watches and warnings a lot more seriously, on top of getting told of a potential cyclone threat almost a week in advance

[dazza027]

@banner1835 Just stop for a minute and think what that Cat 5 would have done to Cairns if it have been a direct hit, which at about 10pm was quite likely as it was tracking directly for the city. There is one road in, an airport on a floodplain that is more or less on the seafront, the hospital is on the main esplanade with breathtaking sea views just across the street. A 3 meter strom surge and all of that would be gone. Tracy was horrific, Yasi had the potential to be catastrophic.

[shadowzone69]

The alarm at the start scared the absolute crap out of me!