History of Darwin Cyclones

Previous cyclones in Darwin

Even before white settlement began in Darwin there was clear evidence of cyclonic activity. The soldiers at the British outposts had recorded "hurricanes" and earthquakes occurring during their brief stay, between 1824 and 1849.

The malevolence of natural forces was tragically demonstrated to Darwin's new settlers in 1875 when the ship Gothenburg, en route from Darwin to the east coast, sank off north Queensland during a cyclone. About one quarter of Darwin's tiny population was aboard the ship - many of them travelling south on their first furlough since coming to the Territory. The Gothenburg wreck cost 102 lives, and the news of the disaster plunged the town into a deep gloom from which it only slowly recovered.

Destructive cyclonic storms were recorded in Darwin itself in 1878 and again in 1881, but these were mild events compared with the "great hurricane" which hit the town on 6 January 1897. This cyclone coincided with a high tide and caused a storm surge which hurled boats well ashore. Fifteen people died on the harbour. Eighteen of the twenty nine pearling luggers then based in Darwin were wrecked, as were the government steam launch and three sampans. It was "a night of terrifying destructiveness" which one preacher asserted was "a gentle reminder from Providence that we are a very sinful people."

Wesleyan Church, Darwin

Wesleyan Church completely destroyed by the 1897 cyclone

In 1917 and again in 1937 cyclones took lives and caused far-reaching damage in and around Darwin. Then, as though to prove that nature was not Darwin's only enemy, on 19 February 1942, the town suffered the first two of about sixty air raids which ceased only in November 1943. More than 240 people died in the first raids, and from 1946 civilians returning to war-torn Darwin found that they were refugees in their own land.

Damage to buildings in Cavenagh St. caused by 1937 cyclone.

Damage to a house in the 1937 cyclone.

Damage resulting from Japanese air raids.

Through all these disasters there has been a consistent belief among many Larrakia Aboriginal people that the events have been caused by the actions of white settlers provoking the fury of Nungalinya (Old Man Rock - offshore from Casuarina beach). Nungalinya is said to be responsible for earthquakes, storms, and cyclones. In the view of Aborigines, such events do not occur simply because of natural forces - the forces are provoked by human actions or failures. (Cole, 184)

(The persistent local mythology that many Darwin Aborigines believed, well before the cyclone actually arrived, that a major catastrophe was imminent and that they consequently left for safer places, is unsubstantiated.)